…that costs less than $300, can be carried in one hand in a small duffle bag, is less than 3 feet long when taken down, can be installed and taken down in less than 10 minutes by one person, does not require guy ropes, can handle legal limit power, and offers more than 5 dB of gain.
The North Carolina QSO Party is a contest that Carl, John, and I look foward to every year. For me, it’s second only to Field Day, and a very close second.
Winter Field Day (WFD) 2026 was the second Winter Field Day for the Pinecone Amateur Radio Club (PARC); the club having formed shortly before the event in 2025. In 2025, Brantley K4CBW and John K4EB operated together from a rented cabin at Morrow Mountain State Park in Western North Carolina. We decided not to duplicate that effort in 2026 because, under John’s leadership, the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society was supporting an ARISS contact between a local school and an astronaut on the International Space Station that week. John, Brantley, and Carl were all involved in that effort and therefore didn’t have the time or energy to travel far for a WFD event the same week as the ARISS activation.
The Pinecone Amateur Radio Club’s inaugural year was a memorable one. Carl, John, and I successfully put the club on the air and on the map through a number of different operating events. The highlight of the year was Field Day which exemplified the consistent, year-long theme of fun & fellowship. And if Carl is around, good food and drink. Not every club is lucky enough to count a sommelier from New Orleans among their ranks!
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