Amateur Radio Station WD8RIF | POTA Activation Fleming Wildlife Management Area

On Sunday, August 4, 2024, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful activation of Fleming Wildlife Management Area in Kentucky as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.

While enroute home from a family gathering in the Red River Gorge area of Kentucky, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, stopped at Fleming Wildlife Management Area for a quick activation of this new-to-him POTA unit. He was accompanied by his wife, Vickie.

An early morning view of foggy Daniel Boone
National Forest wilderness area from the
spectacularly-located Forest View Lodge.

Following a 10am check-out time from the Forest View Lodge (info), Eric and Vickie arrived at the small Colgan Road parking area at about 1515 UTC, Eric hung his 28½' end-fed random wire antenna from the top of a 31' Jackite telescoping fiberglass mast in a drive-on base, and placed three 17' counterpoise wires directly on the ground. Despite the brutal direct sunlight and lack of shade, Eric placed his Elecraft KX2 on the flip-up table of his folding camp-chair placed beneath the mast and was on the air at 1533 UTC.

Eric had just enough cell-signal at this location to be able to occasionally get a text out to his buddies K8RAT and K4SWL for spotting support but he would not be able to spot himself on POTA Spots (link) or to use POTA Spots to identify possible park-to-park (P2P) QSO opportunities. Because he had anticipated having poor cell signal, he had previously announced his activation on POTA Spots with the hope that he would be auto-spotted when he started calling CQ.

Eric began his operation on 20m by finding a clear frequency to run, calling "CQ POTA", and attempting to text his frequency to K8RAT and K4SWL for spotting support. His first QSO came at 1537 UTC with KD2WBX in New York. His second came almost immediately at 1538 UTC with W5LD in Louisiana, so Eric felt reasonably confident he had been somehow spotted on POTA Spots. Perhaps because of elevated solar A-Index and K-Index and a very negative Bz, QSOs came slowly, with Eric's fifth QSO coming at 1547 UTC. This run included a P2P QSO with KD9UDV at Gypsum Ponds State Wildlife Area (US-9653) in Colorado.

Switching to 40m, Eric found a clear frequency to run, began calling "CQ POTA", and attempted again to text his frequency to K8RAT and K4SWL. His first QSO in this run came at 1552 UTC with WD4EX in Georgia. QSOs came more quickly on 40m than they had on 20m, with Eric's seventh QSO in this run coming at 1559 UTC with N2ESE in New Jersey.

In all, Eric made twelve QSOs. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made with five watts output.