by William Eric McFadden
From the Strouds Run State Park website:
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Strouds Run State Park is located in the scenic forested hills of Athens County, in the midst of the unglaciated Appalachian Plateau. Although untouched by the vast ice sheets that moved across portions of the state over 12,000 years ago, Strouds Run displays the effects of the glaciers -- in the deep ravines and high hills -- where the valleys served as outlets for torrents of glacial meltwaters. The erosive power of these waters carved the valleys and hillsides, creating the familiar topography Ohioans know today. Large deposits of glacial outwash, primarily sand and gravel, were deposited along these streams and strongly affected the type of biological communities present today.
Pictures
Description
On Sunday, January 9, 2025, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful activation of Strouds Run State Park (US-1994) as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.
On an overcast but not bitterly cold or windy afternoon, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, had an hour to kill while his wife was busy at the church, and he visited the Strouds Run State Park's swim-beach area to perform a quick POTA activation. Eric was accompanied by his small dog, Theo.
Arriving at swim-beach area at 2100 UTC, Eric quickly walked Theo and then began setting up his station. Eric deployed his 28½' EFRW, as a vertical on a Jackite 31' telescoping fiberglass mast in a drive-on base, placing three 17' counterpoise wires directly on the ground. Mounting his Elecraft KX3 on the passenger-side dashboard of his car, Eric was on the air at 2107 UTC.
Eric's station inside the car.
Eric's mast and antenna and a view of the still partially-frozen Dow Lake.
Eric had cell-signal at Bulldog Shelter and he would be able to access POTA Spots to spot himself and to find Park-to-Park (P2P) QSO opportunities.
While Eric was trying to find a frequency on 20m to run, his smartphone beeped with a HamAlert (link) that his good friend Thomas, K4SWL, was on 30m performing a POTA activation of Pisgah National Forest (US-4510) in North Carolina. Eric had to wait his turn be he was able to complete a P2P QSO with Thomas at 2110 UTC and he learned that Thomas was running only one watt of output power.
Returning to 20m, Eric found a clear frequency to run, began calling "CQ POTA", and self-spotted himself on POTA Spots. His first QSO in this run came at 2113 UTC, probably even before his spot had even shown up for anyone, with N2GX in New Jersey. His second QSO in this run came at 2116 UTC with W5KEB in Arkansas. Thereafter, QSOs came quickly, with Eric's sixteenth QSO in this run coming at 2132 UTC with KQ4BFO in Florida. This run included QSOs with operators located in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida (3), Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey (2), Oklahoma (2), Texas (2), and Wisconsin.
His time having run out, Eric took some photographs and tore down his station so that he could returned to the church to pick up his wife.
The still under-construction kids' play area.
In all, Eric made seventeen QSOs, including one P2P QSOs, in twenty-five minutes of on-air time. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made at five watts output.
Eric also submitted his log to the World Wide Flora and Fauna in Amateur Radio (WWFF; link) program for an operation at Strouds Run State Park, KFF-1994.
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