From the wildlife area's website:

Ross Lake Wildlife Area is a 1,107-acre state wildlife area located 2 miles east of Chillicothe. The property is in Ross county.

Pictures

The Ross Lake Wildlife Area sign at the boat ramp and canoe launch
Two views of Ross Lake on a cold, overcast afternoon: 1 | 2
Eric's station

Description

On Sunday, November 14, 2021, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful activation of Ross Lake Wildlife Area in Ohio as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.

Following a successful activation of Kinnikinnik Wildlife Area (link), Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, visited Ross Lake Wildlife Area on a cold, rainy, blustery Fall day.

Eric arrived at the Ross Lake Wildlife Area's boat ramp and canoe launch area 1850 UTC to find only one other vehicle in the parking lot. Parking well away from the other car, Eric quickly deployed his 28½' wire antenna on the 31' Jackite telescoping fiberglass mast and drive-on base. Because of the weather, Eric set up his KX3 inside the car and was on the air at 1904 UTC.

Eric was pleased to find he had very good cell-signal so that he would be able to spot himself on POTA Spots (link) and to look for park-to-park (P2P) QSO opportunities using POTA Spots.

Eric began operations on 80m and his first QSO came at 1906 UTC with AF8E in Logan, Ohio.

Switching to 40m, Eric's first QSO on that band came at 1910 UTC with KT4UE in Virginia. QSOs on 40m came quickly, with Eric's twenty-sixth QSO on 40m coming at 1939 UTC with KA3JNU in Pennsylvania.

Again checking POTA Spots for P2P opportunities, at 1943 UTC Eric made a P2P QSO on 20m with KK7RR who was activating Lost Dutchman State Park (K-1061) in Arizona, and at 1950 UTC Eric made a P2P QSO on 40m with VE2VIA who was activating Reserve Faunique des Laurentides Provincial Park (VE-1026) in Quebec, Canada.

In all, Eric made twenty-nine QSOs in forty-six minutes. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made with five watts output.

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