by William Eric McFadden
From the Strouds Run State Park website:
-
Strouds Run State Park is located in the scenic forested hills of Athens County, in the midst of the unglaciated Appalachian Plateau. Although untouched by the vast ice sheets that moved across portions of the state over 12,000 years ago, Strouds Run displays the effects of the glaciers -- in the deep ravines and high hills -- where the valleys served as outlets for torrents of glacial meltwaters. The erosive power of these waters carved the valleys and hillsides, creating the familiar topography Ohioans know today. Large deposits of glacial outwash, primarily sand and gravel, were deposited along these streams and strongly affected the type of biological communities present today.
Pictures
Description
On Saturday-Sunday, December 9-10, 2023, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed two successful activations of Strouds Run State Park (K-1994) as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program while simultaneously participating in the ARRL 10-Meter Contest.
Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, visited Bulldog Shelter within Strouds Run State Park on Saturday and Sunday for POTA activations of the park while simultaneously participating in the ARRL 10 Meter Contest. To shake things up, Eric had decided that for at least one of these operations, his antenna would be an HYS 51" CB walkie-talkie antenna mounted directly on his transceiver. Because of family obligations, the time spent at the park would be the only time he would participate in the ARRL 10 Meter Contest—he would be unable to continue his operation using his home hamshack.
Saturday, December 9
Driving through rain on a late morning, Eric arrived at Bulldog Shelter within the state park shortly after the rain stopped. In case the rain were to return, Eric chose to set up his station inside the unoccupied, metal-roofed, shelterhouse. Deploying his KX3 on a picnic table, Eric mounted the HYS CB whip directly on the KX3 using a right-angle BNC adapter and a lovely KE8PTX 3D-printed support and laid down four 17' counterpoise wires connected two-each to two screws on the KX3. Eric was on the air at 1600 UTC.
Eric's station.
A detail-view of the KE8PTX antenna-support
and the HYS CB walkie-talkie antenna.
Eric's station.
Saturday's Log: Freq Md Date Time MyCall Exch Call Exch Pt 28026 CW 2023-12-09 1602 WD8RIF 599 OH NR6T 599 UT UT 4 28029 CW 2023-12-09 1603 WD8RIF 599 OH K6WSC 599 AZ AZ 4 28032 CW 2023-12-09 1604 WD8RIF 599 OH KY7M 599 AZ 4 28036 CW 2023-12-09 1606 WD8RIF 599 OH K6XX 599 CA CA 4 28047 CW 2023-12-09 1615 WD8RIF 599 OH VE6WQ 599 AB AB 4 28016 CW 2023-12-09 1621 WD8RIF 599 OH W7QDM 599 ID ID 4 28052 CW 2023-12-09 1625 WD8RIF 599 OH VE5SF 599 SK SK 4 28009 CW 2023-12-09 1628 WD8RIF 599 OH W7VJ 599 WA WA 4 28023 CW 2023-12-09 1637 WD8RIF 599 OH W0GAS 599 CO CO 4 28033 CW 2023-12-09 1640 WD8RIF 599 OH KF0UR 599 CO 4 28038 CW 2023-12-09 1644 WD8RIF 599 OH XE2X 599 TAM TAM 4 28050 CW 2023-12-09 1649 WD8RIF 599 OH VE5GC 599 SK 4 28008 CW 2023-12-09 1659 WD8RIF 599 OH NX6T 599 CA 4 28011 CW 2023-12-09 1700 WD8RIF 599 OH KU0Q 599 CO 4 28021 CW 2023-12-09 1704 WD8RIF 599 OH KT3M 599 CO 4
Sunday, December 10
Sunday morning was rain-free but the temperature was much cooler than Saturday's had been. Eric arrived at Bulldog Shelter at about 1620 UTC and, because of the cool temperature, the gusty wind, and the difficulty he had had making QSOs with the CB antenna the previous day, he decided to operate inside the car, with his go-to 28½' end-fed wire antenna with three 17' counterpoise wires. Deploying the antenna as a vertical on a drive-on base, mounting his KX3 on the car's dash, and placing the logging PC somewhat awkwardly on the driver's seat, Eric was on the air at 1630 UTC.
A view of Eric's station inside the car...
...and outside.
The 28½' wire performed much better than the short CB whip—or, perhaps, conditions on 10m had improved—because Eric found it much easier to make QSOs than he had the previous day. Eric's first QSO came at 1634 UTC and over a period of about ninety minutes he completed thirty-seven QSOs. In addition to working station in continental U.S. and Canada, Eric completed QSOs with stations located in the Cayman Islands, Argentina, Brazil (2), Aruba, Uruguay, and Curacao.
