by William Eric McFadden
From the Strouds Run State Park website:
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Located outside of the city of Athens and within easy driving distance of Ohio University, Strouds Run State Park surrounds Dow Lake and draws a mix of trail and lake users. Miles of hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding provide scenic views from rugged trails. The lake offers boating, paddling, swimming and a shaded campground.
Pictures
Description
On Sunday, September 28, 2025, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful bicycle-portable activation of Strouds Run State Park (US-1994) as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.
Taking advantage of a lovely early-Fall day to do both a bicycle ride and a POTA activation, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, bicycled from his work-office's parking lot to Bobcat Shelter within Strouds Run State Park.
Eric's route took him first to Bulldog Shelter, his usual location for bicycle-portable activations of Strouds Run State Park. Unfortunately, Bulldog Shelter was full of people picnicking, so Eric extended his ride to the swim-beach area and Bobcat Shelter. A group of three had just finished their picnic and graciously allowed Eric to share the shelter with them.
Eric selected a suitable picnic table, placed his Elecraft KX2 on the picnic table, and deployed his Tufteln (link) 9:1 EFRW as a 35' sloper up to the top of a Goture Red Fox Super Hard 720 carbon-fiber mast strapped vertically to his bicycle, placing three 17' counterpoise wires directly on the ground. Eric was on the air at 1610 UTC.
Eric's bicycle-supported mast and invisible 35' antenna.
Eric's KX2 station.
As he had hoped, Eric had cell-signal at Bobcat Shelter, and he would be able to access POTA Spots to spot himself and to find Park-to-Park (P2P) QSO opportunities.
Eric started his operation on 20m. Finding himself a clear frequency to run, he began to call "CQ POTA" and was quickly auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO came at 1612 UTC with AE0PL who was activating Conestoga Lake State Recreation Area (US-5662) in Nebraska. QSOs came quickly, with Eric's eighth QSO coming at 1624 UTC with K2QU in New Jersey. This run included QSOs with operators located in Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Texas, and Vermont.
The view from Eric's operating position within Bobcat Shelter.
When responses to his calls of "CQ" stopped coming, Eric switched to "hunter" mode. At 1628 UTC he made a P2P QSO on 20m with N1GVT who was activating Essex Nursery State Forest (US-5564) in Vermont. At 1632 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 20m with KU8T who was activating Net River Flooding Wildlife Management Area (US-6745) in Michigan.
Returning to running a frequency on 20m, Eric's made one more QSO on the band, at 1635 UTC, with KQ4MDF in Alabama.
Hoping to work his friends K4SWL in western North Carolina and K8RAT in central Ohio, Eric found a clear frequency on 40m, began calling "CQ POTA", and was again auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO in this run came at 1643 UTC with W4AQ who was activating Paris Mountain State Park (US-2909) in South Carolina. This was followed at 1645 UTC by a QSO with his friend K4SWL in North Carolina. Eric's final QSO was a big surprise; it came at 1646 UTC and was with his father, W8EOG, in central Ohio.
In all, Eric made fourteen QSOs, including four P2P QSOs, in just about thirty-six minutes of on-air time. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made at five watts output.
After taking some more photos, Eric re-packed his bicycle and began his ride back to his car.
A view of Eric's station.
The Strouds Run State Park rental-boat marina.
Canoes and kayaks.
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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