by William Eric McFadden

From the Burr Oak State Park website:

As one of Ohio's resort parks, Burr Oak State Park blends modern convenience with Ohio's wilderness spirit. Miles of forested ridges and hollows can be found here. The park offers a rustic full-service lodge with family suites and a cozy campground with easy access to the lake. A substantial trail system ranges from easy to difficult with portions intersecting the statewide Buckeye Trail.

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Description

The view of the water tower from Eric's operation location -- click to enlarge On Saturday, September 19, 2020, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful activation of Burr Oak State Park as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program while participating in the New England QRP Club's annual QRP Afield QRP field contest. Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, was accompanied by his wife Vickie, his daughter Kate, and their three dogs, Bo, Theo, and Mindy.

Eric, Vickie, Kate, and the dogs arrived at the Burr Oak State Park water tower at about 1900 UTC and found the area to be unoccupied. Eric deployed his 28½' wire vertical on his Jackite 31' telescoping fiberglass mast which he supported on the drive-on mount. Because the weather was nice, Eric chose to operate outside the car, and he set up his KX3 on his folding camp-chair which he placed adjacent to his mast. Eric was on the air at 1915 UTC.

Eric's plans for this operation were to concentrate on making QRP Afield QSOs, although he did self-spot himself on the POTA Spots website so Hunters could find him.

Eric began operations on 80m and made two QSOs on that band: KC5F in North Carolina at 1920 UTC and NT2A in New York at 1922 UTC.

Switching to 40m at 1924 UTC, Eric's first QSO there came at 1927 UTC with N3XLS in Pennsylvania. QSOs came steadily, if not quickly, with Eric's seventh QSO on 40m coming at 1938 UTC with K2LT in New York.

Switching to 20m at 1941 UTC, Eric made a single QSO there, at 1946 UTC with W6LEN in California.

Switching to 30m at 1947 UTC, Eric made a single QSO there, at 1950 UTC with K4ARQ in Florida.

In all, Eric made eleven QSOs, which included four QRP Afield-eligible 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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