My First Road Trip Incorporating Parks on the Air Activity - Central Georgia Road Trip Radio Report; 19/20 October 2025

This weekend's overnight road trip to Central Georgia was the first time I've incorporated portable HF operating and Parks on the Air activity into one of my road trips. I left Savannah on Sunday morning and headed toward the Piedmont NWR north of Macon. It started raining just north of Dublin, so went through Jeffersonville and Gordon to Gray, GA where I stopped for an early lunch at Old Clinton BBQ while I waited for the rain to slack off. After lunch, I continued on to the NWR, scouting for a good spot to operate from, finding one on the Little Rock Wildlife Drive. After activating the Piedmont NWR, I continued on to Juliette, GA where I visited Jarrell Plantation State Historic Site and activated it after touring the grounds. The day may have started out dreary and wet, but the afternoon turned out wonderful. Between it being a Sunday and the weather not being all that great, I didn't hear any MilCom activity, but there was plenty of public safety and railroad communications to listen to. I had a special project planned for the drive back home on Monday morning; I stopped at Exit 143 on I-16 and did some radio recon on the DMR system in use at Hyundai Metaplant in Ellabell. It was a successful stop and it yielded some good results.

Some of the historic structures at Jarrell Plantation State Historic Site in Juliette, GA

Getting Active on HF Amateur Radio Again - Putting a Portable Station on the Air

Over the last month, I've assembled everything I'd need to put a portable HF station together and get back on HF Amateur Radio for the first time in four or five years. After forgetting to bring the coax with me to Brunswick last week, this afternoon I was finally able to put in the air after work. I contacted eleven stations from 8 states, a Canadian province, and a DX contact.

Yaesu FT-891 and LiFePo battery in the back of KF4LMT Mobile

Coastal Georgia Military Monitoring Recap; September 2025

September began with disappointment, but despite limited radio time it became a better than average month for MilCom in Coastal Georgia. Within the last year, it had been announced that a William Tell air superiority competition was to be held at the Savannah Air Dominance Center (ADC) in September, but apparently it was cancelled as it never occurred. That disappointment was balanced out by some other visitors to the Savannah ADC, the return of a MCAS Beaufort unit to the skies, and an Army competition at Fort Stewart and Hunter AAF. During September I also settled on which radios I was going to use in my new mobile station - a Uniden SDS100 for scanning and a Radioddity DB-25D Pro for amateur radio/GMRS.

The SDS100 and Radioddity DB-25D Pro in the new KF4LMT Mobile