by William Eric McFadden
From the Burr Oak State Park website:
-
As one of Ohio's resort parks, Burr Oak State Park blends modern convenience with Ohio's wilderness spirit. Miles of forested ridges and hollows can be found here. The park offers a rustic full-service lodge with family suites and a cozy campground with easy access to the lake. A substantial trail system ranges from moderate to difficult with portions intersecting the statewide Buckeye Trail.
From the North Country Trail Association website:
-
The North Country National Scenic Trail is the longest in the National Trails System, stretching 4,800 miles across eight states from North Dakota to Vermont, traversing forests and farmlands, remote terrain and nearby communities. Whether you’re looking to day-hike a few miles or plan a longer overnight backpacking trip, a multitude of diverse landscapes and hiking opportunities are waiting for you.
From the Bobcat Trail Marathon website:
-
Prepare to immerse yourself in the rugged beauty of Burr Oak State Park at the Bobcat Trail Marathon & Half Marathon. This event offers a unique opportunity for trail running enthusiasts and hikers to experience the wild and challenging terrain of Ohio wilderness. The marathon’s single-loop course provides a diverse and scenic adventure, featuring rolling hills, several creek crossings, and portions of the Buckeye Trail. The half marathon offers an equally thrilling point-to-point experience on the same trails as the marathon.
This race is all about embracing the untamed beauty of Burr Oak – 90% of the course is pure trail! Whether you’re a seasoned trail runner, a hiker, or new to the trails, all are welcome and encouraged to come and experience the Bobcat adventure at your own pace. The Bobcat Trail Marathon & Half Marathon is your chance to get wild, be challenged, and reconnect with nature on an extraordinary course in one of Ohio’s most pristine state parks.
Pictures
Description
On Saturday, November 8, 2025, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful two-fer activation of Burr Oak State Park (US-1939) and North Country National Scenic Trail (US-4239) in Ohio as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.
Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, had volunteered to serve as communicators for the annual Bobcat Trail Marathon and Half-Marathon trail-run. This event is run on trails within Burr Oak State Park, including the Buckeye Trail which is coincident with the North Country National Scenic Trail. Eric's assigned location was at Dock 3 within the state park and well withing 100' of the North Country National Scenic Trail.
The weather was unseasonably warm and lovely and it was a very nice day for an outdoor public-service communications event and POTA activations.
Because Eric expected to not have cell-signal at Dock 3, prior to leaving home he had announced his POTA activation on POTA Spots (link) so that he would, he hoped, be automatically spotted on POTA Spots when he began his CW operation. (Eric's expection was mostly correct—he had only very weak signal, and that came very intermittently.)
Eric was assigned to work at Aid Station 5, which was located at Burr Oak State Park's Dock 3, and was the 21-mile point of the full marathon and the 8-mile point of the half-marathon.
Eric arrived at his assigned location at about 8:45am local time, as the aid station workers were setting up the aid station, and with plenty of time to deploy hit 2m public-service station and his HF POTA station.
Eric quickly deployed his Jackite 31' telescoping mast in a drive-on base, and he used this mast to support both his 2m roll-up J-pole and the radiator for his 29' EFRW HF antenna.
Eric's mast supporting both his 2m
roll-up J-pole and 29' EFRW antenna.
His 2m go-box is in the lower-left of the
photo, and the HF station is not yet set up.
Eric was the sole operator at this location for the event. Until all of the half-marathon runners and most of the full marathon runners had passed through the aid station, Eric would be only be participate in the 2m simplex net and to count the runners. Eric had no plans to start his POTA activation until very near the end of the marathon, and he anticipated needing to stay on-site after the aid station closed to complete his activation. However, after he had set up his antennas, and after the first half-marathon runner had passed but before the second runner had arrived, Eric's smartphone chimed during a brief period of weak cell-signal with a HamAlert message telling him his friend Thomas Witherspoon, K4SWL, was at that moment performing an activation of William B. Umstead State Park (US-2755) in North Carolina, and that Thomas was currently operating on 40m; Eric quickly placed his Elecraft KX2 on his folding camp-chair's flip-up table, placed two 17' counterpoise wires directly on the asphalt, and waited his turn in the deep pileup to work Thomas, succeeding in making a QSO at 1502 UTC.
More than four hours into the marathon, after nearly all of the runners had passed through the aid station, Eric felt he could begin his activation while still being able to listen to the 2m simplex net and to count the few remaining runners. He began his operation on 20m, finding himself a clear frequency to run, beginning to call "CQ POTA", and hoping that he would be auto-spotted on POTA Spots. He was, indeed, auto-spotted, and his first QSO came at 1917 UTC with W8LEO in Texas. Except for a fourteen minute break when Eric had to concentrate on the marathon net, QSOs came steadily, with Eric's ninth QSO in this run, and tenth QSO overall, coming at 1949 UTC with KN4AAO in Alabama. This run included a P2P QSO with K5BDH who was activating Sheldon Lake State Park (US-3056) in Texas, a P2P QSO with N1BS who was activating Big River Wildlife Management Area (US-6982) in Rhode Island, and QSOs with operators located in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, Rhode Island, Texas (3), and Washington.
At this point, traffic on the 2m simplex net got busy as operators tracked down a missing runner, and Eric was lucky to be able to hunt one final P2P QSO on 40m, succeeding in working special event station W8F at Belle Isle State Park (US-1487) in Michigan. (The Livonia Amateur Radio Club was operating as W8F to commemorate the loss on November 10, 1975 of the ore freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior, and was operating at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum within Belle Isle State Park on this day.)
Eric's KX2 station.
In all, Eric logged eleven QSOs. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made at five watts output.
For his part in the communications support of the Bobcat Trail Marathon, Eric used his 31' Jackite telescoping pole and drive-on base to support a roll-up J-pole antenna, and he deployed his IC-V3500 Shack-in-a-box on a telescoping camp stool near the aid station.
The North Country National Scenic Trail trailhead marker.
Burr Oak Lake.
Eric also submitted his log to the World Wide Flora and Fauna in Amateur Radio (WWFF; link) program for an operation at Burr Oak State Park, KFF-1939.
(return)