by William Eric McFadden
From the Strouds Run State Park website:
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The park derives its name from the Strouds family who settled in the area in the early 1800s. The land was purchased by the state for forest conservation purposes from 1948 to 1953. The dam creating Dow Lake was completed in 1960. The lake bears the name of C.L. Dow of Ohio University who was instrumental in initiating the project.
Pictures
- Eric's KX2 station
- Eric's mast and antenna
- Views of Dow Lake from Eric's operating location: geese | a paddle-boarder | a fisherman
- Dow Lake: looking north | looking south
Description
On Sunday, June 16, 2024, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful bicycle-portable activation of Strouds Run State Park (US-1994) as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link).
Hoping he had started early enough to beat the coming heat, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, bicycled from his home to Bulldog Shelter within Strouds Run State Park. Before departing his home, Eric had noticed that the solar indices were elevated, with the A-Index at 18 and the K-Index at 3, and he expected band conditions to be rough.
Eric arrived at Bulldog Shelter at about 1440 UTC, finding it unoccupied except for a lone fly-fisherman set up on the edge of the lake near the picnic shelter. Choosing one of the available picnic tables at the site, Eric set up his Elecraft KX2, erected his Goture Red Fox Super Hard 720 carbon-fiber mast on his bicycle, sloped his Tufteln (link) 35' EFRW antenna from the KX2 up to top of the mast, and deployed three 17' counterpoise wires directly on the ground. Eric was on the air at 1444 UTC.
As he had expected he would, Eric found he had good cell-signal at this location and he would be able to spot himself on POTA Spots (link) and to use POTA Spots to identify possible park-to-park (P2P) QSO opportunities.
Eric's KX2 station.
Eric's mast and antenna.
Eric began his operation on 20m, finding himself a clear frequency to run and beginning to call "CQ POTA", and he was pleased to be auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO came at 1455 UTC with N4FTD in Florida. QSOs came steadily, with Eric's eleventh QSO, a P2P QSO, coming at 1515 UTC with VA2NB/VY2 who was activating Marine Rail Regional Park (CA-5775) on Prince Edward Island. This run included QSOs with operators located in Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Arkansas, Texas, New York, Colorado, Pennsylvania (2), Manitoba, and Prince Edward Island.
The view of Dow Lake from Eric's operating location with geese, ...
a paddle-boarder, ...
and the fly-fisherman.
After the run on 20m, Eric used POTA Spots to hunt for P2P QSOs. At 1521 UTC, he completed a P2P QSO on 20m with W5OC at San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site (US-3511) in Texas. At 1525 UTC, he completed a P2P QSO on 17m with WB0RLJ at Chalco Hills State Recreation Area (US-4011) in Nebraska. Finally, at 1531 UTC, he completed a P2P QSO on 40m with K4MI at Guinea Marsh Wildlife Management Area (US-9964) in Virginia.
Being somewhat surprised that 40m was proving to be productive for K4MI given the solar indices, Eric decided to throw caution to the winds and try for his own run on 40m. After finding himself a clear frequency to run, he began to call "CQ POTA" and self-spotted himself on POTA Spots. His first QSO in this run came at 1539 UTC with AD9EG in Indiana. His second came at 1541 UTC with KU8T in Indiana. His third came at 1542 UTC with his good friend Mike, K8RAT, in central Ohio.
Still hoping to beat the worst heat of the day, Eric decided to call it quits.
In all, Eric logged seventeen QSOs, with four P2P QSOs. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made at five watts output.
Before tearing down his station, Eric took a few more photos.
Dow Lake, looking north...
...and south.
During his operation, Eric enjoyed watching geese and a heron on the lake, the family of swallows who are nesting in the picnic shelter, and red-wing blackbirds.
Eric tore down his station, loaded everything back onto his bicycle, and rode back home.
Eric also submitted his log to the World Wide Flora and Fauna in Amateur Radio (WWFF; link) program for an operation at Strouds Run State Park, KFF-1994.
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