Amateur Radio Station WD8RIF | POTA Activation Strouds Run State Park + Peanut Power Sprint

From the Strouds Run State Park website:

On the afternoon of October 1, 2023, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team took advantage of beautiful weather to perform a successful activation of Strouds Run State Park (K-1994) as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program while simultaneously participating in the North Georgia QRP Club's "Peanut Power Sprint" field contest (info) as Peanut #124.

Needing to drop his car off at the dealer for a first-thing-Monday-morning service-appointment, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, and his wife Vickie took two cars to the state park's Bulldog Shelter and enjoyed a dinner of pizza and salad before the 2200 UTC start of "Peanut Power Sprint" (PPS). They were accompanied by their two small dogs, Theo and Ginny.

For a change, Eric decided to use his Yaesu FT-817NB transceiver and a resonant antenna. He deployed his homebrew 40m EFHW antenna as a sloper from a picnic shelter post up to the top of his 31' Jackite telescoping fiberglass mast supported in a drive-on base. Setting up his FT-817ND on a convenient picnic table, Eric was on the air at 2204 UTC.

Eric had good cell-signal and would be able to spot himself on the POTA Spots website and to use POTA Spots to identify possible Park-to-Park (P2P) QSOs.

Eric began his operation on 40m and immediately completed a PPS QSO with KJ4YM, #25, in Georgia.

Finding himself a clear frequency on 40m, Eric began calling "CQ NUT", indicating he had a PPS "Peanut Number". His first QSO in this run came at 2209 UTC with N5GW, #127, in Mississippi. QSOs came quickly, and the next three QSOs were with stations participating in PPS with Peanut Numbers: W4LKY, #3, in Georgia; W4KAC, #550, in North Carolina; and WD0HBR, #482, in Alabama.

When responses to his call of "CQ Nut" appeared to stop, Eric finally self-spotted himself to POTA Spots but continued to call "CQ Nut". Between 2218 UTC and 2234 UTC, he worked a string of fourteen stations who were mostly POTA hunters but three stations were participating in PPS with Peanut Numbers: NN4K, #11, in Georgia; K4PQC, #10, in Georgia; and NG2E, #566, in Virginia.

Switching to 20m, Eric completed a PPS QSO at 2239 UTC with K4AKC, #77, in Alabama. Finding himself a clear frequency to run, Eric began calling "CQ Nut". At 2242 UTC, he completed a second PPS QSO with W4KLY, #3, in Georgia. At 2249 UTC, he completed a P2P/PPS QSO with NI4K, #554, at Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (K-0662) in Georgia.

In all, Eric logged twenty-two QSOs, with eleven of these being with operators holding Peanut Numbers, in forty-four minutes of on-air time. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made at five watts output.

With 11 Peanut Number QSOs, 11 QSOs with those without Peanut Numbers, 12 S/P/Cs on 40m, and 2 S/P/Cs on 20m, Eric's calculated score in Peanut Power Sprint is 1,540 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.