Sunday's Log: Freq Md Date Time MyCall Exch Call Exch Pt 28001 CW 2023-12-10 1634 WD8RIF 599 OH W0CP 599 CO 4 28012 CW 2023-12-10 1640 WD8RIF 599 OH ZF9CW 599 2182 4 28013 CW 2023-12-10 1641 WD8RIF 599 OH K5PI 599 TX TX 4 28016 CW 2023-12-10 1643 WD8RIF 599 OH WJ9B 599 ID 4 28018 CW 2023-12-10 1644 WD8RIF 599 OH NX5M 599 TX 4 28019 CW 2023-12-10 1646 WD8RIF 599 OH VE6UM 599 AB 4 28025 CW 2023-12-10 1647 WD8RIF 599 OH N6WM 599 CA 4 28027 CW 2023-12-10 1649 WD8RIF 599 OH K5ZX 599 AZ 4 28033 CW 2023-12-10 1650 WD8RIF 599 OH LW5HR 599 846 4 28033 CW 2023-12-10 1651 WD8RIF 599 OH KC7V 599 AZ 4 28034 CW 2023-12-10 1652 WD8RIF 599 OH N5RZ 599 TX 4 28035 CW 2023-12-10 1653 WD8RIF 599 OH VE1RSM 599 NS NS 4 28040 CW 2023-12-10 1654 WD8RIF 599 OH W0IZ 599 CO 4 28051 CW 2023-12-10 1657 WD8RIF 599 OH W6PH 599 CA 4 28052 CW 2023-12-10 1659 WD8RIF 599 OH KR7Q 599 MT MT 4 28055 CW 2023-12-10 1701 WD8RIF 599 OH N7CW 599 AZ 4 28059 CW 2023-12-10 1704 WD8RIF 599 OH VE5ZX 599 SK 4 28065 CW 2023-12-10 1708 WD8RIF 599 OH N5JJ 599 TX 4 28073 CW 2023-12-10 1713 WD8RIF 599 OH W1RCR 599 FL FL 4 28078 CW 2023-12-10 1714 WD8RIF 599 OH K5TA 599 NM NM 4 28088 CW 2023-12-10 1718 WD8RIF 599 OH W6YX 599 CA 4 28002 CW 2023-12-10 1723 WD8RIF 599 OH ZW8T 599 842 4 28015 CW 2023-12-10 1729 WD8RIF 599 OH N3BB 599 TX 4 28024 CW 2023-12-10 1736 WD8RIF 599 OH P40L 599 2590 4 28027 CW 2023-12-10 1738 WD8RIF 599 OH KS7X 599 AZ 4 28031 CW 2023-12-10 1740 WD8RIF 599 OH W7SW 599 AZ 4 28033 CW 2023-12-10 1741 WD8RIF 599 OH KE0UI 599 CO 4 28043 CW 2023-12-10 1748 WD8RIF 599 OH CW5W 599 2507 4 28050 CW 2023-12-10 1751 WD8RIF 599 OH VA4ADM 599 MB MB 4 28064 CW 2023-12-10 1757 WD8RIF 599 OH PJ2T 599 2968 4 28065 CW 2023-12-10 1757 WD8RIF 599 OH N6SS 599 AZ 4 28067 CW 2023-12-10 1758 WD8RIF 599 OH VE5MX 599 SK 4 28091 CW 2023-12-10 1800 WD8RIF 599 OH W0ETT 599 CO 4 28104 CW 2023-12-10 1801 WD8RIF 599 OH WS7V 599 WA 4 28003 CW 2023-12-10 1804 WD8RIF 599 OH PY2NY 599 825 4 28007 CW 2023-12-10 1805 WD8RIF 599 OH K7NEW 599 WA 4 28015 CW 2023-12-10 1806 WD8RIF 599 OH WD0T 599 SD SD 4
Eric learned later that VA4ADM was also at a park, Birds Hill Provincial Park, VE-0529, in Manitoba, Canada, so Eric got credit for one park-to-park (P2P) QSO.
In all, Eric made fifty-two QSOs at Strouds Run State Park over the two days of operating and completed two valid POTA activations. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made at five watts output.
Eric's submitted score was 4,576 points. (52 QSOs x 4 points/QSO x 22 multipliers = 4,576 points.)
Eric also submitted his log to the World Wide Flora and Fauna in Amateur Radio (WWFF; link) program for operations at Strouds Run State Park, KFF-1994.
(return)