Support-Your-Parks Summer 2021 RATpedition, Day 1; park nine of ten

From the park's website:

The 36-room fieldstone lodge at this resort is named in honor of Jesse Hilton Stuart (1906-1984), Poet Laureate and native of Greenup County. Peruse Stuart’s works and personal mementos in the lodge reading room. Most of the rooms feature private patios and balconies overlooking beautiful Greenbo Lake.

Pictures

Greenbo Lake State Resort Park "This Way"
The fieldstone Jesse Stuart Lodge
A pretty flower. What is it?
"Sow Belly"
"Speed Limit 9½ mph"
Rock outcropping
Eric's station

Description

For the Parks on the Air program (POTA; link) Support Your Parks Summer 2021 Plaque Event on the weekend of July 17-18, 2021, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed an aggressive two-day activation schedule with an overnight stop in Portsmouth, Ohio. The route of Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, would cover over 300 miles, would include fifteen stops in two states, and would lead to twenty-one successful POTA activations with 421 QSOs made. Over the weekend, Eric would encounter rain, thunderstorms, and brilliant sunshine.

Following a successful activation at Waterloo Wildlife Area (K-8633) (link), a successful two-fer activation of Lake Hope State Park (K-1968) and Zaleski State Forest (K-5455) (link), a successful activation at Lake Alma State Park (K-1967) (link), a successful activation at Cooper Hollow Wildlife Area (K-8634) (link), a successful activation at Jackson Lake State Park (K-1962) (link), and a successful two-fer activation of Dean State Forest (K-5438) and Wayne National Forest (K-4521) (link), Eric's seventh stop of the day was Greenbo Lake State Resort Park (K-1280) in Kentucky.

Eric arrived at the Greenbo Lake State Resort Park "Jesse Stuart Lodge" at about 2115 UTC and, after selecting a parking place in the most remote corner of the parking area, deployed his 28½' wire vertical on his Jackite 31' telescoping fiberglass mast and drive-on mount. Because of the lingering possibility of rain and thunderstorms, and because of his aggressive time schedule, Eric set up his KX3 inside his car. Eric was on the air at 2136 UTC.

The cell-signal at this location allowed Eric to use the POTA Spots website (link) to spot himself and to look for possible park-to-park (P2P) QSOs.

Eric began operations by checking POTA Spots for P2P QSO opportunities and at 2140 UTC he made a P2P QSO on 20m with WD5GRW who was activating Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge (K-0548) in Texas.

Finding his own frequency to run on 40m, Eric made eleven QSOs between 2142 UTC and 2200 UTC. This run included a P2P QSO with ND9M who was activating Greenbrier State Park (K-1575) in Maryland.

Eric then made a single QSO on 80m with his friend K8RAT before checking POTA Spots for more P2P QSO opportunities. At 2204 UTC he made a P2P QSO on 40m with W8MSC who was activating Island Lake State Recreation Area (K-3315) in Michigan. At 2207 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 40m with KE4HC who was activating Paris Landing State Park (K-2965) in Tennessee.

Finding a frequency to run on 30m, Eric made four additional QSOs between 2209 UTC and 2216 UTC. This run started with a P2P QSO with special-event station W0W who was activating California National Historic Trail (K-4566) in Missouri.

Finally, after checking POTA Spots again for P2P QSO opportunities, at 2218 UTC, Eric made a P2P QSO on 40m with AB9HP who was activating Lieber State Recreation Area (K-5685) in Illinois.

Because he was rapidly running out of UTC-day, Eric tore down his station in order to proceed to his final location.

In all, Eric made twenty QSOs, including six P2P QSOs. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made at the 5-watt level.

Eric also submitted his log to the World Wide Flora and Fauna in Amateur Radio (WWFF; link) program.

(return)

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