Hitting the road to Totality

The time is almost upon us.

I will soon be among the millions of people converging upon a narrow stretch of land between Oregon and South Carolina. As I explained in my previous post, I’ll be participating in the Solar Eclipse QSO Party from the path of totality.

I’ve upgraded my station a bit for the occasion, purchasing a Bioenno LiFePO4 battery rated at 20Ah. This will allow me to operate from wherever I want, instead of being tied to a stationary power source. Based on other users’ comments, I expect this battery to run 4-5 hours or more for my rig. This is longer than I intend to operate the SEQP.

My primary viewing site is Gorges State Park in southwestern North Carolina. I have also researched alternate viewing locations in Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and South Carolina. I’ll take along all of the requisite information, park maps, etc. in case of a last-minute venue change due to weather.

I’ll be operating 100W 20m SSB for the most part, taking occasional breaks to run a CW beacon for the Reverse Beacon Network. My radio will be connected to my G5RV Jr, strung between trees. This was my setup at FLSPOTA and we logged 158 contacts in a few hours!

If you’re reading this, I hope we can work each other! I’m unsure on a starting frequency, because I anticipate 20 meters being fairly busy. If I have any data service at my location, I will tweet where I wind up calling.

73s all!