by William Eric McFadden

From the Strouds Run State Park website:

Located outside of the city of Athens and within easy driving distance of Ohio University, Strouds Run State Park surrounds Dow Lake and draws a mix of trail and lake users. Miles of hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding provide scenic views from rugged trails. The lake offers boating, paddling, swimming and a shaded campground.

Pictures

Description

On Friday, October 10, 2025, 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) program.

Taking advantage of a lovely early-Fall afternoon to do both a bicycle ride and a POTA activation, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, bicycled from his work-office's parking lot to Bobcat Shelter within Strouds Run State Park. Because they temporarily had just one car, Eric's wife (and infant grandchildren) \ dropped him off at his office and then left to run errands.

Eric arrived on his bicycle at Bulldog Shelter—his usual haunt at Strouds Run State Park—at 2025 UTC, finding it to be completely unoccupied. Selecting a picnic table in the afternoon shade, Eric deployed his 35' ad hoc EFRW antenna as a sloper up to the top of a Goture Red Fox Super Hard 720 carbon-fiber mast strapped vertically to his bicycle, placing three 17' counterpoise wires directly on the ground. Placing his Elecraft KH1 on the picnic table, hooking up his Whiterook MK-33 single-lever paddle, and connecting a pair of earbuds, Eric was on the air at 2037 UTC.

As he has come to expect at this location, Eric had cell-signal at Bulldog Shelter, and he would be able to access POTA Spots to spot himself and to find Park-to-Park (P2P) QSO opportunities.

Eric started his operation on 20m. Finding himself a clear frequency to run, he began to call "CQ POTA" and was auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO came at 2040 UTC with KC1MXB in Maine. QSOs came quickly, with Eric's tenth QSO coming at 2050 UTC with VA3KEI in Ontario. This run included QSOs with operators located in Florida (3), Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Ontario, and Vermont.

Having successfully validated his activation by making ten QSOs, Eric finished his operation by hunting for P2P QSOs. At 2057 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 20m with W4SK who was activating Arkabutla Lake State Recreation Area (US-7124) in Missouri. At 2059 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 20m with WW9R who was activating Grand Canyon National Park (US-0030) in Arizona. At 2101 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 20m with NA9M who was activating Capital City State Trail (US-9773) in Wisconsin. Finally, at 2108 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 20m with WB9CYY who was activating Seyon Lodge State Park (US-3142) in Vermont.

In all, Eric made fourteen QSOs, including four P2P QSOs, in just about thirty minutes of on-air time. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made at five watts output.

After taking some more photos, Eric re-packed his bicycle and began his ride to meet his wife and grandchildren, this time at the Athens Public Library.

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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