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 Friday, October 17, 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 afternoon 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. Because they temporarily had just one car, Eric's wife dropped him off at his office and then left to run errands.
"Welcome to Strouds Run State Park".
Eric arrived on his bicycle at Bulldog Shelter at 1916 UTC. Selecting a picnic table, Eric deployed his 35' ad hoc EFRW antenna as a sloper up to the top of a Goture Red Fox Super Hard 720 carbon-fiber mast strapped vertically to his bicycle, laying one 13' counterpoise wire directly on the ground. Placing his Elecraft KH1 on the picnic table, hooking up his Whiterook MK-33 single-lever paddle, and connecting a pair of earbuds, Eric was on the air at 1925 UTC.
Eric's KH1 station.
Eric's bicycle-supported mast and 35' EFRW antenna.
As he has usually been the case at this location, 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.
Eric started his operation on 20m. As he was looking for a clear frequency to run, he found a station running a frequency, and at 1926 UTC Eric completed a P2P QSO with W9DKB who was activating WI Interstate State Park (US-4249) in Wisconsin.
Finding himself his own 20m frequency to run, Eric began calling "CQ POTA" and was auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO in this run came at 1933 UTC with W5KEB in Arkansas. QSOs came quickly, with Eric's fourteenth QSO in this run coming at 1944 UTC with KB5FCF in Oklahoma. This run included QSOs with operators located in Arkansas, Florida (2), Illinois (2), Massachusetts (2), Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ontario, Pennsylvania, and Quebec.
Eric finished his operation by hunting for P2P QSOs. At 1951 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 20m with N7Y (N7BBQ) who was operating a "KFF Get Your Park On! Earth Science Week 2025" special event station and activating Davidsonville Historic (Old) State Park (US-1079) in Arkansas. At 1956 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 20m with AE0YM who was activating Flanagan Lake State Recreation Area (US-5656) in Nebraska. Finally, at 1959 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 20m with W3GTR who was activating Mud Mill Pond State Fishing Lake (US-10685) in Delaware.
In all, Eric made eighteen QSOs, including four P2P QSOs, in thirty-four minutes of on-air time. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made at five watts output.
After tearing down his station, Eric re-packed his bicycle and began his ride back to meet his wife.
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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