by William Eric McFadden
From the park website:
-
Located in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains in scenic north-central West Virginia, Tygart Lake State Park provides guests with a quiet vacation spot and breathtaking views. Just four miles south of Grafton, Tygart Lake State Park is known for its 10-mile long, 1,750-acre lake, which offers water activities like boating, water skiing, scuba diving, swimming, kayaking, canoeing and fishing. The park is surrounded by beautiful mountain views and provides lakeside lodging perfect for relaxation and unwinding after a full day of play.
Pictures
Description
On Friday, October 2, 2020, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team
performed a successful activation of Tygart Lake State Park in West Virginia as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link)
program.
On a cool, overcast early Fall day, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, performed the activation of Tygart Lake State Park in the swimming-beach parking area. Eric was accompanied by his wife Vickie and their dogs, Theo and Mindy.
Eric, Vickie, and the dogs arrived at the Tygart Lake State Park at about 1845 UTC. After a bit of exploring, the quartet found their way to the empty swimming-beach parking area. After choosing a suitable place to park, and while Vickie walked the little dogs, Eric deployed his 28½' wire antenna on his 31' Jackite telescoping fiberglass mast and drive-on base. Because of the cool temperature, Eric set up his KX3 inside the car and was on the air by 1917 UTC.
Pleased to find he had good cell-signal at the site, Eric self-spotted himself to POTA Spots (link) and began operations on 80m.
Eric's first QSO came at 1921 UTC with N8II in West Virginia. This was followed by a QSO at 1923 UTC with NT2A in New York, and by a QSO at 1925 UTC with K8RAT in Ohio.
Switching to 40m, Eric's first QSO there came at 1932 UTC with WA9VFD in North Carolina. QSOs came steadily, with Eric's tenth QSO on 40m coming at 1948 UTC with WD9DAU in Tennessee.
After checking POTA Spots for possible park-to-park (P2P) QSOs, Eric made a P2P QSO on 30m at 1954 UTC with NK8O who was activating Frontenac State Park (K-2484) in Minnesota. Finding his own 30m frequency, Eric made a QSO at 1955 UTC with K9IA in Florida and at 1956 UTC with KD1CT in New Hampshire.
In all, Eric made sixteen 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)