US-4704 Franklin State Forest

I activated US-4704 Franklin State Forest, Massachusetts, today. It's an old-growth New England hardwood forest with some pockets of very old pine. An 8-mile off-road trail is built into the hear of the forest, which makes trekking pretty easy. I chose Magotty Hill at about 370 feet as my site, and it was about a 1.5 mile hike in. The trails are lovely and relatively flat until you get around the hill. I spotted an Eastern Cauliflower mushroom a bit off the path, the first I'd ever seen, and I do a lot of mushrooming in these parts. They are quite tasty and I thought about taking this one for dinner. Since I've only seen just this one, though, I decided to let it be. I tasted a few fronds, which were delicious. I marked the spot and will check back next season. I've already scored three Sulfur Shelf mushrooms on POTA trips this year...it's mushrooming time in New England!

It was a lot longer walk from the large parking area than I thought it would be. In retrospect, it didn't make sense to strive for the 370-foot 'peak' at Magotty since the entire forest is up on a ridge at around 350 feet. I brought just a 20m hamstick for the activation and hung it about 15 feet up on a nearby branch. In this part of New England, if you are the woods, you are going to find plenty of spots for your antenna. In later outings I learned to use tree branches as masts, but this time out it was coax looped over a branch, which worked just fine.

Hard to see the antenna in the photo, but it's there! From a POTA perspective, it was my tenth and most productive outing. I set the stingers on the sticks once and the resonance was spot on, even after raising the antenna onto a branch. I had 1.5:1 SWR centered on 14.050. The antenna went up quickly. I figured out a way to carry the hamsticks like ski poles on my pack, so they are stowed and very light. The feedpoint of the hamstick dipole is offset by a few inches, so I looped the coax around once to find a balance point, and the antenna remained horizontal for the entire session. I set up near a large boulder and was able to stand on it to sling the coax onto a nearby branch, which meant the antenna was about 17 feet off the ground, oriented east-west.

The gear set up up quickly, and it was only 15 minutes from arrival at the site to first QSO. It only took about 20 minutes to get to ten QSOs. I stayed on the air for about an hour and logged 21 contacts. I started with FT8 and again was lucky to find a clear slice where I could just sit and answer calls. What really surprised me was at the end of the session. I decided to drop down and do some CW QSos, and for grins called CQ POTA a few times. I've had very little luck with this, which I've attributed to low power (5w) and a short, low antenna. Today, though, I ran off six QSOs in the course of about ten minutes. There was even a little pileup at one point. I guess it really comes down to conditions and circumstances.

There's not a lot of activity at this park, and it's nearby, so I'll definitely be back a few times more this season. It was nice to explore a new area. I will probably end up with five or six local spots that I'll do in rotation.

The obligatory operating position shot...

I absolutely love that POTA is getting me out to explore new areas. Even though I already hiked a lot, it was in the same spots for the most part. In the past three months I've visited a dozen new places, each with its own beauty and charm.

ID: US-4704 Franklin State Forest
Location: Franklin MA, Bristol County
Activation date: 03 September 2024
Activated by: W1GRD