N1VES

Clara Barton National Historic Site & Glen Echo National Heritage Site (US-0808 & US-7975) is probably not a 2fer

2026-03-27T14:11:42-04:00

I’ve been itching to try a multi‑park activation, and this pairing seemed like one of the easier options. Clara Barton National Historic Site is contained completely within Glen Echo Park, so any activation of US‑0808 should automatically count as an activation of US‑7975 as well. Or so I thought.

The NPS website linked from the US-7975 POTA page seems to imply these sites overlap, with the Clara Barton Historic Site located within Glen Echo Park. The NPS map for US-0808 shows no obvious boundary between them, so I felt safe setting up in what appeared to be a shared parking lot.

However, as I was writing this post I dug deeper into the details. Based on the publicly available National Register of Historic Places documentation for these two sites (US-0808 and US-7975), it’s less clear. In fact, the official maps show boundaries that aren’t even adjacent.

The specified UTM geographical data isn’t particularly helpful either. For the Clara Barton National Historic Site, only a single point is provided, amusingly marked as “UTM not verified”—though it does appear reasonably close to the building (labeled “CB” in the image below). The written boundary description mentions the “ravine of Minnehaha Creek” as the eastern boundary, but that’s not how it’s drawn on the map.

Even assuming an older NAD27 datum, when I plug the Glen Echo Historic District UTM boundary points (labeled A–D in the image below) into Caltopo, they land about 1000 ft away from the actual park, rendering them practically meaningless. I suspect both descriptions use Minnehaha Creek as a reference, but the coordinates are clearly off.

Digging further into the Glen Echo Park Historic District nomination reveals specific references to the pre‑existing Clara Barton Historic Site, implying they are treated as separate entities:

"Miss Barton herself acquired adjoining property at Glen Echo in 1891 and built what would later become her residence and American Red Cross headquarters. Listed separately as the Clara Barton House on the
National Register, the Red Cross headquarters was also designed in the rustic style."

"The discussion of Clara Barton, which is individually listed, may not be
relevant to the amusement park period; also, the form should make clear that Barton
property is not in this nominated district"

All of this suggests that, based on my activation location, I’m confident I activated US‑0808, but US‑7975, probably not. Unfortunately, I had already submitted the activator logs to POTA for both sites, so this is all academic 🤷‍♂️.

I'll do better next time.

Approximate transmit location: 38.966891, -77.140447

Gear: Xiegu G90 + DE-19 + 20M quarter wave whip antenna + Talentcell 12V 6Ah LiFePO4 battery

POTA hunting from the roof

2026-03-23T10:37:30-04:00

I’m not big on the hunter side of POTA, but it was a gorgeous day and I needed to stay close to home, so I figured I’d give it a try.

My fifth-floor condo isn’t ideal for antennas. My balcony overhangs a courtyard and faces another building, but I’ve made decent FT8 contacts there before. It works best for north/south paths, matching my clear sky view in those directions.

Today I tested the roof instead. It also let me try my spike-free antenna mount: a spare camera tripod paired with an M10-to-1/4"-20 adapter to thread the antenna base directly onto the quick-release plate.

One downside I expected was instability in wind with the antenna fully extended and legs splayed wide. A water weight bag over the center fixed that.

As I had hoped, up here I was getting much better East/West signals, particularly into Europe.

Gear: Xiegu G90 + DE-19 + 20M quarter wave whip antenna + Talentcell 12V 6Ah LiFePO4 battery + camera tripod + M10 adapter screw

Patuxent River State Park (US-1589)

2026-03-13T16:36:55-04:00

For this activation I ventured into the wildlands area of Patuxent River State Park. After about 3.5mi of wandering the unmarked, unmaintained "trails," I stopped for lunch and set up my gear precariously perched on a log. Due to some technical stupidity on my part my 11 QSOs on 20M FT8 took over an hour since I spent a good bit of time transmitting at 0 watts without realizing it. Oops.

Approximate transmit location: 39.272275, -77.116313

Gear: Xiegu G90 + DE-19 + 20M quarter wave whip antenna + Talentcell 12V 6Ah LiFePO4 battery

Seneca Creek State Park (US-1596)

2026-02-27T14:47:53-05:00

It was a lovely, relatively warm day, so I decided to hike around Clopper Lake at Seneca Creek State Park. My original hike plan to add some distance was thwarted when I discovered that a bridge was closed on Long Draught Trail I had planned to take, so I had to backtrack and ended up taking the Lake Shore Trail loop instead.

