by William Eric McFadden
From the West Virgina Explorer page:
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The 555-acre Lantz Farm & Nature Preserve Wildlife Management Area (WMA) ranges across open fields and bottom lands along the South Fork of Fishing Creek and ascends slopes forested in oak and hickory to an elevation of more than 1,400 feet above sea level. Game traditionally hunted in the management area include deer, squirrel, and turkey, though a portion nearest the Lantz Farm is safety zoned for recreation and includes a public nature trail.
Pictures
Description
On Tuesday, November 10, 2020, two members of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team
performed a successful activation of Lantz Farm and Nature Preserve Wildlife Management Area in West Virginia
as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.
Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, and Miles McFadden, KD8KNC, performed the activation of Lantz Farm and Nature Preserve Wildlife Management Area at the Lantz Farm near Jacksonburg while enjoying the sunshine of the unseasonably warm early November day. The pair were accompanied by little dog, Theo.
The pair arrived at the otherwise unoccupied Lantz Farm at about 1545 UTC and after a bit of a walk with Theo, set up Eric's station. Parking the car in a corner parking space, they deployed Eric's 28½' wire antenna on his 31' Jackite telescoping fiberglass mast and drive-on base. Because of the very pleasant weather, Eric set up his station on a folding camp-chair adjacent to the mast. Eric was on the air at 1608 UTC.
As expected, Eric had excellent cell-signal and was able to self-spot himself on the POTA Spots website as well as to look for park-to-park (P2P) QSO opportunities.
Eric began operations on 80m and his first QSO came at 1612 UTC with N8KGB in Michigan. QSOs came quickly, with Eric's eighth QSO coming at 1620 UTC with K3MRK in Pennsylvania. Eric was pleased and somewhat startled to have made eight QSOs in only twelve minutes on 80m in the middle of the day.
Switching to 40m, Eric's first QSO there came at 1629 UTC with WA9DAU in Tennessee. QSOs came quickly, with Eric's nineteenth QSO on 40m coming at 1646 UTC with KN4OK in Alabama. This run included a QSO with WB2FUV who was performing a Summits on the Air (link) of Dry Brook Ridge in the Greater Catskills area of New York.
After checking POTA Spots for P2P opportunities, Eric's twenty-eighth and final QSO was a P2P QSO at 1655 UTC with KG8P who was performing an activation of St. Clair Flats State Wildlife Area (K-6787) in Michigan.
In all, Eric made twenty-eight QSOs, including one P2P QSO and one SOTA QSO. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made at the 5-watt level. Miles did not operate but helped with navigation, set-up and tear-down, and photography.
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