From the Lake Hope State Park website:

Lake Hope State Park offers a truly relaxing, yet rustic getaway from the high speed of modern life. The entire park lies within the Zaleski State Forest in the valley of Big Sandy Run. The park's heavily forested region is marked by steep gorges and narrow ridges with remnants of abandoned mining and iron-producing industries.

The park surrounds the lake and boasts a wooded family campground and a variety of cabins for families and gatherings of all sizes, including the roomy Laurel Lodge. No visit to the park is complete without a stop in the dining lodge for a hearty meal.

From the Zaleski State Forest website:

The 27,822-acre Zaleski State Forest is the second largest forest in Ohio's system of state forests.

Zaleski State Forest operates the only state-owned sawmill in Ohio. The mill produces rough sawn lumber for use by Ohio’s state forests and state parks as well as other government agencies.

Historic Moonville Tunnel is located within Zaleski State Forest on the Moonville Rail Trail right-of-way.

Pictures

Keeton Cemetery
Eric's station

Description

On Sunday, January 2, 2022, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful impromptu two-fer activation of Lake Hope State Park and Zaleski State Forest in Ohio as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.

Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, visited Keeton Cemetery within Lake Hope State Park on a cold, gray, and wet early-January day following several days of unseasonably warm weather to perform his first two-fer activation in 2022 of Lake Hope State Park and Zaleski State Forest.

Eric arrived at Keeton Cemetery at about 1550 UTC, parked his car, and quickly set up his 28½' wire vertical on his Jackite 31' telescoping fiberglass mast and drive-on mount, and set up his KX3 inside his car. Eric was on the air at 1602 UTC.

As at his previous visits to Keeton Cemetery, Eric had sufficiently-strong cell-signal to allow him to use the POTA Spots website (link) to spot himself and to look for possible park-to-park (P2P) QSOs.

Eric began operations on 80m and immediately made a QSO with his friend K8RAT in central Ohio.

Switching to 40m, Eric's first QSO there came at 1612 UTC with WB3GCK who was performing an activation of White Clay Creek State Park (K-1743) in Delaware. This was quickly followed by a second QSO with K8RAT. QSOs continued to come quickly, with Eric's twenty-first QSO coming at 1631 UTC with K3RKC in Pennsylvania.

Switching to 20m, Eric's first QSO there came at 1635 UTC with W1ND in New Hampshire. QSOs came steadily, with Eric's fifth QSO on 20m coming at 1641 UTC with K6KMH in California.

In all, Eric made twenty-seven QSOs, including one P2P QSO. 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 for Lake Hope State Park, KFF-1968.

(return)

---