Coastal Georgia Christmas (Not So Much a) Road Trip Radio Report; 13/14 December 2025

I'm not taking a road trip in December as I prepare for a Space Coast Road Trip in January but over the weekend, I did travel around southeast and coastal Georgia visiting the Georgia Veterans Cemetery in Glennville, Fort Pulaski in Savannah, and Fort King George in Darien. I don't post a lot about local Fire/Rescue communications in the Savannah area, so I thought I'd do a blog post about the weekend's travels and what I heard during them. Perhaps it will be helpful for anyone who may be thinking about visiting the Savannah area.

Candlelit Christmas decoration at Fort Pulaski National Monument's Candle Lantern Tour

Poinsett State Park & Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens - Midlands South Carolina Road Trip Radio Report; 9/10 November 2025

I took an overnight road trip to Midlands South Carolina on Sunday, 9 November and Monday, 10 November 2025 to visit Poinsett State Park in Wedgefield and Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens in Columbia. The trip up was via I-95 and the trip back to Savannah was on US-321, providing two different levels of activity on amateur radio and scanning. Both days were beautiful and especially on Monday, I enjoyed the colors of the Autumn foliage; we don't get quite as much color at home on the coast. Due to the Federal holiday on Tuesday, there was very little military communications to monitor, public safety in the Columbia area was busy as always, and the railroads around Columbia were active as well. There wasn't much Federal communications activity either, although I was surprised to hear the Fort Sumter NHS talkgroup on the Palmetto 800 system active during the Federal Government shutdown. While visiting the Zoo, I enjoyed listening to their radio system. On amateur radio, I had fun doing a Parks on the Air (POTA) activation at Poinsett State Park and listening to 2 Meter/70 cm repeaters along my route of travel. 

Autumn foliage at Poinsett State Park

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

New KF4LMT Mobile - Going Low Profile With Less Radios and Antennas

In the last few months, I had to buy a new car because the maintenance costs on the old car had reached the point of diminishing returns. I wasn't looking forward to car payments, but the money was coming out of my pockets either way... Previous iterations of KF4LMT mobile have been packed with radios and covered with antennas, but this time I decided to go lower profile with only two radios - one scanner and one amateur radio handheld and only two antennas - one scanner antenna and one amateur radio antenna. After looking at a number of choices, I decided on a Hyundai Venue. It's a bit smaller than my 2012 Kia Sportage, but it gets better gas mileage (around 37 mpg on one leg of a road trip) and has turned out to be a terrific city car. It fits into small parking spaces and its tight turning radius makes it easy to get in and out of tight spots. This time, I even went with an automatic transmission instead of a manual, so it would be easier to talk on the radio between traffic lights!

The new KF4LMT Mobile - a Hyundai Venue