Category Archives: Bicycle Portable

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The best-laid plans do work out, after you pivot a few times

July 30, 2026 Vince VE6LK 8 Comments

As always, there are lots of links within the article. Click one! Click them all! Learn all the things!

by Vince (VE6LK)

[Grab a cuppa as this one’s longer than my normal reports]

Screengrab taken just before I tipped over the 500 mark

I had a bit of a shock lately, I’ll admit. I didn’t realize a humungous milestone was creeping up on me in the POTA world. But before I get to that let’s talk about all of the planning I’ve been doing lately. I swear the two are unrelated, or at least they were at first.

Because you are frequent visitors of QRPer.com, you’ve already seen what happens when my plans go awry and what happens when my tenacity takes control, even if it takes a half year to bring to conclusion. For me these two most recent activations were pushing my personal limits, something I seem to be trying to do of late. I don’t know why I’ve been pushing my limits in recent years, actually, I’ve always just followed my heart. Being risk-averse by nature this means a whole bunch of planning to any new place, especially if in the back country.

And along the way in planning I took a peek at my statistics and was gob-smacked, for one of the values was like this really big number and it caught me off guard – 495 activations in Canada. Along the lines of luck is what happens when opportunity meets preparation, after those two Banff activations I began mapping a path to get number 500. And because it would be my Quincentennial Canadian Activation, I knew I had to make it absolutely epic and in nature if only to celebrate it. And I had this summit on my radar that would be within a POTA entity as well. The plan was finalized and to be executed within a week. Exciting!

I’d been planning a complex back country daytrip to Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park CA-3829 for about six weeks ever since I learned that one edge of it is at the top of the Sunshine Ski Resort. It is fully a back country park with no road access that I’ve been able to find.

Boundary marker located at the top of the chairlift

My planning involved many emails going back and forth with Parks Canada, Sunshine Ski Resort and BC Parks to try and scope out and see if I could get myself to the top of the hill and proceed to the summit without running afoul of any rules that may be in place. Initially I wanted to bike up and back down after having done a SOTA on the Twin Cairns peak, but biking is not allowed as it’s a sensitive environment and, as most of it is within a National Park, a restricted activity.

So I pivoted my plan: to my line of thinking, it’s about a 2.5km hike following natural contour lines and within my personal abilities, so perhaps that approach would work. But I would come to learn that I could not hike to the summit of Twin Cairns as there is no trail to it. Further, one must stay on the trail in this park most of the year. Hiking is allowed to the summit from October 1 to June 15 when there’s snow on the ground, but that is beyond my abilities and my current physical condition.

I’ve been accused of being stubborn, perhaps like the Grizzly Bear shown here

So this is where my tenacity kicks in. I didn’t want to let this opportunity go by me as I’ve not activated the park and the way in is by foot. The only way I can get up there is with some sort of assistance, but a helicopter is out of my budget and likely frowned upon in any case. However the Sunshine Ski resort opens up each summer for people to get up to the Meadows you see on the map above. At this point in my life I am not crazy about sweating my backside off and would rather ride than walk 25km in one day.

And that’s how I came to purchase my first lift ticket in 25 years late in July of 2026.

In parallel with this set of activities, my Kensington Laptop backpack was getting too stuffed with everything I might need for a back country walk. I discovered this on my 4th attempt activation where I had to leave behind my key survival essentials, a calculated risk as the fire station was only .5km away as the crow flies and the trail is extremely popular.

Thus I got into a deep dark rabbit hole with our our very own M5SWL who told me to get the Savotta Niukka 20L that he just acquired. He opened the door and I walked through it willingly, but first before laying out some bucks I did this early analysis which involved a metric scale and measuring stick, along with a spreadsheet:

I may just have put the anal [retentive] in Analysis … *🙂 Not shown: Bear Spray and Air Horn, but they hang outside my pack anyways. Yes, I will add this into my master gear list as someone suggested to me previously (you know who you are).*

The analysis showed me that 20L was not nearly enough, especially when I had to consider the camera gear I’d also carry. I also mentally added about 3L for an item of clothing or two.

A number of hours and some store visits later, and eschewing high dollar backpacks -I can get away with that given their relatively low-use- I landed up at Decathalon Sports in Calgary and procured this Quechua NH Escape 500 32L pack. It can double as a laptop bag should it need to and it’s more in my cost mantra of Zip-Loc instead of Red Oxx, and it comes with a 10 year guarantee. No shade on Red Oxx as they make fantastic product, but it’s outside of my usual budget.

List of gear used for this activation:

Continue reading The best-laid plans *do* work out, after you pivot a few times →

Bicycle Portable, Field Reports, FT8, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, SOTA, Videos

The best laid plans don’t always work out

July 24, 2026 Vince VE6LK 6 Comments

As always, there are lots of links within the article. Click one! Click them all! Learn all the things!

by Vince (VE6LK)

[Masthead image is Mount Rundle, my backdrop during the story. Also this story happened a couple of days before my last post here on QRPer.]

This story encompasses the motto of Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.

National Parks. You get a vision in your head of majesty and gorgeous views when you think of this term, no matter where you are on the planet. I’m so very blessed to have five within a 5-hour drive from home. So I had been planning this bike activation for weeks, and the date was finally here. I arrived at the trailhead to do a joint SOTA/POTA bike activation only to learn the map I was issued was outdated, and I could not proceed on trail.

