by William Eric McFadden
From the Strouds Run State Park website:
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Located outside of the city of Athens and within easy driving distance of Ohio University, Strouds Run State Park surrounds Dow Lake and draws a mix of trail and lake users. Miles of hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding provide scenic views from rugged trails. The lake offers boating, paddling, swimming and a shaded campground.
Pictures
Description
On the afternoon of November 17, 2023, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team took advantage of a warm but rainy Fall afternoon to perform a successful activation of Strouds Run State Park (K-1994) as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.
After leaving little Ginny-dog at the groomer's for an overdue bath, haircut and nail-trim, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, drove to Bulldog Shelter within Strouds Run State Park with his small and lightweight KX2 Mini Travel Kit to attempt an activation during heavy rain, using the wee Elecraft AX1 antenna, inside the metal-roofed picnic shelter. Eric was accompanied by little Theo-dog.
Arriving at the unoccupied Bulldog Shelter at about 1745 UTC, Eric set up his Elecraft KX2 transceiver on an available picnic table within the shelter, choosing a table that would not be likely to be hit by rain if the wind picked up. Deploying his Elecraft KX2 on the picnic table, mounting his Elecraft AX1 antenna configured for 20m directly on the KX2, and tossing the single 13' counterpoise wire onto the concrete floor of the picnic shelter, Eric was on the air at 1752 UTC.
Eric's KX2 / AX1 station.
As he has come to expect, Eric had good cell-signal at this location 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 20m operation by finding a clear frequency to run and calling "CQ POTA", and was quickly auto-spotted to POTA Spots. His first QSO came at 1753 UTC with KD2MU in New York. As the heavy rain pounded loudly on the metal roof of the picnic shelter, QSOs came quickly, with Eric's twelfth QSO coming at 1806 UTC with N2EIM in New Jersey. This run included a P2P QSO with AE2TT at Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge (K-0481) in New York and operators located in New York (2), Missouri, Tennessee, Florida, Colorado, New Jersey (2), Rhode Island, Georgia, Connecticut, and British Columbia.
The view the rain-pounded Dow Lake
from Eric's operating position.
Eric finished his activation by checking POTA Spots for P2P QSO opportunities and at 1810 UTC he completed a P2P QSO on 20m with W0RLY at Hard Labor Creek State Park (K-2184) in Georgia.
Expecting Ginny's grooming to be completed any minute, Eric finished his operation with thirteen QSOs, including two P2P QSOs, in eighteen minutes of on-air time. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made at five watts output.
Eric's log.
Eric took some photos, tore down his station, and returned to the groomer's to pick up Ginny.
A rainy Dow Lake.
Eric was was yet again impressed with how well the ridiculously-small AX1 whip antenna worked on 20m under the picnic shelter's metal-roof.
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.
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