Amateur Radio Station WD8RIF | POTA Activation Strouds Run State Park

by William Eric McFadden

From the Strouds Run State Park website:

Strouds Run State Park is located in the scenic forested hills of Athens County, in the midst of the unglaciated Appalachian Plateau. Although untouched by the vast ice sheets that moved across portions of the state over 12,000 years ago, Strouds Run displays the effects of the glaciers -- in the deep ravines and high hills -- where the valleys served as outlets for torrents of glacial meltwaters. The erosive power of these waters carved the valleys and hillsides, creating the familiar topography Ohioans know today. Large deposits of glacial outwash, primarily sand and gravel, were deposited along these streams and strongly affected the type of biological communities present today.

Pictures

Saturday:

Eric's station: outside view | inside view

Sunday:

Eric's station: outside view | inside view
Rain through the windsheild

Description

On Saturday and Sunday, December 14 and 15, 2024, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed two successful activations of Strouds Run State Park (US-1994) as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.

Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, visited Bulldog Shelter within Strouds Run State Park on Saturday and Sunday for POTA activations of the park while simultaneously participating in the ARRL 10-Meter Contest. At both visits to the park, Eric was accompanied by his small dog Theo.

"Saturday in the Park with Theo"

Saturday morning was cool but clear when Eric and Theo arrived at Bulldog Shelter within Strouds Run State Park at 1526 UTC. Because of the cool temperature, Eric operated inside his car, deploying his 28½' end-fed random wire antenna as a vertical hung from a Jackite 31' telescoping mast in a drive-on base, placing three 17' counterpoise wires on the ground, mounting his Elecraft KX3 on his car's passenger-side dash, and balancing his logging notebook PC on the driver's seat. After taking Theo for a bit of a walk, Eric was on the air at about 1550 UTC.

For logging, Eric ran N1MM Logger+ software (link) on an inexpensive Maestro Evolve III sub-notebook PC. This little PC accepts 12VDC at the charge socket, and this was the first time that Eric had used a notebook PC in his car while charging it with his car's DC bus. The laptop worked beautifully in this mode and there was no switching power supply hash or other RFI to deal with.

For this activation, Eric operated solely in hunt-and-pounce mode, starting at the bottom of the 10m band and working his way up the band, answering the strong stations calling CQ. Initially, Eric limited himself to working only foreign stations, but his final QSO of the day was with a domestic station. Probably because of his output of only 5w and his compromise field antenna, Eric had to repeat his callsign more often than he would have hoped but he was able to complete QSOs with most of the stations he tried calling. Over a period of about ninety minutes, Eric managed to complete twenty-five QSOs.

2024-12-14 Strouds Run State Park							
Freq	Mode	Date		Time	Exch (S)	Call	Exch (R)	
28006	CW	12/14/2024	1551	599 OH		IH1MM	599 846		Italy
28010	CW	12/14/2024	1555	599 OH		VE9KK	599 NB		New Brunswick
28012	CW	12/14/2024	1556	599 OH		SP1NY	599 532		Poland
28016	CW	12/14/2024	1559	599 OH		PA0O	599 439		Netherlands
28021	CW	12/14/2024	1602	599 OH		F5IN	599 540		France
28023	CW	12/14/2024	1604	599 OH		PY2EX	599 339		Brazil
28024	CW	12/14/2024	1605	599 OH		DK9PY	599 730		Germany
28025	CW	12/14/2024	1607	599 OH		TM8O	599 601		France
28026	CW	12/14/2024	1608	599 OH		F5PHW	599 236		France
28032	CW	12/14/2024	1611	599 OH		OM7M	599 993		Slovakia
28039	CW	12/14/2024	1616	599 OH		SN2B	599 1039	Poland
28056	CW	12/14/2024	1624	599 OH		HK3RD	599 503		Columbia
28002	CW	12/14/2024	1632	599 OH		WP3C	599 544		Puerto Rico
28015	CW	12/14/2024	1637	599 OH		DL2DX	599 469		Germany
28025	CW	12/14/2024	1642	599 OH		GM4Z	599 275		Scotland
28030	CW	12/14/2024	1644	599 OH		DL5AXX	599 490		Germany
28036	CW	12/14/2024	1648	599 OH		F5NBX	599 396		France
28062	CW	12/14/2024	1654	599 OH		EA7Q	599 538		Spain
28062	CW	12/14/2024	1654	599 OH		OK1DOL	599 636		Czech Republic
28084	CW	12/14/2024	1701	599 OH		MM2N	599 1061	Scotland
28095	CW	12/14/2024	1704	599 OH		LU4HK	599 114		Argentina
28110	CW	12/14/2024	1706	599 OH		KP4AA	599 1363	Puerto Rico
28004	CW	12/14/2024	1710	599 OH		NP2X	599 1420	US Virgin Islands
28027	CW	12/14/2024	1713	599 OH		VE5MX	599 SK		Saskatchewan, Canada
28034	CW	12/14/2024	1714	599 OH		KF0UR	599 CO

Due to family obligations, Eric's operation at Strouds Run State Park was his only participation in ARRL 10-Meter Contest on Saturday.