After finishing the hike, I decided I had time to try for a quick activation, so I took my gear to the lakeside park and operated from a bench overlooking the lake. It was a beautiful spot for lunch. FT8 was busy, and I logged 13 QSOs in under 30 minutes.

Approximate transmit location: 39.144625, -77.254705

Gear: Xiegu G90 + DE-19 + 20M quarter wave whip antenna + Talentcell 12V 6Ah LiFePO4 battery

Gear weight or I should have bought a QMX

2026-02-23T09:29:50-05:00

With aspirations of eventually doing SOTA and more hike-in POTA activations sooner rather than later, I wanted a better understanding of what my current gear weighs and to identify opportunities for weight savings.

My first observation is that my G90’s weight is very close to the manufacturer’s reported value (1.63 kg); my own measurement, including the radio body and microphone, is 1.6 kg. Unfortunately, that’s pretty heavy—but not surprising.

My second observation is that the microphone and cable weigh about 30% less than the DE-19 and its cables, meaning there’s a small weight penalty for doing FT8 compared to SSB.

This exercise also revealed that my current vertical antenna setup is relatively light. My unused EFHW antenna weighs about half as much as the vertical, but that doesn’t account for additional accessories like a mast, guy lines, or a throw bag and line. Simply adding the carbon fiber fishing pole I bought as an improvised mast brings the total weight to within 10 g of my existing vertical setup.

An easy and obvious way to save weight would be to remove the common-mode choke. Unsurprisingly, it’s heavy since it uses an FT-240-43 core and RG-58 coax. I plan to replace it with a version built around an FT-140-43 core and RG-316 coax, which I expect will cut the weight roughly in half.

Even after making all the simple weight reductions I can think of, I’d only save about 0.63 kg—roughly 20% of the total 3.3 kg kit. In practice, it’s even less once I factor in my backpack and small pouches for organization. Add some water, snacks, and other day-hike essentials, and I’m easily at a 10 lb pack. While that may not sound like much, my entire multi-day backpacking kit only weighs around 15 lb.

My conclusion is that in this case fussing over small weight savings isn’t really worthwhile. If I truly wanted to build an ultralight SOTA/POTA kit, I’d ditch the G90 altogether and go with a lighter radio. In the meantime however, I'll just have to make do.

Item	Weight (g)	Weight reduction possibilities
Xiegu G90	1461	Remove extra metal handle pieces (-30g?)
DE-19	85
DE-19 cables + USB adapter	121	Shorter cables? (-60g?)
5.6 m telescoping vertical antenna	247
Ground spike for antenna	63
Base for antenna	140
Radial wires Antenna	76
Talentcell 12V 6Ah LiFePO4 battery + power cable	774	Replace with 3Ah battery? (-300g)
15ft RG-316 feedline	93	RG-316 weighs relatively little compared with the connectors. Shortening this would barely save any weight.
CM Choke	247	Ditch or replace with lighter choke (-247g)
Xiegu Mic + cable	141	Not using right now just for reference.
49:1 EFHW antenna (not tested yet)	237	There are certainly lighter versions of this. Not using right now just for reference.
Carbon fiber fishing pole (7m) + pouch	288	Not always going to be needed. Not using right now just for reference.

Monocacy River Natural Resources Management Area State Natural Area (US-6392)

2026-02-21T17:38:07-05:00

Unlike the park I activated this morning, I’m extremely familiar with Monocacy River Natural Resources Management Area State Natural Area. My primary purpose for the visit was actually a hike. Popular mainly for fishing in the Monocacy River and hunting, even on a relatively nice Saturday afternoon I encountered only one other hiker on my 3.5-mile loop. Nearly all the snow was gone, so I made better time than expected. On returning to my car, I opted for another activation.

Pressed for time and not enthralled with the muddy patch of grass nearby, I decided to activate from my car. I had parked in the lot off MD28 which had a small parking lot and a patch of grass. This was only made possible by my recent fabrication of a ~15 ft RG-316 antenna feedline—previously, I’d only had a 5 ft cable.

Approximate activation point: 39.243330, -77.438936

Gear: Xiegu G90 + DE-19 + 20M quarter wave whip antenna + Talentcell 12V 6Ah LiFePO4 battery

Note: On review I realized I screwed up the log upload for this park along with the park I activated earlier today. Basically the 20m QSOs were swapped. Oops 🤷‍♂️ Let's see if POTA support will delete them for me. Otherwise, lesson learned and I need to be more careful with the exported logs from FT8CN.

