Amateur Radio Station WD8RIF | QRP to the Field + POTA Activation Strouds Run State Park

On Saturday, April 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 while participating in the QRP to the Field contest (rules).

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 area in Strouds Run State Park on a sunny but cool morning to perform his 60th activation of the park and earn his first Bear Cave Repeat Offender Activator Award.

Eric arrived at swim-beach area at 1455 UTC. The temperature being cool (53°) and there being a threat of rain, Eric reluctantly decided to operate inside his car, albeit with the car windows open. Eric deployed his 28½' wire vertical on his 31' Jackite telescoping fiberglass mast supported on a drive-on base, deployed his Elecraft KX3 inside the car, and was on the air at 1500 UTC.

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

Immediately upon turning on his KX3, Eric heard KB4VU calling "CQ TTF", and at 1501 UTC, Eric completed a QSO with Frank who was operating "Outback" (in the back yard) in Florida.

Finding himself a 20m frequency to run Eric began calling "CQ TTF" and was pleased to be auto-spotted on POTA Spots. Eric's first QSO in this run came at 1504 UTC with Ron, N9EE, operating "Field" in Florida. QSOs came quickly, with Eric's seventh QSO in this run coming at 1521 UTC with W4XJ in Missouri. Eric had expected most of his QSOs to be with POTA hunters and was, therefore, quite surprised when six of the seven QSOs in this run were not POTA hunters but operators participating in the QRP to the Field contest operating "Field" (2), "Outback" (2), and "Home" (2). This run included QSOs with operators located in Florida (2), New Mexico, Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, and Missouri.

When QSOs stopped coming, Eric switched to tuning around on 20m to find other QRPttF stations calling CQ. At 1525 UTC, he completed a QSO with W1FMR operating "Field" in New Hampshire and at 1527 UTC, he completed a QSO with N7RCS who was operating "Outback" in Florida.

Switching to 40m, Eric tuned around a bit but found no one calling "CQ TTF". Finding himself a clear frequency, he began calling "CQ TTF", and was again quickly auto-spotted on POTA Spots. Eric's first QSO in this run came at 1534 UTC with KG8HZ in Michigan. This was followed at 1535 UTC by a P2P QSO with N4CD who was activating Gladwin State Game Land (K-6683) in Michigan. QSOs came quickly, with Eric's fourth QSO in this run coming at 1538 UTC with AC9JD in Illinois. Unlike on 20m, all four of the QSOs in this run were with POTA hunters responding to Eric's spot on POTA Spots; none of these QSOs were with operators participating in QRPttF. This run included the aforementioned P2P QSO and QSOs with operators located in Michigan (2), Pennsylvania, and Illinois.

When QSOs stopped coming, Eric tuned around on 40m to find other QRPttF stations calling CQ but again found none.

Eric finished his operation by checking POTA Spots for P2P QSO opportunities and at 1544 UTC he completed a P2P QSO on 40m with KU8T who was activating Newton Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area (K-4147) in Illinois.

In all, Eric made fifteen QSOs, with two P2P QSOs. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made at five watts output.

For QRP to the Field, Eric calculated his score to be 270 points.

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