by William Eric McFadden

From the Strouds Run State Park website:

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 Sunday, December 31, 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.

Eric's station Eric arrived at the unoccupied Bulldog Shelter at about 1525 UTC. The temperature being cold, and there being a threat of rain, Eric decided to operate inside his car. 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 1534 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.

Eric began his operation on 20m by finding himself a frequency to run and beginning to calling "CQ POTA", and he was pleased to be auto-spotted on POTA Spots. Eric's first QSO came at 1537 UTC with W5WMQ in Kansas. QSOs came very quickly on 20m, with Eric's twenty-first QSO coming at 1558 UTC with WA7NCL in Washington. This run included QSOs with operators located in Kansas, Minnesota (3), Idaho, Texas (4), Nebraska, Missouri, Connecticut (2), Florida (3), New York (4), and Washington.

Dow Lake Switching to 40m, Eric found a clear frequency and began calling "CQ POTA", and was again auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO came at 1603 UTC with AC4FS in Florida. QSOs on 40m came quickly, with Eric's thirteenth QSO on 40m coming at 1618 UTC with W8AJF in Ohio. This run included QSOs with operators located in Florida, New York (2), Illinois (2), Georgia, Virginia (3), South Carolina, Ohio (2), and Tennessee.

Eric finished his operation on 30m. Finding himself a clear frequency, he began calling "CQ POTA" and was quickly auto-spotted on POTA Spots. Eric's first QSO on 30m came at 1622 UTC with KE2SX in North Carolina. QSOs came steadily on 30m, with Eric's eighteenth QSO in this run coming at 1644 UTC with WB3DDJ in Pennsylvania. This run included a P2P QSO with KI5EGH at Heyburn Wildlife Management Area (K-8124) in Oklahoma, a P2P QSO with KD8IE at Cuyahoga Valley National Park (K-0020) in Ohio, and QSOs with operators located in North Carolina, Ohio (4), Illinois (2), Indiana, Missouri (2), Iowa, Virginia (2), Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.

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

During this activation, Eric made his 2,000th POTA QSO from Strouds Run State Park, earning him his second Kilo Award for the park.

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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