"Sunday in the Park with Theo"

Sunday morning again brought cool temperatures but also rain. Eric and Theo arrived at Bulldog Shelter at 1500 UTC during a slight lull in the rain, and Eric wasted no time in setting up his station. Just as he had on Saturday, Eric chose to operate inside his car, deploying his 28½' end-fed random wire antenna as a vertical hung from a Jackite 31' telescoping mast in a drive-on base, placing three 17' counterpoise wires on the ground, mounting his Elecraft KX3 on his car's passenger-side dash, and balancing his logging notebook PC on the driver's seat. Eric was on the air at 1510 UTC.

As he had on Saturday, for logging, Eric ran N1MM Logger+ on a Maestro Evolve III sub-notebook PC powered directly from his car's DC bus.

It's possible that band conditions on Sunday might have been slightly less exciting than they had been on Saturday, but Eric managed to use his 5w and his compromise antenna to make fifty QSOs in not quite three hours of operating. As he had on Saturday of the event, Eric began by calling only foreign stations, but after about an hour, he began calling stateside stations, too, in order to increase his QSO-count and rate.

2024-12-15 Strouds Run State Park							
Freq	Mode 	Date       	Time 	Exch	Call	Exch	
28009	CW	12/15/2024	1512	599 OH	IP2A	599 1855	Italy
28017	CW	12/15/2024	1514	599 OH	MM0T	599 1294	Scotland
28028	CW	12/15/2024	1517	599 OH	OR6T	599 1217	Belgium
28049	CW	12/15/2024	1528	599 OH	F5OHM	599 249		France
28054	CW	12/15/2024	1529	599 OH	D4Z	599 2670	Cape Verde
28054	CW	12/15/2024	1530	599 OH	SM5INC	599 956		Sweden
28056	CW	12/15/2024	1533	599 OH	9A3A	599 1099	Croatia
28060	CW	12/15/2024	1536	599 OH	G4BUO	599 228		England
28001	CW	12/15/2024	1539	599 OH	TM6M	599 1810	France
28011	CW	12/15/2024	1545	599 OH	SM6M	599 436		Sweden
28020	CW	12/15/2024	1552	599 OH	CR3DX	599 2812	Madeira Island
28040	CW	12/15/2024	1606	599 OH	M4T	599 75		England
28051	CW	12/15/2024	1616	599 OH	DK5KK	599 616		Germany
28054	CW	12/15/2024	1618	599 OH	CT7BJG	599 110		Portugal
28058	CW	12/15/2024	1620	599 OH	II2Q	599 1616	Italy
28068	CW	12/15/2024	1623	599 OH	WK0P	599 CO	
28069	CW	12/15/2024	1625	599 OH	N4VI	599 CO	
28071	CW	12/15/2024	1626	599 OH	PY2NA	599 614		Brazil
28006	CW	12/15/2024	1628	599 OH	KC7V	599 AZ	
28032	CW	12/15/2024	1642	599 OH	K7RAT	599 OR	
28034	CW	12/15/2024	1643	599 OH	VE6WP	599 AB		Alberta, Canada
28037	CW	12/15/2024	1645	599 OH	K0AV	599 CO	
28040	CW	12/15/2024	1649	599 OH	N9RV	599 MT	
28042	CW	12/15/2024	1650	599 OH	WD0T	599 SD	
28044	CW	12/15/2024	1652	599 OH	W6RW	599 AZ	
28044	CW	12/15/2024	1653	599 OH	XE2X	599 TAM		Mexico
28045	CW	12/15/2024	1655	599 OH	VA1MM	599 NS		Nova Scotia, Canada
28047	CW	12/15/2024	1655	599 OH	VE6UM	599 AB		Alberta, Canada
28062	CW	12/15/2024	1659	599 OH	KH7Q/W7	599 AZ	
28065	CW	12/15/2024	1708	599 OH	N7IV	599 ND	
28081	CW	12/15/2024	1710	599 OH	K6WSC	599 AZ	
28087	CW	12/15/2024	1712	599 OH	ZP0X	599 2289	Paraguay
28103	CW	12/15/2024	1714	599 OH	K6SRZ	599 CA	
28117	CW	12/15/2024	1719	599 OH	WS7V 	599 WA	
28119	CW	12/15/2024	1721	599 OH	N6KN	599 CA	
28120	CW	12/15/2024	1723	599 OH	CS2C	599 979		Czech Republic
28004	CW	12/15/2024	1726	599 OH	TI2OY	599 512		Costa Rica
28007	CW	12/15/2024	1726	599 OH	NG7M	599 UT	
28009	CW	12/15/2024	1728	599 OH	N6TV	599 CA	
28017	CW	12/15/2024	1730	599 OH	N0IM	599 CO	
28016	CW	12/15/2024	1731	599 OH	VE6RST	599 AB	
28023	CW	12/15/2024	1736	599 OH	K6ZB	599 TX	
28024	CW	12/15/2024	1737	599 OH	VE6WQ	599 AB		Alberta, Canada
28036	CW	12/15/2024	1738	599 OH	N2IC	599 NM	
28038	CW	12/15/2024	1742	599 OH	G6T	599 1021	England
28046	CW	12/15/2024	1746	599 OH	N5LZ	599 UT	
28065	CW	12/15/2024	1755	599 OH	N6SS	599 AZ	
28098	CW	12/15/2024	1801	599 OH	KP2B	599 1191	US Virgin Islands
28098	CW	12/15/2024	1802	599 OH	K5WY	599 NM	
28115	CW	12/15/2024	1804	599 OH	VY2LI	599 PE		Prince Edward Island, Canada

