Amateur Radio Station WD8RIF | POTA Activation Strouds Run State Park

From the Strouds Run State Park website:

On Sunday, January 22, 2023, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful activation of Strouds Run State Park (K-1994) as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.

Having made himself a goal of earning in 2023 the Bear Cave Repeat Offender Activator Award by performing sixty activations of the park, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, visited the swim-beach at Strouds Run State Park on a cold (35°) day with rain, sleet, and snow to perform his 45th activation of the park.

Eric arrived at the swim-beach a few minutes past 1600 UTC, quickly deployed his 28½' wire vertical on his 31' Jackite fiberglass telescoping mast on his drive-on base, and deployed his Elecraft KX3 inside his car. Eric was on the air at 1610 UTC.

As expected, Eric found he had good cell-signal at this location and he would be able to spot himself on the POTA Spots website and to use POTA Spots to identify possible Park-to-Park (P2P) QSOs.

After seeing on POTA Spots how many CW POTA activations were underway, Eric decided to make this a 100% P2P QSO activation. In fifty-eight minutes, Eric logged twenty P2P QSOs on 15, 20, 30, and 40m. It helped that K2EAG was performing a two-fer activation, and that Eric was able to work him three bands.

1.	1610	30m	K2EAG	PA	K-1394, Ole Bull State Park
2.	1611	30m	K2EAG	PA	K-5476, Susquehannock State Forest
3.	1615	15m	K4NYM	FL	K-6306, Half Moon Wildlife Management Area
4.	1619	30m	N3KAE	PA	K-1421, Shikellamy State Park
5.	1623	20m	KD3D	PA	K-8730, PA 030 State Game Land
6.	1625	20m	N6EF	CA	K-3432, Folsom Lake State Recreation Area
7.	1628	40m	KQ4YC	OH	K-9411, Halls Creek Woods State Nature Preserve
8.	1632	40m	KG8CO	MI	K-6693, Grass Lake State Game Land
9.	1637	20m	WI2X	FL	K-0232, Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge
10.	1642	15m	WB0RLJ	NE	K-4011, Chalco Hills State Recreation Area
11.	1644	40m	K2EAG	PA	K-1394, Ole Bull State Park
12.	1645	40m	K2EAG	PA	K-5476, Susquehannock State Forest
13.	1651	20m	N3KAE	PA	K-1421, Shikellamy State Park
14.	1654	15m	K4NYM	FL	K-5670, Lake Panasoffkee State Conservation Area
15.	1656	20m	W9SAU	IL	K-7917, Pullman NM National Monument
16.	1658	30m	KD3D	PA	K-8730, PA 030 State Game Land
17.	1701	20m	N4NTO	NC	K-6832, Bennett Place State Historic Site
18.	1706	20m	K2EAG	PA	K-1394, Ole Bull State Park
19.	1707	20m	K2EAG	PA	K-5476, Susquehannock State Forest
20.	1708	20m	NT8I	MI	K-1513, Mike Levine Lakelands Trail State Park

Eric would have liked to work KB3WAV, who was performing a CW POTA activation of a park in Alaska, but Eric couldn't hear Kerri on 40m and he didn't see her spotted on any other bands. (At this point, Eric needs to successfully hunt parks in Alaska, Hawaii, and North Dakota to earn his POTA Hunter Worked All States certificate.)

In all, Eric made twenty QSOs, all of which were P2P QSOs, in fifty-eights minutes of operating time. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made at five watts output.

Eric also submitted his log to the World Wide Flora and Fauna in Amateur Radio (WWFF; link) program for an operation at Strouds Run State Park, KFF-1994.