Sigh…

On to plan B: a different trip that I’d planned that was nearby and would take a few hours longer with much more elevation and distance on trail. No problem, I think to myself, I have the whole day ahead of me, and I can turn around if it’s too much/high/long for me.

I hit the trail and get to the junction where the trail starts to go uphill and run into a steep, loose gravel path. This is unexpected, as I’d not seen it on any satellite imagery or shown on CalTopo. I fight it for a couple hundred feet of elevation gain, then throw in the towel, turn around precariously, and go back downhill. Defeated twice now, sigh…

Many of the flat trails are paved and wind through beautiful forests

Dammit, I think to myself, the whole day’s ahead of me, and it won’t get the best of me. On to plan C: I hit a paved trail that runs alongside and cycle out to the park entrance. I figure that the least I can do is put on some kilometres if I’m not gaining altitude, and I’ve got all that I need with me for an activation.

Defeated twice, I can still smile as I’m among the mountains. Cascade mountain seen in the background beside the Trans-Canada Highway near Banff Alberta.

Continue reading The best laid plans don’t always work out →

Bicycle Portable, Field Reports, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, Videos

Lake Alma State Park by Brompton: A Hamvention Week Warm-Up POTA Activation With Friends

June 1, 2026 Thomas Witherspoon 5 Comments

by Thomas (K4SWL)

Tuesday, May 12, 2026, was a long but wonderful day—and the perfect prelude to a week filled with amateur radio activity.

Hamvention week is always equal parts crazy and fun. Typically, I’m away from the QTH from Tuesday through the following Tuesday. I leave North Carolina on Tuesday morning, arrive in Athens, Ohio, and stay overnight with my friends Eric (WD8RIF) and his wife Vickie. On Wednesday, Eric and I head toward Dayton, usually fitting in a few activations along the way.

Thursday is Four Days in May. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are spent at Hamvention in Xenia, Ohio, at the Greene County Fairgrounds. Then Monday often includes a few more Parks on the Air activations—sometimes combined with a visit to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force—before returning to Athens. The following Tuesday, I make the drive back home to North Carolina.

One very full week.

This year, though, Hamvention seemed to arrive faster than ever. We’d been traveling quite a bit beforehand, and I felt a little less prepared than usual. Not that I wasn’t looking forward to it—far from it—but Hamvention week packs an incredible amount of activity into a relatively short period of time.

Starting Early

I woke up very early on Tuesday morning and hit the road around 4:30 AM. My destination was Athens, Ohio, and my goal was to arrive by about 11:30 AM.

Normally, I don’t leave quite that early. Eric and I usually meet in Athens in the afternoon, perhaps squeeze in an activation, and then spend the evening organizing gear for the drive to Dayton the next morning.

This year was different because I had a special reason to arrive early.

My dear friend Clark, who lives in the Netherlands, happened to be traveling through Ohio that very day. Opportunities for us to meet in person are exceedingly rare, so we arranged to meet around noon in Athens.

The early departure suited me just fine. I actually enjoy early-morning driving, and the weather couldn’t have been better. Traffic was light, and the miles passed quickly as I traveled west on I-26 through Tennessee, then north on I-81 toward Virginia.

The night before, I had done a bit of research and found a proper café in Wytheville, Virginia, near the junction with I-77. They had only just opened when I arrived and were surprisingly busy, but the wait was worth it. The coffee was excellent. I also stopped by a grocery store, picked up a yogurt for breakfast, and continued northbound.

From there, I drove straight through West Virginia via the Turnpike and made my way toward Athens.

While en route, I heard from Clark. Unfortunately, he’d hit a deep pothole that destroyed a front tire, and he was stuck at a tire shop in Dayton getting it replaced. Eric and I adjusted our plans for the day, and I headed directly to his QTH.

We loaded up our bicycles on and in Eric’s Honda Fit and made our way to Lake Alma State Park.

Lake Alma State Park (US-1967)

Actually, we parked (Google Maps link) in nearby Wellston, Ohio, and prepared for a short ride on the Wellston Bike Path into the park. Eric unloaded his Surly and attached a small trailer for Theo the dog—also known as “The Great Warg”—who would be joining us for the ride.

I unpacked my 2007 Brompton folding bicycle, which I had brought specifically for this trip.

Theo rides in style with his mostly reliable and compliant chauffeur, WD8RIF.

I was especially excited because this would be my first Parks on the Air activation using the Brompton.

Before long, we arrived at Lake Alma State Park, where Clark also arrived only a few minutes before us.

Lake Alma State Park is a relatively small park in Jackson County, Ohio, centered around a 47-acre lake that dates back to the 1920s. The lake was originally created as a reservoir for the nearby community, and today it’s a quiet destination for fishing, hiking, paddling, and wildlife viewing.

It’s not one of Ohio’s larger or more famous state parks, but it’s beautiful and an ideal spot for a portable radio activation—especially on a beautiful spring afternoon. (We activated it last year as well en route to Dayton.)

While catching up with Clark, I quickly deployed an antenna so Eric could get on the air first.

I used my KM4CFT 40-meter EFHW, linked for both 40 and 30 meters. I’d been watching propagation closely all week, and 20 meters had been performing very poorly, while 40 and 30 meters remained much healthier.

As Clark and I chatted, Eric completed his activation and logged a total of 11 contacts.

Then it was my turn.

I started my video camera and sat down at Eric’s station. For this activation, I used all of Eric’s gear: his Elecraft KX2, a small amplified speaker, and his White Rook single-lever paddle.