Best Plans of Mice and Men...
I had a morning free of plans or obligations, so I planned to do a POTA activation from a nearby trailhead located in K-4350 Governor Knowles State Forest. The plan was to start off on 40 meters and work my way up through the bands to 10 meters using my Yaesu FT-891 and ATAS-120A antenna.
Well that was the plan anyway... Someone forgot to charge their battery after the POTA activations from the weekend before.
This is uncharacteristic of me, for I am usually good at charging my batteries after an activation. I want to keep my gear ready at a moment’s notice. Afterall a major driver for me with my amateur radio activities is to be prepared for emergencies. Emergencies don't always give you a few hours to make sure you have everything in place and ready to go.
Lessons Learned
Little setbacks like this is one of the reasons I participate in POTA and SOTA. Besides being a lot of fun, they get me out in the field on a fairly regular basis practicing amateur radio and using my gear. I get better as an operator and I prove out my gear.
POTA and SOTA also get me to follow the routines of prepping my gear for the field. Keeping things organized and pack in good working order, ready for the next time out. This normally includes topping off batteries when I stow my gear away when I return from an activation.
Clearly I did not follow my routine this time.
The good thing is that this lesson from the field was during a POTA activation. Worst thing that could likely happen is that I would end short of the required QSO's for the activation. That wouldn't be a concern for more than the immediate 30 seconds or so after the battery died.
However this would be more problematic if I was doing something more serious that playing POTA. I good reminder for me to not be lazy post play. Charge my batteries. Clean, inspect and properly stow my gear every time. An emergency situation may not be forgiving.
Gear Won't Make Up For Proper Mindset
I am a proponent of proper priorities that were preached by James Yeager of Tactical Response.
1) Mindset
2) Tactics
3) Skill
4) Gear
Your mindset is the most important aspect to focus on when it comes to preparedness followed by tactics, skill then gear. The no gear will be used to its full potential if you don't have a focused mindset of what you are to accomplish with the know how (tactics) to get what needs to be done effectively with the skill to carry it out.
One thought to prevent a dead battery in the field again is to simply buy another battery to keep in the kit. 2 is 1, 1 is none. This does make some sense. However if you don't have the mindset to make sure your batteries are ready at all times possible and don't follow through with topping off batteries after each use (tactics); then eventually you're prone to end up with two dead batteries in the field.