Sometime during this three hours of operating, Eric noticed that the rain outside the car had gotten heavy enough that water was running down his antenna wire, past the car door's rubber seals, and was dripping into the car. Clearly, a drip-loop in the antenna wire was needed outside the car but Eric didn't feel like getting soaked by stepping outside the car to rearrange his wire.

In all, Eric made seventy-five QSOs at Strouds Run State Park over the two days of operating, and completed two valid POTA activations. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made at five watts output.

Sunday, at home

Unlike on Saturday, after his Sunday operation at Strouds Run State Park was over, Eric was able to continue participating in the ARRL 10-Meter Contest once he was back home. Using the same Elecraft KX3 transceiver and his ground-mounted Hustler BTV vertical antenna and his 135' ladderline-fed doublet, Eric made an additional twenty-eight ARRL 10-Meter Contest QSOs. (These QSOs, of course, would not be included in Eric's submission to POTA.)

2024-12-15 Home Station								
Freq	Mode	Date       	Time	Exch	Call	Exch		
28001	CW	12/15/2024	2012	599 OH	W7WA	599 WA		
28008	CW	12/15/2024	2016	599 OH	K6LL	599 AZ		
28008	CW	12/15/2024	2017	599 OH	W7VJ	599 WA		
28009	CW	12/15/2024	2019	599 OH 	WA7NB	599 AZ		
28016	CW 	12/15/2024	2023	599 OH 	W6PH	599 CA		
28018	CW 	12/15/2024	2024	599 OH	AA6PW 	599 CA 		
28021	CW 	12/15/2024	2025	599 OH	XE2S	599 SON		Mexico
28035	CW 	12/15/2024	2027	599 OH	W8KA	599 AZ		
28056	CW 	12/15/2024	2029	599 OH	WJ9B	599 ID		
28061	CW 	12/15/2024	2035	599 OH	AB7R 	599 ID		
28062	CW 	12/15/2024	2037	599 OH	KS7X/W7	599 AZ		
28071	CW 	12/15/2024	2039	599 OH	PW2E	599 3057	Brazil
28112	CW 	12/15/2024	2043	599 OH	SJ2W	599 2345	Sweden
28013	CW 	12/15/2024	2047	599 OH	N6ZFO	599 CA 		
28013	CW 	12/15/2024	2049	599 OH	K7BTW	599 WA		
28019	CW 	12/15/2024	2050	599 OH	VP5V	599 2960	Turks and Caicos Islands
28035	CW 	12/15/2024	2052	599 OH	K8IA	599 AZ		
28036	CW 	12/15/2024	2053	599 OH	KM7W	599 MT		
28039	CW 	12/15/2024	2056	599 OH	CX2BR	599 1601	Uruguay
28043	CW 	12/15/2024	2058	599 OH	VA7DZ	599 BC		British Columbia, Canada
28052	CW 	12/15/2024	2101	599 OH	K0MF	599 CO		
28009	CW 	12/15/2024	2104	599 OH	K6AR	599 CA		
28026	CW 	12/15/2024	2107	599 OH	N5RZ	599 TX		
28028	CW 	12/15/2024	2108	599 OH	N5TJ	599 TX		
28058	CW 	12/15/2024	2119	599 OH	N5ZO	599 CA		
28062	CW 	12/15/2024	2120	599 OH	K0XF	599 CO		
28068	CW 	12/15/2024	2122	599 OH	KP2M	599 1065	US Virgin Islands
28002	CW 	12/15/2024	2224	599 OH	NP3A	599 2263	Puerto Rico

Eric felt that QSOs might have been slightly easier to complete using the home-station antennas. He was certainly more comfortable operating in the dry and comfortably-warm hamshack, while sitting in a real chair, with his transceiver, key, and logging computer at a correct height on a real desk, than he had been while operating in a cold and damp, slightly-too-small car.

With 103 QSOs, at 4 points/QSO and a multiplier of 45, Eric's submitted score to ARRL was 18,540 points.

Eric also submitted logs to the World Wide Flora and Fauna in Amateur Radio (WWFF; link) program for two operations at Strouds Run State Park, KFF-1994.

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