Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio

Dean Wood N6DE is a contester asking a provocative question: Can a Parks on the Air activation be competitive in a serious contest?

In this conversation, Dean shares the results of a months-long experiment testing whether a carefully chosen park—combined with smart antenna strategy—can rival traditional home stations. His target site was Fremont Peak State Park in California, selected for two key competitive advantages: a dramatically lower noise floor than most suburban stations and terrain that slopes toward Europe and Asia, creating a naturally low takeoff angle for DX. Dean operated two contests from the park—NAQP CW and ARRL DX CW—bringing portable antennas, battery power, and a willingness to adapt on the fly.

The results were eye-opening. During ARRL DX CW, Dean discovered that antenna orientation mattered far more than expected: after installing a second wire aimed toward Japan, signals jumped roughly two S-units compared with his original European-focused inverted V. That kind of real-time experimentation is exactly what portable contesting demands—and rewards. Over the two contests he logged more than 1,200 QSOs, including 565 DX contacts on 15 meters alone, ultimately “kilo-ing” the park with over 1,000 contacts.

But the bigger story is philosophical. Dean argues that portable operating—through Parks on the Air, SOTA, and similar programs—may be the most promising gateway for the next generation of contesters. With creative contest overlays, outreach from station owners, and collaboration between contest clubs and the POTA community, he believes the hobby can evolve beyond the traditional big-tower model and bring new operators into radiosport.

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Special thanks to DX Engineering for supporting operators everywhere—from portable POTA activators to serious contesters chasing DX. Their continued commitment helps keep radiosport thriving across parks, peaks, and stations around the world.

Adrian Ciuperca KO8SCA and Max Freedman N4ML are on Bouvet Island (3Y0K) right now—with the wind howling outside their tents, antennas lashed to rock and ice, and one of the biggest pileups in amateur radio roaring in their headphones. Bouvet is one of the rarest and most remote DX entities on Earth, and the 3Y0K team mounted a $1.7 million effort to put it on the air. Twenty operators departed Cape Town aboard an ice-class vessel equipped with helicopter support, arriving after a six-day voyage through rough seas. Helicopter lifts ferried people and equipment onto the island, where the team rapidly built a small radio village: sleeping tents, a communal tent, and an operating tent running up to five stations with beams, verticals, and dipoles. Despite brutal winds and relentless weather, the team quickly pushed past 100,000 QSOs while operating from one of the harshest environments in the DX world. Behind the pileups is a staggering logistical effort. Adrian describes years of planning—contracts for the ship and helicopter, interviews with pilots capable of flying in Antarctic conditions, and enormous spreadsheets tracking every piece of equipment. On Bouvet, there are no second chances: if something breaks, you fix it in the storm. Antennas fail, winds push past 60 mph, and operators head back outside because every minute off the air from Bouvet matters. For Max, one of the youngest operators on the team, the experience is both baptism and inspiration. Supported by the NCDXF, he was immersed in every stage—from packing containers in Norway to operating through massive worldwide pileups. His takeaway is simple: young operators don’t just belong on DXpeditions—they strengthen them. The energy, technical skill, and curiosity they bring help ensure that rare-entity activations like Bouvet continue long into the future. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio. Special thanks to DX Engineering for supporting Q5 and helping power projects like this one. Their support of DXers, Parks on the Air operators, and contesters worldwide helps keep the rare ones coming.

