by William Eric McFadden
From the state park website:
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Located in New Hanover County 12 miles south of Wilmington, Carolina Beach State Park is home to the Venus flytrap, a unique carnivorous plant. The park is known for habitats like Sugarloaf Dune, a 50-foot dune that once served as a navigational marker for river pilots, as well as three limesink ponds that each feature a unique plant community. The park's marina provides access to the Cape Fear River and the Intracoastal Waterway, making the area popular for boaters and anglers.
Pictures
Description
On Monday, May 5, 2025, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful activation of Carolina Beach State Park in North Carolina as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.
Following a visit to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher with is wife Vickie, and following successful activations of Fort Fisher State Recreation Area and Fort Fisher State Historic Site, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, performed an activation of Carolina Beach State Park.
After the difficulty he had had validating his activation at Fort Fisher State Historic Site, given the continuing poor solar numbers (SFI=159, SN=99, A-Index=25, K-Index=4), and given that his friend K8RAT, had reported thunderstorms approaching the North Carolina coast, Eric was feeling a bit hesitant about starting another activation. However, he decided he would visit the park and decide there whether or not to activate.
After a short drive from Fort Fisher State Historic Site, at about 2030 UTC, Eric and Vickie arrived at the Carolina Beach State Park Visitor Center, where they made a short stop to grab a park map and to learn a little bit about (and to see growing in the wild) the Venus flytrap and the Pitcher plant.
Based on the map, Eric had identified the marina and a picnic area as possibilities. Sensing that the marina might be prettier, they drove past the picnic area to the boat ramp area near the marina. Immediately upon seeing the view across the Cape Fear River, Eric was smitten and decided he would try an activation.
The view looking north across the Cape Fear River.
Near a bench with a view over the Cape Fear River, Vickie found a wee bit of shade under a small tree and pointed this out to Eric. He decided to operate there and deployed his 28½' end-fed random wire as a vertical on his 31' Jackite telescoping fiberglass mast bungied to his folding camp-chair, placing three 17' counterpoise wires directly on the ground. Placing his Elecraft KX2 on the camp-chair's flip-up table, Eric was on the air at 2106 UTC.
Eric operates; photos by Victoria McFadden.
As he had expected Eric found he had good cell-signal and 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 began his operation on 40m. Finding himself a clear frequency to run, he began calling "CQ POTA", and self-spotted himself on POTA Spots. His first QSO came at 2108 UTC with KD9JTU in Indiana. QSOs came very quickly, with Eric's twentieth QSO coming at 2137 UTC with N4GO in Kentucky. This run included QSOs with operators located in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey (3), North Carolina (3), Pennsylvania, Ohio (2), Tennessee, and Virginia (2).
Because Theo- and Ginny-dog were waiting in the rental cottage on Holden Beach, Eric did not change bands or hunt for P2P QSOs but ended his operation with twenty QSOs logged.
After the difficulty he had experienced at Fort Fisher State Historic Site, Eric was pleased to have been able to easily make twenty QSOs in just over half an hour of on-air time. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made with five watts output.
Following station tear-down, Eric took a few minutes to enjoy the scenery and make a few more photos.
Eric also submitted his log to the World Wide Flora and Fauna in Amateur Radio (WWFF; link) program.
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