Amateur Radio Station WD8RIF | POTA Activation Strouds Run State Park

On Monday, April 9, 2026, 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 beautiful early-April afternoon, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, performed his bicycle-portable POTA activation of Strouds Run State park, bicycling from his work-office's parking lot to Bulldog Shelter within the state park. He was, unfortunately, distracted as he loaded up his bicycle before the start of the ride, and he left his smartphone in the car. This meant he could not track his ride using Strava, he had no camera to make photos of his operation, he had no ability to spot himself on POTA Spots, and he had no ability to telephone or text anyone if he ran into trouble. He realized that he was missing his phone just a quarter-mile or so from his intended destination within the park when he stopped at the "Welcome to Strouds Run State Park" sign to take a photo.

Eric started his ride at about 1900 UTC, and arrived at Bulldog Shelter at about 1930 UTC, finding a young couple with a baby and a sweet dog in the shelter. After asking and receiving permission to "crash their party", Eric selected a picnic table and set up his station. Because it wasn't very windy, Eric chose to see if the kickstand on his new bike—a kickstand he had reservations about—would provide a stable enough platform to support his Goture Red Fox Super Hard 720 carbon-fiber mast. He deployed his ad hoc 35' EFRW antenna as a sloper to the top of the carbon-fiber mast bungied vertically on the bicycle, carefully routing the wire past one of the shelter's posts to serve, he hoped, as a strain relief and protect his radio if the bicycle were to fall, and he placed the single 13' counterpoise wire directly on the ground. Placing his Elecraft KH1 on a picnic table, and connecting his Whiterook MK-33 paddle and earbuds, Eric was on the air at 1945 UTC.

Eric started his operation on 20m. After finding himself a clear frequency to run, Eric began calling "CQ POTA" and was, apparently, auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO came at 1949 UTC with AF0E in Colorado. QSOs came steadily, with Eric's fifth QSO coming at 1956 UTC with WC1D who was also performing a POTA activation. WC1D didn't give Eric his park number, no doubt assuming that Eric had a smartphone with him and would look it up on POTA Spots. WC1D turned out to be performing an activation of De Leon Springs State Park (US-1853) in Florida. This run included the P2P QSO with WC1D and QSOs with operators located in Colorado, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas (2).

Just as WC1D was answering Eric's CQ, a very strong wind gust actually pushed Eric's bicycle backwards over the ground but, fortunately, the wind didn't blow the bicycle over. As soon as the QSO with WC1D was completed, Eric jumped up to verify that the bicycle was still stable and to place a chock behind the bicycle's rear wheel, just in case another strong wind gust were to come along.

Back at the radio, before starting his second run, Eric tuned down a bit in frequency to make a P2P QSO with KE4WLE/VE1, who he had been hearing on the edge of his bandpass filter. Just as with WC1D, KE4WLE didn't tell Eric what park he was activating. KE4WLE turned out to be performing a two-fer activation of Lawrencetown Beach Provincial Park (CA-0465) and The Trans Canada Trail National Scenic Trail (CA-5082) in Nova Scotia.

Returning to his still-clear frequency, Eric resumed calling "CQ POTA", and his first QSO in this run came at 2004 UTC with W4VE in Florida. QSOs came steadily, with Eric's fourth QSO in this run coming at 2010 UTC with KO4ZRZ in Florida. This run included a QSO with F8DVD in France and three QSOs with operators located in Florida.

Eric finished his operation by turning the dial hunting for P2P QSOs the old-fashioned way, without the aid of POTA Spots. At 2015 UTC, he succeeded in making a P2P QSO on 20m with KG5OWB who was nice enough to tell Eric that he was activating San Antonio Missions National Historical Park (US-0756) in Texas.

In all, Eric made eleven QSOs, including three P2P QSOs, in thirty minutes of on-air time. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made at five watts output.

Normally, after finishing an activation, Eric would have taken photos of his station and of the park but, without his smartphone to do this with, Eric instead went straight to tearing down his station, loading his bicycle, and starting his ride back to his car.

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.