In this episode of the POTA Hunter Series, I sit down with Jeff Franklin, N3FMC (“Ford Motor Company”), a familiar voice that many Parks on the Air activators recognize instantly.

Jeff shares the story of how his fascination with radio began in early childhood after seeing his father’s pager and wondering how wireless communication worked. That curiosity quickly turned into experimentation with CB radios, homemade antennas, and eventually a full introduction to amateur radio.

We talk about Jeff’s early days in the hobby, including learning Morse code with the help of an Elmer, building Heathkit gear, experimenting with packet radio using a Commodore 64, and working with the ARRL in Washington, D.C. during the early efforts to protect amateur radio operators from restrictive zoning regulations.

Jeff also explains how he stepped away from the hobby for roughly 25 years while building a career and raising a family, only to rediscover amateur radio again recently. After returning, he quickly became a highly active POTA hunter, regularly working activators across multiple bands throughout the day from his home station near Philadelphia.

Jeff also shares practical advice about dealing with malicious interference, respecting band plans, and keeping the focus on what amateur radio is supposed to be about.

Fun, learning, experimentation, and connecting with great people.

• Video explaining call stacking and how to manage pileups using the PoLo app: https://youtu.be/hgAhKK9rxs8?si=fYTbm32LPe76bIJ-
• Starlink Mini Referral Link: https://starlink.com/residential?referral=RC-2708487-54905-74
• The Considerate POTA Operators Frequency Guide: Click Here

It’s been a while since I last released an episode of Cliff’s Notes on Amateur Radio, and in this episode, I share exactly why that is, what’s been happening in my world, and what finally brought me back behind the microphone.

Over the past several months, amateur radio took a back seat. Work was intense, winter was cold, and my focus was deeply anchored in other creative and professional commitments. I hadn’t been activating parks, I hadn’t been on the local repeaters much, and radio simply paused for me. That pause wasn’t intentional, but it was real.

What changed was an email.

Actually, two emails.

I start by reading a message from Pete (K6TRK), who shared an incredible story about discovering this podcast, binge-listening on a long drive, and then having his second-ever POTA contact be someone he had just heard on this show. Stories like that remind me why I started documenting this journey in the first place.

Then I read an email from Rick (K8DOJ) that landed at exactly the right moment. His words didn’t just encourage me to record another episode. They sent me out the door. Because of that email, I went out and completed my first Parks on the Air activation of 2026, my first since November of last year.

That activation turned into one of those days that reminds you why you love radio. One hundred thirty contacts. Familiar voices. New connections. And right at the end, a contact with Hawaii that pushed me over the line for the All States Hunter award, even if I still feel like North Dakota has my name on it.

I also share some practical notes from the activation, including my experience using a new headset with the Yaesu FT-891, how it performed in the field, and why hands-free operating made such a difference during the activation.

From there, the episode widens out.

I talk openly about my podcasting life as a whole, the shows I currently produce, and why amateur radio fits into my life differently than it did when I first got licensed. I reflect on the tension between passion, distraction, creativity, and focus, and how seasons of life naturally shift what gets attention.

I also respond directly to a question Rick raised. Why was I drawn to amateur radio in the first place?

Yes, I love the technology. Yes, I love learning new skills. But at the core, radio gives me another place to connect with people. To encourage. To serve. To remind someone on the other end of the signal that there’s a real human being there, not just another call sign in the log.

I close the episode with a simple invitation. If this podcast matters to you, if you enjoy following this journey, or if you have a story of your own to share, send me an email. More often than not, those messages are the very thing that brings me back on the air and back to the mic.

Thanks for listening, and as always, I encourage you to take everything you do in amateur radio, and in life, to the next level.

Email me anytime: cliff@cliffravenscraft.com
Call sign: KQ4UUR
73 and many blessings

In my series called POTA Hunters, I sit down with the voices I hear in nearly every activation to get to know the people behind those familiar call signs.

In this second episode, we meet Kevin “KEGMan” Giebel (W0KEG), one of the most dedicated and enthusiastic hunters in the Parks on the Air community. Though Kevin has only been licensed for about a year and a half, his passion and presence on the bands make him one of the most recognizable voices in POTA.

