Join us for POTA on the Prairie
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- Written by: J Andera (KØNK)
Saturday, May 17th is the date the SFTARC plans to go on a mini-DXpedition to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve for a day of Parks-on-the-Air (POTA) operating. The Tallgrass is located near Strong City, KS, about 100 miles southwest of Olathe. SFTARC club members as well as guests are invited to participate.
SFTARC members will set up and operate multiple HF stations from a portion of the preserve that is a National Park. Typically, two stations are operated on voice and one on CW, all working into an assortment of portable antennas. In favorable weather, we operate just outside of a historic tree-story limestone barn; if the weather is not so favorable, we operate from inside the barn.
Most participants tend to carpool and convoy down to Strong City after assembling in Gardner early in the morning. A breakfast stop at BETO Junction (I-35 and Hwy 75) is common as is an ice cream stop at Braums in Emporia on the return leg in the late afternoon. Participants are free to drive by themselves on their own timetable if they would like.
If you’d like to participate in the Tallgrass event, please advise Jim, K0NK, in person, on the 147.195 repeater or via
Winter Field Day, Anyone?
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- Written by: Rick Nichols
The photograph accompanying this story captured the scene at Ensor Park and Museum the morning of Saturday, January 11, which was just six days after a massive winter storm that produced blizzard-like conditions at times deposited several inches of snow in Olathe, many other locations across Kansas and Missouri, and elsewhere.
The 103-Degree Telegraph Office
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- Written by: J. Andera (KØNK)
It was hot on Sunday, August 25th, at the Hollenberg Pony Express Festival near Hanover, KS--103°F hot to be precise. However, festival visitors still got to witness a working “Telegraph Office” in the form of a ham radio HF station operating the under a shade tree and using the callsign of KØASA. This Telegraph-Office display was just one of many displays at the festival depicting life in early America.
The Hollenberg Pony Express Station is the only Pony Express station in the nation that has been preserved and left on its original foundation. KFØIKQ photo.
Jim uses a bow and arrow to launch a thin rope over the tree for the far-end support for the EFHW antenna. KFØIKQ photo.
Field Day Doubles As Club Social
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- Written by: Rick Nichols
The predicted heat that didn't disappoint and an ill-timed shower of the garden variety that shut down the regular CW station made good and sure Field Day 2024 had a down side. But on a positive note, visitor logs with plenty of names on them were proof that the annual event at Ensor Park and Museum one, fulfilled some sort of a need, and two, certainly brought people together over a 24-hour period.
Field Day GOTA Station
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- Written by: G Wolfe (KIØKK)
A video of George and Eric operating SSB on the GOTA station.
Note: Un-mute the audio