Hams on Hog Island – A QRPxpedition
What could be more appropriate than hams activating Hog Island in southwestern Florida for the US Islands award program? My XYL, Ruthie, K4KLQ, and I love to play radio — especially with QRP rigs, simple antennas, and in unusual places. This mostly takes place during our RV adventures, along woodland trails or atop distant mountain summits (SOTA and POTA). But sometimes the best places may be close to home. We live in Port Charlotte on Grassy Point, a small peninsula jutting out into Charlotte Harbor, a bay which includes one of the world’s largest protected marine estuaries encompassing 270 square miles with 219 miles of natural shoreline.
Cruising the waters of Charlotte Harbor is always great fun. This area is world-renowned for its great boating and fishing, largely due to its shoreline being completely natural. Long ago, before Charlotte Harbor could become citified, the State of Florida passed laws protecting natural shorelines from development.
Developers and even private land-owners are not permitted to cut the mangrove trees that line many
