Description
On Sunday, July 30, 2023, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed successful simultaneous bicycle-portable activations of Blennerhassett Island State Park and Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail in West Virginia as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program while participating in the Adventure Radio Society's Flight of the Bumblebees field event as Bumblebee #42.
Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, performed his operation at the ruins of Neale House on Blennerhassett Island. Eric was accompanied by his wife, Vickie, and their two small dogs, Theo and Ginny.
Eric, Vickie, and the dogs arrived in Parkersburg in plenty of time to buy round-trip tickets to Blennerhassett Island on the Island Belle sternwheeler, and prepare Eric's bicycle and the dog trailer, before meeting the Belle at Point Park for the noon departure to Blennerhassett Island.
Sternwheeler Island Belle readying to leave Point Park.
Island Belle's sternwheel.
Underway to Blennerhassett Island on the Island Belle.
Approaching the landing on Blennerhassett Island.
Island Belle secure on the landing on Blennerhassett Island.
The Belle arrived at Blennerhassett Island at about 12:20 pm and the passengers, both human and canine, disembarked. While Vickie bought herself tickets and toured the Blennerhassett Mansion, Eric loaded Theo and Ginny into bicycle dog-trailer and began his short ride to the ruins of Neale House. Unfortunately, Eric made his departure at exactly the wrong time, and ended up being stuck behind one of the park's horse-drawn wagons as it slowly made its way up the road at 3 mph, with absolutely no opportunity to pass. No matter—the slow pace gave Eric time to pause take in the sights and make photographs, and it gave Theo and Ginny time to bark at the horses.
Blennerhassett Mansion.
Blennerhassett Mansion.
Putnam-Houser House.
The "Old Log Cabin".
Eric and the dogs arrived at the ruins of Neale House at about 12:45 pm and, with ample shade and a well-placed picnic table, it turned out to be an even better location for field radio than Eric had had any reason to hope. Eric walked the dogs, then secured them and began setting up his station for Flight of the Bumblebees. Eric bungied his Goture Red Fox Super Hard 720 carbon-fiber mast vertically to his bicycle; sloped his Tufteln (link) 35' EFRW antenna up to top the mast; and deployed two 17' counterpoise wires, using the Tufteln Antenna Counterpoise Add-On Kit, directly on the ground. (Eric would have deployed three counterpoise wires had there been any way to do so without the third one becoming tangled up by the dogs.) Placing his Elecraft KX2 on the nicely shaded picnic table adjacent to the ruins of Neale House, Eric was on the air at 1708 UTC, only eight minutes after the start of the event.
The ruins of Neale House.
The ruins of Neale House.
Big Foot at the ruins of Neale House. Wait, what?
A horse-drawn wagon (slowly) passes the ruins of Neale House.
Eric's station.
As Eric had hoped, he had good cell-signal at this location on Blennerhassett Island and, if necessary, he would be able able to spot himself on POTA Spots (link) and to use POTA Spots to identify possible park-to-park (P2P) QSO opportunities.
With there being over 100 Bumblebees registered within Flight of the Bumblebees, Eric planned to perform his operation as a straight contest operation and easily be able to make the ten QSOs required to validate his Parks on the Air two-fer activation of Blennerhassett Island State Park (K-1803) and Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail (K-4572) without having to resort to spotting himself to POTA spots. Since spotting is not allowed in Flight of the Bumblebees, if he were forced to have to spot himself in order to get his ten QSOs to validate his POTA activations, Eric would not count any of the QSOs made after he was spotted toward his Flight of the Bumblebees score.
Eric had been warned by his friend K8RAT that HF conditions were very poor due to an ongoing proton storm. Undeterred, Eric began his operation on 20m by searching for Flight of the Bumblebees participants calling CQ and, despite rapid and deep signal fading, he managed to work three station in about five minutes. Finding himself a frequency to run, Eric managed to make another four QSOs before band conditions briefly improved to reveal that there were at least three other stations running the same frequency.
Hoping 15m might be more stable, Eric switched to that band and succeeded in hearing and working one Bumblebee.
Returning to 20m, Eric managed to make five more QSOs, in a mix of hunting and running a frequency.
In all, Eric made thirteen QSOs in not quite an hour of on-air time. All of the QSOs were with other participants in Flight of the Bumblebees, and all were CW and were made with five watts output.
| Time | Band | Station | Exchange |
| 1710 | 20m | N0SS | MO BB#23 |
| 1713 | 20m | W4MPS | NC 5W |
| 1714 | 20m | AD0YM | MO BB#32 |
| 1717 | 20m | W3PD | PA 5W |
| 1719 | 20m | W0ITT | MO BB#90 |
| 1723 | 20m | K4UWG | FL BB#49 |
| 1725 | 20m | K2SQS | NJ 5W |
| 1737 | 15m | AG7TX | NV BB#35; POTA K-4391 + K-3389 |
| 1744 | 20m | KG8YT | MI BB#84 |
| 1747 | 20m | KC3MIO | PA BB#96 |
| 1754 | 20m | VA3SIE | ON BB#111 |
| 1755 | 20m | K4BAI | GA 5W |
| 1803 | 20m | NX1K | MA BB#37 |
After tearing down the station, Eric and the dogs explored the group camping area immediately behind Neale House before loading up the bicycle and trailer and completing the short ride on the loop road back to the boat landing.
The Ohio River as viewed from the group camping area.
Back at the landing, Eric found his wife and together they enjoyed a bit of food from the snack bar and toured the gift shop before boarding the Island Belle for the 3:30 pm departure back to Point Park.
Island Belle prior to departure.
Underway on the return to Point Park.
Island Belle's sternwheel, starboard.
Island Belle's sternwheel, port.
Approaching Point Park and, beyond it,
the Parkersburg-Belpre Bridge.
The railroad bridge over the Little Kanawha River.
Back at Point Park, Eric loaded the dogs back into the trailer and, before returning to the car, did a short bike ride on the bikeway that parallels the Ohio River.
Passing under the The Parkersburg-Belpre Bridge.
Passing under the Sixth Street Railroad Bridge.
For Flight of the Bumblebees, Eric calculated his score as follows:
QSOs on 20m: 12 QSOs on 15m: 1 QSOs, total: 13 Bumblebees: 9 Bumblebees Multiplier: 9*3=27 Score: 13*27=351 points
Eric submitted his log to POTA for successful activations of Blennerhassett Island State Park (K-1803) and Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail (K-4572). Eric also submitted his log to the World Wide Flora and Fauna in Amateur Radio (WWFF; link) program for Blennerhassett Island State Park, KFF-1803.
UPDATE: The official Flight of the Bumblebees results are available: 2023 ARS Flight of the Bumble Bees Tally.
(return)