• Hear how Kevin got started in amateur radio and the story behind his unforgettable “KEGMan” nickname.
• Learn how he’s achieved over 34,000 Hunter QSOs across 6,545 parks, despite activating only five times himself.
• Discover his setup, equipment, and his trick for making consistent contacts.
• Get a peek into his club’s upcoming special event activation at Split Rock Lighthouse for the 50th anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald. They will be activating under the call WØJH for the “Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald Special Event” November 7 thru 10, 2025
• Enjoy stories about friendship, the joy of hunting, and the spirit of community that makes POTA so meaningful.

• Parks Activated: 5
• Parks Hunted: 6,545+
• Hunter QSOs: 34,000+

• Starlink Mini Portable Internet — Get one free month of service when you use my referral link. Perfect for activators who want reliable internet anywhere with an open sky. (Affiliate Link Here)
• HamRadioPrep.com — Use coupon code KQ4UUR to save on your exam prep course. It’s the program I used to earn a perfect score on both my Technician and General exams.

POTA Hunters is a series of episodes from the Cliff’s Notes on Amateur Radio podcast, where I connect with some of the most familiar and respected voices in the Parks on the Air community. Each conversation offers a behind-the-scenes look at the people who make this hobby so vibrant.

This episode contains my first conversation in a new series called POTA Hunters, where I sit down with the voices I hear in nearly every activation to get to know the people behind those familiar call signs.

Today, we meet AL7KC Mike Sambuco.

When I first got into Parks on the Air (POTA), I quickly noticed the awards page, especially the one for hunting all U.S. states. Because I was doing frequent activations and hunting park-to-park contacts, those boxes began filling in pretty fast. But one of the hardest to get, right up there with Hawaii, was Alaska.

Then one day, I heard Mike Sambuco (AL7KC) activating a park in Alaska. I can still remember how excited I was when I realized he could hear me and the QSO was confirmed.

Ever since that first contact, Mike has hunted me down in countless activations. I’ll never forget the time he followed me across five different bands during one outing. Even today, I’m always listening for his call sign to break through the pileup , though the band conditions between Kentucky and Alaska don’t always make it easy. Still, every time I hear “AL7KC” come through, it’s a thrill.

Mike’s profile on the POTA site speaks volumes:

• 125 successful activations
• 64 parks activated
• Over 4,800 QSOs from those parks
• And an incredible 26,000+ Hunter QSOs

In this conversation, you’ll hear how Mike first got interested in radio back in the early 1970s, starting with simple walkie-talkies on CB Channel 14. From there, his curiosity grew into a lifelong passion that has taken him from Ohio to Korea, and eventually to Alaska, where he’s been operating since 1988 under his current call sign, AL7KC.

Mike’s story is full of history, humility, and heart, the kind of story that reminds us why we all fell in love with radio in the first place.

My Ambitious POTA Goal: Activate 25 Parks in Two Days (THIS WEEKEND!)

Since earning my General License in September 2024, I’ve completely fallen in love with Parks On The Air (POTA).

One of the goals I set for myself early on was to activate every park in my home state of Kentucky, which has 183 recognized eligible POTA parks.

To track my progress, I exported the full Kentucky park database and created a custom Google My Maps visualization that updates as I go. You can view the live version of my map here:

👉 https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1VYmkWvF20huEIWebIo5fn7g8pJleOJQ&usp=sharing

Red pins = Parks I’ve already activated

Blue pins = Parks I still have left to activate

Yellow pins = The parks I’m planning to activate this weekend

Purple pins = Two bonus parks just across the border in West Virginia

Over the past year, I’ve already activated 33 of Kentucky’s 183 parks. This hobby has taken me to so many beautiful and historic places that I may never have visited otherwise. It’s been one of the most rewarding experiences of my amateur radio journey so far.

This weekend, Saturday, October 25th, and Sunday, October 26th, I’m attempting something ambitious:

Activate 26 parks in two days.