McKee-Breshers Wildlife Management Area (US-7730)

2026-02-21T17:36:17-05:00

One of the rare parks in Montgomery County that I've never visited, McKee-Breshers Wildlife Management Area lies adjacent to the Potomac River and made for an easy activation this afternoon. I set up at Sycamore Landing, which has a parking lot and nearby clearing. It was tantalizingly close to the C&O Canal towpath (part of the Potomac Heritage Trail National Scenic Trail, US-4564), and I debated a dual activation. But to follow POTA rules and stay within 100 feet of the trail, I would have had to operate from dense vegetation which I wasn’t in the mood for or block the trail connecting the park. I have other plans for my first 2fer anyway.

As primarily a wildlife/hunting area, I didn’t expect benches or picnic tables, so I brought a small camping table and a backpacking chair. In truth, this wasn’t even necessary; I could have operated from my car. But it was a nice day, and I was ready for some sun.

I activated the park on 20m rather quickly (~20 minutes), then played around on other bands, picking up additional QSOs on 10m (4), 15m (3), and one on 17m.

Approximate activation point: 39.075010, -77.420238

Gear: Xiegu G90 + DE-19 + 20M quarter wave whip antenna + Talentcell 12V 6Ah LiFePO4 battery + portable table + backpacking chair

Note: On review I realized I screwed up the log upload for this park along with the second park I activated today, Monocacy River Natural Resources Management Area State Natural Area (US-6392). Basically the 20m QSOs were swapped. Oops 🤷‍♂️ Let's see if POTA support will delete them for me. Otherwise, lesson learned and I need to be more careful with the exported logs from FT8CN.

Seneca Creek State Park (US-1596)

2026-02-18T14:40:29-05:00

Seneca Creek State Park is bustling in the spring and summer, but on this mid-February, mid-week afternoon, it was pretty quiet. I had planned to operate adjacent to Clopper Lake, but with significant snow still on the ground, I decided to set up somewhere I could be closer to my parking spot. I ended up at the park’s disc golf area and set up on a bench within spitting distance of my car. Approximate transmit location: 39.136582, -77.259451

For this second attempt to activate a park, I applied what I learned from my previous go at CHOH and pared down my gear to the bare essentials. The slowest part of my deployment is definitely dealing with the antenna radial wires—they tend to get tangled easily. Knowing that, I’ve only split the included ribbon cable into three radial wires so far. It seems to be working fine, and I’m reluctant to create an even bigger wiry mess for myself by splitting the cable further.

Once again I only worked FT8. Once I hit my 10 QSOs on 20m I did play around on some other bands, though I only made a single additional contact on 17m. I was in a bit of a rush today so I could only spend about an hour at the park and ended up with 11 QSOs total.

Gear: Xiegu G90 + DE-19 + 20M quarter wave whip antenna + Talentcell 12V 6Ah LiFePO4 battery

Chesapeake & Ohio National Historic Park (US-0015)

2026-02-17T13:30:07-05:00

The "snowcrete" from the recent winter storm had finally thawed sufficiently that I decided to attempt my first POTA activation. It wasn't the original plan for the day, but since I knew I would be in the park anyway as I was volunteering, at the last moment in the morning I decided to bring my gear with the thought that there might be some time at lunch or I would still have the energy to do it afterwards. As it turned out, it was a short volunteering day, so I had no excuse not to give my first activation a go before heading home.

The Chesapeake & Ohio National Historic Park (CHOH) stretches 185 miles along the canal and towpath through Maryland and DC, offering easy access by foot, bike, or car. The park is free except for the Potomac, MD visitor center area ($10–$20 depending on entry mode). I opted to go to the Carderock Recreation Area of the park, which is approximately 10 minutes south of the main entrance. No entrance fee, plenty of parking, and if you go to parking Lot 1 there is a convenient large grassy area with picnic tables close by. Approximate transmit location:
38.971409, -77.199611

It was still a bit cold and I was underdressed for just sitting around, so while I brought a bunch of gear, I ended up keeping it simple and just doing FT8 with my Xiegu G90 + DE-19 + 20M quarter wave whip antenna with the FT8CN android app.

I've been playing with this setup at home and found it quick and easy to deploy. I had my 10 QSOs in under 30 minutes but I stayed for about an hour and made 16 QSOs before I decided to pack it up.