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
On Friday, June 12, 2020, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team
performed a successful activation of Burr Oak State Park in Ohio as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link)
program.
On a day perfect for field radio, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, performed the activation under the Burr Oak State Parks water tower while maintaining proper social distancing during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis while enroute to visit his parents in central Ohio, his first visit with them since the before onset of the the coronavirus crisis. Eric was accompanied by his wife Vickie and their two small dogs, Theo and Mindy.
Eric, Vickie, and the dogs arrived at water tower at about 1530 UTC and, after exploring the area a bit with the dogs, Eric decided to set up his station in a shady spot near a concrete post. Eric deployed his 28½' wire vertical on his MFJ-1910 33' telescoping fiberglass mast which he bungied to the concrete post. Eric set up his KX3 on his folding camp-chair. Eric was on the air at 1548 UTC.
Eric began operations on 20m, trying to make a Park-to-Park (P2P) QSO with W5LA who was performing an activation of Poverty Point Reservoir State Park, K-2373, in New York. Unfortunately, another strong station was also running on the same frequency and, after wasting too many minutes trying unsuccessfully to work W5LA, Eric gave up and switched to 80m at 1554 UTC.
On 80m, Eric spent several minutes calling "CQ POTA" with no takers. When Eric confirmed via text that his friend K8RAT couldn't hear him on 80m, Eric switched to 40m.
Eric's first QSO on 40m came at 1604 UTC with WA2FBN in New York. QSOs on 40m came quickly, with
Eric's tenth QSO coming at 1614 UTC with W5GDW in North Carolina. This run of QSOs included a QSO
with Eric's good friend K4SWL in North Carolina. Eric switched to 30m at 1616 UTC.
Eric managed only one QSO on 30m, at 1620 UTC, with K0NXV in Minnesota. After several unproductive minutes calling "CQ" with no takers, Eric switched to 20m at 1625 UTC.
Eric's first QSO on 20m came at 1628 UTC as a result of answering the CQ of KX0R who was performing a Summits on the Air (SOTA) activation. Eric's first QSO on his own 20m frequency came at 1630 UTC with VE1WT in Nova Scotia. QSOs came steadily on 20m with Eric's eighth QSO on 20m coming at 1639 UTC with KK0ECT in Colorado.
Wanting to hit the road for the hour-long drive to his parents' house, Eric finished up his operation at 1640 UTC.
In all, Eric made nineteen 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.
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