Activation Report: Sawgrass Lake Park (US-6700) — April 10, 2026
- 4 min reading time
Mode: FT8 (Digital) · Band: 20m · Radio: Xiegu X6200 via DigiPi · Contacts: 11 · Park: US-6700
Second activation at Sawgrass Lake Park — POTA reference US-6700, right here in St. Petersburg. A full day out, 5 hours on site, band conditions that fought me the whole way, technical gremlins to troubleshoot, and a TikTok live session running almost the entire time. Eleven contacts in the log and a whole lot learned.
The park
Sawgrass Lake Park is a 400-acre nature preserve tucked behind the neighborhoods off 25th Street North in St. Petersburg — one of the largest maple swamps on Florida's Gulf Coast with over 227 bird species recorded on site. It's a free park, quiet, and genuinely beautiful. I set up in an area with a large hill nearby and a picnic table right at the base — perfect for splitting the antenna and operating positions. The JPC-12 vertical went up on the hill with all 8 radials spread out across the slope, and a coax run fed back down to the picnic table where I had the battery box, DigiPi, X6200, and Android tablet set up for operating and monitoring.
Slight breeze, cool temperatures, and a beautiful Florida morning. The kind of day that makes you glad you got outside.
The setup — first DigiPi field activation
This was the first activation running the full DigiPi field setup — Raspberry Pi 4 running WSJT-X, connected to the X6200 via USB, controlled remotely from an Android tablet. Both the X6200 and the DigiPi ran off the home-built 32Ah LiFePO4 battery box all day without any power issues.
The antenna was the JPC-12 18.3-foot vertical with the ground plate and all 8 radials, mounted on the hill above the picnic table with coax running down to the operating position.
The technical issues — USB port conflicts on the RPi4
This one took a couple of hours to track down. The Raspberry Pi 4 kept showing the USB port as in use, blocking WSJT-X from establishing the connection to the X6200. The fix was straightforward once identified — unplugging and moving the connection to a different USB port on the Pi to find a free one — but diagnosing it in the field took time.
For anyone running DigiPi or a similar Raspberry Pi based setup in the field: if WSJT-X is throwing a port-in-use error, try each USB port on the Pi systematically before assuming it's a software or driver issue. A simple port swap may be all it takes. Also worth checking your DigiPi configuration before you leave home to confirm which USB port your radio connection is assigned to.
RF conditions — rough all day
Twenty meters was difficult. Band conditions were closed for much of the session, sporadically opening and closing and making contacts hard to come by. Eleven QSOs in five hours reflects the bands more than the setup — on a good propagation day this location and this antenna configuration would produce a very different contact count. That's the nature of HF radio and part of what makes it interesting.
The TikTok live — 157 viewers
This was the real experiment of the day. I went live on TikTok for almost the entire activation using a lapel mic, talking viewers through the setup, the troubleshooting process, and the operating session in real time. 157 viewers, 27 comments, and genuine engagement throughout.
Going live during a POTA activation turns a solo hobby into a shared experience — viewers can watch contacts come in, ask questions, and follow along with the troubleshooting in real time. The lapel mic made it easy to commentate hands-free while operating. It's a format worth repeating.
A park employee stopped by twice to check out the gear and ask how the activation was going — always a good sign that the setup looks interesting and non-threatening to park staff.
Would I activate here again?
Yes — Sawgrass is an easy, beautiful, and free park close to home base in St. Pete. The hill-and-picnic-table setup worked really well for separating the antenna from the operating position. On a day with better propagation this location would produce a strong contact count. And the TikTok live format is worth running here again — the park backdrop makes for good viewing.
Overall a productive day — figured out DigiPi field deployment, identified and solved the USB port issue, and found a live streaming format that works. Every activation teaches you something. 73 de W4GGJ
Full log uploaded to POTA and LoTW. 73 de W4GGJ