To accomplish this, I’ve mapped the entire route, calculated travel times between each location, and planned for roughly 20 minutes per successful activation before moving on to the next park.

👉 CLICK HERE TO SEE MY SPREADSHEET

I’ll be operating with my Yaesu FT-891 at 100 watts, paired with my ATAS-120a mobile HF antenna mounted on the car. My plan is to log at least 15 QSOs per park before packing up and heading to the next one.

If you’d like to follow along or help make this happen, add my call sign KQ4UUR to your HamAlert so you’ll know when I’m spotted in a new park. Quick contacts will help me reach all 25 parks before the weekend is over.

Now for the part I’m most excited about…

Up to this point, my POTA travels have been a solo adventure. But this time, my wife Stephanie and our dog Leo are joining me! We’ll be “road tripping” through scenic parts of Kentucky right as the autumn colors start to show and staying overnight in West Virginia on Saturday.

Stephanie has always been incredibly supportive of my amateur radio hobby, even though she’s never been personally interested in operating. But the idea of a fall road trip together (with Leo, of course) turned this challenge into what will be a fun and memorable shared adventure.

And who knows, you might even hear Stephanie on the air! I told her that if I get stuck making contacts, a female voice calling CQ would almost certainly help. Since I’ll be right there with her at the radio, she can legally operate as a third-party operator using my call sign KQ4UUR. So if you hear her calling “CQ Parks On The Air,” be sure to say hello!

If you notice us spotted in a park and then gone ten minutes later, just know it means we hit our 15 QSOs and had to move on quickly to stay on schedule.

I’d love your help in making this marathon activation weekend a success. Please share this with anyone who might enjoy following along or making contact with us.

See you on the air!

Cliff (KQ4UUR)

In this short episode, I’m bringing you behind the scenes and sharing two ideas that have been on my mind for Cliff’s Notes on Amateur Radio. I’m genuinely looking for your feedback to decide which of these ideas (maybe both!) I should move forward with.

The first idea is something I’m calling “POTA Hunters.”

As you probably know, I’ve been incredibly active with Parks on the Air (POTA). Over time, I’ve noticed that I regularly hear from the same voices, fellow operators who “hunt” me nearly every time I activate a park. Some of them have contacted me dozens of times. For instance, I’ve had 94 contacts with Jack Prindle (AB4WS) and 68 with Tom Francis (NV4H). I can recognize many of these voices instantly, and I’d love to learn more about the people behind the call signs.

So here’s the concept: I’d invite these frequent POTA hunters, folks who have worked me 20 times or more, to join me for short, conversational interviews. We’d talk about their amateur radio journey, how they got into the hobby, what they enjoy most about POTA, and maybe even their favorite activation stories or mishaps along the way.

If you’re an activator, you’ve probably worked some of these same people too, so I think this could be a really fun way for all of us to get to know the voices we hear so often on the air.

The second idea is an educational one: revisiting the Technician and General license material that I studied when I first got licensed.

When I first earned my licenses, I scored 100% on both exams. At the time, I memorized the answer to every question in the entire question pool for both the Technician and General exams. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean I understood every concept at the time. It’s been over a year since then, and I’ve been wondering: how much of that knowledge has really stuck?

I thought it might be interesting to go back through the entire question pool, section by section, right here on the podcast. I’d read each question aloud, share what I think the answer is, and then talk through whether that information has actually been useful or relevant in real-world operating. Basically, I’d be learning , or re-learning, out loud with you. Only this time, there’s no anxiety about making sure that I get the answer right on an upcoming test.

Both of these ideas could add something special to this show, but I don’t want to move forward without hearing from you first.

Would you be more interested in the “POTA Hunters” interviews, the “Re-Taking the Test” series, or both?

Send me your thoughts!

👉 Email me at cliff@cliffravenscraft.com and let me know what you think.

Your feedback will directly shape the direction of this podcast.

Until next time, 73!

This episode was inspired by a QSO with Ron Rowe, W2ELS. If you’d like to hear another episode of this podcast, there’s only one way to make it happen: hunt me down in the park, mention the show, and request a new one!

