Marine Mobile POTA Assault on Old Island (K-3906)
In May of 2020, Old Island Heritage Preserve Wildlife
Management Area, near Beaufort, SC was first activated
by our intrepid leader John, KK4JS. Uninhabited Old
Island is only accessible by boat. John decided the best
vessel to access the island was an inflatable rubber
Walgreen’s raft. Please read POTA blog, “ASSUALT ON
OLD ISLAND” click here to jump to the article, on this website for the harrowing details of
this classic activation!
I was truly inspired by John’s daring expedition, and as
such, I recently configured my Bayliner 185 boat for
marine mobile operations by installing a 3/8” antenna
mount and a Dynaplate ground plane under the hull to use
in place of radials. The time was right for another run at
activating Old Island.
In consultation with Steve, KO4AFL, and Tom, W4ID, a
plan was devised to maneuver the boat within the tight
boundaries of the park during high tide using the onboard
Garmin GPS/Depth finder.
On Saturday, July 16, we departed the Russ Point
Landing boat launch, with anchor drop at Old Island 30
minutes before high tide. The ICOM 7300 and 17’ vertical
whip with a Wolf River Coil was quickly setup on the boat
antenna mount. A “CQ POTA” was called, followed by a
90-minute continuous pileup! The tide was now receding,
the anchor was pulled, and the second club assault on Old
Island was successfully entered in the log.
It was certainly a team effort and I
can’t thank Steve and Tom enough
for making this a really enjoyable
experience. We celebrated afterwards
at Johnson’s Tavern of course.
73,
Jim KO4MNB
73,
Jim KO4MNB
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