Ben Lloyd GW4BML is a lifelong climber who discovered Summits on the Air (SOTA) and now combines both passions as he explores destinations across Wales and Scotland. In this conversation on Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio, Ben traces his path from a childhood introduction to amateur radio at age twelve—thanks to a visit to Glyn GW0JAI’s shack—to eventually earning his full license decades later. For years, radio remained a background interest while climbing dominated his life. But when Summits on the Air entered the picture, everything clicked. Suddenly the peaks he loved became incredible operating spots, and the hobby transformed into something physical, portable, and deeply social. That convergence led to a remarkable five-year stretch of family adventures built around summits, CW, and lightweight radio gear carried up steep trails. Ben shares the craft behind mountain operating—balancing antennas, batteries, and weather with the realities of high ground—and the unique satisfaction of making contacts from places where the station truly lives in your backpack. Those experiences eventually became a book, Summit of Dreams, where Ben chronicles years of SOTA activations, climbing routes, and the people met along the way. The book captures both the technical side of operating portable radio in challenging environments and the human side of the hobby—how a simple radio on a mountaintop can connect strangers across continents and turn solitary climbs into shared adventures. It’s a story about rediscovering radio through the landscape—and about how amateur radio can turn a solitary climb into a global conversation. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio. From the shack to the summit, Icom keeps hams connected. We’re proud to have their support for Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio.

Jason Goldsberry CE3/N5NU is quietly redefining what contesting can look like when you have no choice but to leave the house. In this episode, I’m joined by the contest crew—Randy Thompson K5ZD, Bill Fehring W9KNN, Chris Hurlbut KL9A—and their guest Jason Goldsberry CE3/N5NU, joining us from Chile. Living in a sixth-floor apartment in Las Condes, just outside Santiago, Jason quickly discovered the reality of urban RF noise—an S9 wall that made home operating nearly impossible. So he did what contesters tend to do when faced with a problem: he engineered around it. The solution? Hiking into nearby parks with a full portable station—antennas, batteries, laptop, and radio—sometimes hauling 60 pounds of gear in two trips just to get on the air. During CQ Worldwide CW, Jason packed a Yaesu FT-891, lithium batteries, and a carefully designed vertical antenna system—including a two-element vertical beam for 10 and 15 meters and a parasitic vertical array for 20. Running 100 watts on battery power, shaded only by a giant umbrella to fight the Chilean sun, he logged more than 800 QSOs in roughly 15 hours of operating. For Jason, it’s less about competing for plaques and more about giving out the mult and having fun—experiencing the magic of propagation, like hearing Mongolia at 20-over-9 or working rare openings into Asia and Europe from a hillside. Along the way, he’s discovered an unusual intersection between worlds. Portable operators and contesters don’t always overlap—but Jason lives squarely in that narrow sliver where both passions meet. Whether it’s navigating pileups with clever listening techniques, managing battery life by watching his radio screen dim, or hiking into remote spots for a better takeoff toward North America, his approach proves that big fun doesn’t always require a big station. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio. Special thanks to DX Engineering for supporting operators who push the limits—from contest superstations to field setups like Jason’s. Their gear and expertise help Parks on the Air activators, DXers, and contesters around the world build stations that perform wherever the signal needs to go.

Rune Øye LA7THA is helping lead the planned VP0SG South Georgia DXpedition, a major effort to activate one of the rarest DX entities in amateur radio. Rune LA7THA and Erwann Merrien LB1QI bring deep DXpedition experience to the project. Over the years they’ve been involved in activations including São Tomé S9LA, Zimbabwe Z2LA, Zambia 9J2LA, and Namibia V55LA, along with cold-weather operations from Svalbard JW0W and the massive Bouvet 3Y0J expedition. Those experiences—especially the logistical and technical lessons learned during Bouvet—now inform their approach to South Georgia. The team has already secured its expedition vessel, MV Meridian, operated by 60° South Expeditions, and assembled a 14-operator international team. Their plan is to run five stations from a tented camp on the island, with six operators on shore at a time, rotating between the island and the ship for rest. The station design also includes several remote receive stations located hundreds of meters from the main camp and connected via gigahertz microwave links. Funding and final permissions are the key milestones ahead. The expedition budget is approaching $400,000, and while the team has received encouraging feedback from the Government of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, the official landing authorization is expected later this year. Once that approval is secured, the team expects broader support from DX clubs, foundations, and individual donors worldwide. Join the conversation and subscribe to Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio. This episode of Q5 Ham Radio is powered by Icom Incorporated, whose radios continue to support operators everywhere—from everyday stations to ambitious DXpeditions pushing signals across the globe.