by William Eric McFadden

Pictures

Description

Bo -- click to enlarge
Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, participated in the 2017 running of the North Georgia QRP Club Peanut Power Sprint contest at Tom Jenkins Dam on Burr Oak Lake as Peanut #124. Eric was accompanied to the dam by his wife, Vickie, KC8MAJ, and their daughter's dog, Bo.

After a slightly late departure from Athens due to a sudden unavoidable conflict, Eric, Vickie, and Bo arrived at Tom Jenkins Dam about 2010 UTC, shortly after the start of the contest, finding the picnic shelter unoccupied. Eric quickly set up his NPOTA-proven Enhanced KX3 Travel Kit with the 28½' end-fed wire antenna supported by an MFJ 33' mast. Eric was on the air at 2020 UTC.

Band conditions on 20m excellent and Eric quickly made contacts on that band. Eric's first QSO came at 2022 UTC with AB9CA. Eric briefly checked 15m but found no activity there. He also checked 40m but found no Peanut Power Sprint activity there. Eric's seventeenth and final QSO came at 2118 UTC with K5BUI. All of Eric's QSOs were made on 20m and fourteen of the seventeen came as Eric ran a frequency.

An unexpected highlight of the operation for Eric was seeing a B-25 Mitchell WWII bomber fly over while he was tearing down the station.

A view of Burr Oak Lake -- click to enlarge
WD8RIF Log
Time (Z) Freq. Callsign SPC NR / PWR
2022 14063 AB9CA AL 164
2026 14061 WV0H CO 105
2032 14064 W5RST CO 5w
2034 14064 WK8S CO 129
2036 14064 KG7VAK OR 5w
2038 14064 WA4ZOF GA 313
2039 14064 KV6Z OK 291
2041 14064 K4ARQ FL 261
2042 14064 KF5RY TX 309
2044 14064 K4UPG FL 29
2054 14064 KA3J FL 1
2058 14064 K4BAI GA 177
2100 14064 K5IX TX 197
2109 14062 KB5FCF OK 310
2112 14064 N5GW MS 127
2116 14064 N7TML WA 5w
2118 14064 K5BUI LA 1w

UPDATE: Upon later realizing that North Country National Scenic Trail counts for both World Wide Fauna & Flora in Amateur Radio (WWFF) and Parks on the Air (POTA), I submitted my log for this operation to both organizations.

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