Linda, Suzy, and I camped at Stone Mountain Park the first week of April 2025.
The mountain offers a Summits on the Air (SOTA) opportunity. Walking up the mountain was tempting, but I rode the Sky Tram instead. I took the Icom 705 and the Alexloop. I found the winds gusty on top, and they blew the loop tripod over. I managed to tie it down with a cord and my foot. I have more than enough contacts for SOTA and POTA, including 2-meter FM contacts as far as fifty miles.
The RaDAR Rally was on April 5th. I had many options among the park trails, but I settled on taking my one-kilometer walks from our campsite. My rig was the FX-4C, and the antenna was the SOTABeams link dipole. I made five contacts on three stops, setting up the dipole each time. The Alexloop would have been faster. My contacts included CW, SSB, and FT-8. The FT8CN Android App on my smartphone connects to the FX-4CR via Bluetooth. The highlight was a RaDAR-to-RaDAR contact with Chris, VA3ECO. Chris was using a snowmobile for his RaDAR.
Linda and I enjoyed the attractions in the park. It was Dinofest. We took in the drone, laser, and fireworks show on our last night.
73,
Greg N4KGL
