by William Eric McFadden
From the park's website:
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Located in southeast Ohio, quiet and remote Burr Oak State Park has a rustic country charm in its 2,593-acre scenery of wooded hills and valley farms. As one of Ohio's resort parks, Burr Oak offers a wide array of overnight accommodations with its lodge, cabins and campground. Burr Oak blends modern conveniences with the wilderness spirit of Ohio.
Pictures
Description
One member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team succeeded in
performing a valid activation of Burr Oak State Park, K-1939, in Ohio as part of the the
Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program. Eric McFadden, WD8RIF,
visited Burr Oak State Park with is little dog Theo on an overcast but otherwise pleasant spring day.
Eric and Theo arrived at Burr Oak's Horseman's Area about 1710 UTC to find it devoid of both people and horses. Eric quickly deployed his 28½' end-fed wire supported on his Jackite 31' telescoping fiberglass mast and drive-on base while Theo explored the area. In deference to the need to maintain "social distance" during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Eric chose to operate inside his car, and he set up his KX3 on the passenger side of the car. After rounding up Theo, Eric was on the air by 1724 UTC.
Eric began operations on 80m and at 1732 UTC, succeeding in making a QSO with his good friend and fellow SEORAT-member, K8RAT. Eric called CQ for several more minutes, but no additional QSOs were made on 80m. Eric changed to 40m, at 1737 UTC.
On 40m, Eric's first QSO there came at WB9CTP in Illinois. QSOs came very quickly, with Eric's twentieth QSO on 40m coming at 1800 UTC with NE1D in Massachusetts. After the good run of QSOs on 40m, Eric switched to 20m at 1802 UTC.
Eric's first QSO on 20m came at 1810 UTC with the very familiar W6LEN in California. Not expecting much
action on 20m, Eric was surprised to work in quick succession ON3YB and ON4VT in Belgium, DL1EJA and
DL3DXX in Germany, W0YJT in Kansas, and OH1XT in Finland. Eric's final QSO on 20m came at 1820 UTC with
DL8NDG in Germany. Eric switched to 30m at 1822 UTC.
On 30m, Eric's first QSO came at 1824 UTC with W6LEN in California. This was followed by QSOs with NE1D in Massachusetts and VE9VIC in New Brunswick, Canada. Eric's final QSO came at 1831 UTC with AA4MB in Tennessee.
Eric was pleased and just a little bit startled to finish just over an hour of operating with thirty-three QSOs in his log. All the 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 although he didn't make enough QSOs to to achieve a valid activation within the program which requires 44 QSOs be made. However, the WWFF program allows these 44 QSOs be made over any number of visits so a valid activation within WWFF is still possible if subsequent visits to the park are made.
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