From the park's website:

This unique, 140-acre wildlife area lies eight miles west of Jackson. It can be reached by township and county roads from State Routes 35 and 335.The area includes steep rocky terrain, varied forest types, and a small stream. Nearly all of it is wooded. The ridges and steep slopes are mostly sawlog size oak-hickory, with some Virginia pine of pole or sawlog size. One stream, Dry Run, flows from north to south through the area. Vegetation along Dry Run is mostly bottomland hardwoods of pole and sawlog size, with small openings comprised primarily of alder and button bush. Hemlock and mountain laurel can be found in the upper coves. Greenbriars are common among the understory plants.

Pictures

Eric's station: 1 | 2

Description

On Saturday, March 9, 2024, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful activation of Lake Logan State Park in Ohio as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.

While enroute home from the Southern Ohio Forest Rally's "SOFR School" in Chillicothe, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, stopped at Liberty Wildlife Area to perform a quick activation. Eric was accompanied by his wife Vickie and their little dogs Theo and Ginny.

The weather forecast had called for rain most of the day, so Eric was pleased the rain had ended by the time he arrived at the wildlife area's only facility, a small roadside pull-off. Arriving at the pull-off at about 1950 UTC, Eric deployed his 28½' wire vertical on his 31' Jackite telescoping fiberglass mast on a drive-on base. Placing his KX3 on the car's passenger-side dashboard, he was on the air at 2000 UTC.

Eric's station, inside the car...


... and outside.

Eric found he had absolutely no cell-signal at the wildlife area's parking area, not even enough to send or receive text messages. Without cell-signal, he would be unable to spot himself on POTA Spots (link) or to use POTA Spots to identify possible park-to-park (P2P) QSO opportunities. Before leaving home, Eric had announced his upcoming activation on POTA Spots, for just this situation, and he hoped he would be auto-spotted on POTA Spots once the Reverse Beacon Network picked up his calls of CQ.

Eric began his operation on 20m. Finding himself a frequency to run, Eric began calling "CQ POTA", and had to call for several minutes before his first reply. His first QSO came at 2003 UTC with K1NEO in Maine. His second QSO came at 2008 UTC with W2RAL in New York. Eric's signal must have been weak for both of these QSOs because neither op could copy Eric's question asking if he was spotted on POTA Spots. QSOs came very slowly, so slowly that Eric decided he probably wasn't spotted on POTA Spots. His third QSO came at 2011 UTC with KJ3M in Florida. Eric's fourth and final QSO on 20m came at 2013 UTC with AL7KC in Alaska, a very welcome surprise.

Hoping for better success on 40m, Eric switched to that band and immediately found AA2S participating in Novice Rig Roundup and calling "CQ NRR". Eric called him and at 2016 UTC he completed a QSO with Bill in Massachusetts. Finding himself a clear frequency to run himself, Eric began calling "CQ POTA" and his first QSO in this run came at 2023 UTC with N2QXF in New Jersey. He must have been auto-spotted to POTA Spots because thereafter QSOs came quickly, with his ninth QSO in this run coming at 2031 UTC with VE3UXJ in Ontario. This run included QSOs with operators located in New Jersey, Virginia (2), Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Ontario (2).

In all, Eric made fourteen QSOs in thirty-two minutes of on-air time. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made with five watts output.

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