Links to some of the gear in this video
Follow this link to my previous post on the 2023 Wisconsin POTA Campout
Switching things up
One of my favorite aspects of POTA is how versatile the activations can be. Depending on the park, one can really run the full spectrum of possible ways run portable radio. You can bring your main 100watt HF rig out of the shack and setup on a picnic table. You can hike miles in on a trail and operate CW with 5watt while sitting on a log. You can operate in nearly any possible configuration in between or even beyond.
Check out the below video when Mike K8MRD, and friends brought a 1,000watt amp to the park.
Earlier in the day, I sat up my station on a lakefront picnic table at the park we are camping out. As typical, I did my logging on my Toughbook CF-2 using the HAMRS app.
After I got back to my campsite, I decided to do another activation. Only this time I thought I'd combine the POTA with another one of my favorite hobbies, hiking.
With a great trail system mere feet away from my campsite, I had no reason not to enjoy the fall colors and break in the rain we had earlier in the day.
The versatility of the Toughbook
One of my favorite features of the Toughbook is that you can separate the screen section from the keyboard and use the device as a tablet. The keyboard half and the screen / tablet half of the laptop have their own battery. When configured as a laptop, the Toughbook uses the battery in the keyboard half first.
This feature of the Toughbook worked out great for this hike in activation. I disconnected the keyboard half, with its nearly depleted battery and hooked it up to a charger, while I placed the fully charged tablet half in my pack.
While I was able to hike off for a POTA activation with the tablet half only, bringing less bulk and weight along for the hike, the keyboard half was charging up for it's next use.