From the state park website:

Located in Surry and Yadkin counties 20 miles northwest of Winston-Salem, Pilot Mountain State Park centers around the iconic geologic knob that serves as a beacon, inviting outdoor enthusiasts to a vast array of activities. The park offers the gamut, from hiking and horseback riding to rock climbing and camping, with accesses on both the rugged terrain of the monadnock and the Yadkin River. The Mountains-to-Sea State Trail also traverses both park sections.

Pictures

The Pilot Mountain State Park sign
Views from the climb toward the Pilot Mountain overlook: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Pilot Mountain

Description

On Saturday, May 3, 2025, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful activation of Pilot Mountain State Park (US-2750) in North Carolina as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.

On the the second day of the drive to Holden Beach, North Carolina, for a family vacation, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, stopped at Pilot Mountain State Park for what he hoped would be a quick activation. Eric was accompanied by his wife Vickie, and their two dogs, Theo and Ginny.

Eric, Vickie, and the dogs arrived at the Mountain Section of Pilot Mountain State Park at about 1430 UTC and drove to the top of Pilot Mountain Road for the operation. Because of a threat of rain which didn't materialize, Eric chose to operate in the car. He deployed his 28½' end-fed random wire as a vertical on his 31' Jackite telescoping fiberglass mast held upright in a drive-on base, placing three 17' counterpoise wires directly on the ground. Mounting his Elecraft KX2 to his car's passenger-side dash, Eric was on the air at 1445 UTC.

The Pilot Mountain State Park sign.

Eric found he had good cell-signal and would be able to spot himself on POTA Spots (link) and to use POTA Spots to identify possible park-to-park (P2P) QSO opportunities.

Eric began his operation on 40m. Finding himself a clear frequency to run, Eric began calling "CQ POTA" and was auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO came at 1447 UTC with his good friend K4SWL in western North Carolina. QSOs came quickly, with Eric's sixth QSO coming at 1455 UTC with WB4HMA in Tennessee. This run included QSOs with operators located in New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia (2).

Switching to 20m, Eric found himself a clear frequency to run, began calling "CQ POTA", and was auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO in this run came at 1500 UTC with K0FD in Missouri. QSOs came quickly, with Eric's fifth QSO in this run coming at 1508 UTC with W4TRA in North Carolina. This run included a P2P QSO with WA9VFD who was activating Andrew Jackson State Park (US-2883) in South Carolina and QSOs with operators located in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Switching to 30m, Eric found himself a clear frequency to run, began calling "CQ POTA", and was auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO in this run came at 1514 UTC with W0DOS in Missouri. This was followed at 1515 UTC by a QSO with KR4IN in North Carolina, and at 1516 UTC by a QSO with K1PUG in Connecticut.

Finally, Eric returned to 40m and made one more QSO, at 1519 UTC, with K3AQ in Pennsylvania.

In all, Eric made fifteen QSOs in just about thirty-four minutes of on-air time. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made with five watts output.

After his activation was over, Eric took photos of his station, tore down his station, and then hiked the trail to the overlook. Unfortunately, the SD card in his camera failed, and most of the photos were lost. However, Eric recognize the problem before leaving the park and he was able to hike back up to the overlook to make more photos of the overlook and Pilot Mountain, this time to a different SD card.

Views from the overlooks.


Pilot Mountain.

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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