In this session, I share highlights from my recent Parks on the Air adventures and a few lessons learned along the way:

• Taking First Place at Decker WMA: The thrill of running pileups again and topping the charts in QSOs.
• Mic Challenges & Solutions:
  • My struggles with one-handed operation and transmit button.
  • Why I replaced my HM-219 mic.
  • Adding a Heil PTT foot switch and Pro Sound 6 IC headset.
  • Adapters for both the ICOM 7300 and FT-891.
• Ground Radial Mishap: How stepping on a JPC-12 radial led to a quick field repair with a terminal ring and crimpers (and why I’m so glad I bought good wire strippers).
• ATAS-120 Update: KG8Y Tom offered to help troubleshoot, which inspired me to register KQ4UUR.com.
• Go Bag Upgrades:
  • ERYY LiFePO4 25AH battery (fits perfectly in the backpack front pocket).
  • 25ft MOOKEERF RG316 coax with PL-259 connectors.
  • 45A fused connector to Anderson PowerPole adapter for clean power management.

With all that in place, my Portable Go Bag is finally complete and tested! It now includes:

• HF radio with mic and power cable
• JPC-12 antenna
• 3ft jumper coax and 1:1 choke
• Feedline coax
• RigExpert Stick 500 analyzer
• Handheld HT for 2m & 70cm
• Band allocation chart
• iPad for logging (with notebook & pen as backup)
• Starlink Mini (optional)
• Tuner and jumper coax (optional)
• Backup antennas
• Future addition: Gabil GRA-ULT01 MK3 mini tripod

In this episode, I sit down with no script, just a heart full of gratitude for this hobby that has become such a meaningful part of my life. It’s been about six weeks since the last episode, and a lot has happened since then. Here’s what I cover:

• The QSO That Sparked This Episode

  A parks-on-the-air activation at my favorite spot, Decker Wildlife Management Area, led to a surprise moment: someone on the other end of the mic told me they listen to this podcast and love it. That simple comment was enough to inspire me to hit record today.

• Call Signs, Vanity Temptations, and Community Feedback

  I reflect on my call sign, KQ4UUR, and the encouragement I’ve received to keep it, even as I admit the temptation for a shorter call sign if (or when) I get my Extra license. I share why this one has grown on me and the history behind almost changing it.

• Local Repeaters and the People Who Make Them Special

  I talk about the 146.790 and 145.370 repeaters in Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati, the voices I hear there, and the friendships forming through countless conversations. I also share why I avoid certain ham-radio lingo like “rag chew” and “ham” itself, and why “amateur radio operator” resonates more with me.

• Hamfests, GMRS, and Clearing the Air

  I share a meaningful conversation with the president of the Southwest Ohio GMRS Association at the Cincinnati Hamfest, clearing up some early misunderstandings from my first days in radio and reflecting on how GMRS actually led me to amateur radio in the first place.

• Club Leadership Invitations and Boundaries

  I was recently invited to be on the ballot for Vice President of the Northern Kentucky Amateur Radio Club. I explain why I declined. Not out of disinterest, but because of how I structure my days, my early mornings, and my commitment to staying in alignment with my personal priorities.

• Late-Night Activations and Parks on the Air Goals

  Despite my early bedtime, I found myself doing several activations that stretched well past my preferred bedtime. I talk about the challenge, the fun of chasing QSO counts, and how close I’m getting to taken over a second section of of the leaderboard for my favorite park.

• Starlink Mini and the Perfect POTA Setup

  I share how my Starlink Mini, with its new $5/month standby plan, has become essential gear for parks without cell service, making navigation and logging possible even in remote areas.

• Spurious Emissions and Radio Experiments

  I discuss a fascinating club presentation on spurious emissions, what I learned about unlocking radios, and why I’m now more cautious before transmitting on non-certified bands.

• Antennas, Gear, and Favorite Setups

  From my ATAS struggles to the JPC-12 vertical antenna that keeps impressing me, I give an update on what’s working, what’s not, and what gear I prefer usingly lately.

By the end of this episode, you’ll hear a mix of stories, lessons learned, and the small moments that keep me coming back to the mic.