Amateur Radio Station WD8RIF | POTA Activation Bald Head Woods Reserve State Conservation Area, NC

On Wednesday, May 7, 2025, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful activation of Bald Head Woods Reserve State Conservation Area on Bald Head Island in North Carolina as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.

Eric McFadden, WD8RIF; his wife Vickie; and their two dogs, Theo and Ginny; visited Bald Head Island so Eric could perform a POTA activation of the state conservation area and the four of them could site-see.

Getting to Bald Head Island

Access to Bald Head Island is by water only, and Eric, Vickie, and the dogs started their day with a drive from their rental house on Holden Beach to the Deep Point Marina in Southport to catch the noon ferry to Bald Head Island. Bald Head Island is without cars (more on this later), so Eric took with him his bicycle, his KX2 Mini Travel Kit, Goture Red Fox Super Hard 720 carbon-fiber mast and a spike, and a lightweight telescoping stool. He also took his KH1 Micro Travel Kit as emergency back-up.

After a minor kerfuffle in getting the required over-size baggage tag for his bicycle, at noon the two humans and two canines (and a heap of other humans and a few canines) boarded the ferry "Ranger" (info) for the twenty-minute ride to Bald Head Island. During the ride, Eric enjoyed seeing Oak Island Lighthouse as Ranger passed between Bald Head and Oak Islands and seeing "Old Baldy", the lighthouse on Bald Head Island, as Ranger approached the harbor on that island.

Once Ranger arrived at Bald Head Island and everyone had disembarked, Eric retrieved his bicycle, mounted his KX2 Mini Travel Kit on the rear rack and prepared for the short ride on Federal Road into the state conservation area. So she and the dogs could get around the island while Eric was bicycling and activating, Vickie rented a golf-cart.

Bicycling to the state conservation area

Bald Head Island is mostly flat, and Federal Road is nicely paved and smooth, so Eric had no trouble bicycling and keeping up with (and passing!) golf carts. It was very early in this ride, however, that he learned that the press about Bald Head Island had lied; while Bald Head Island might be without cars for those who live on the island, it was chock full of pick-up trucks, vans, dump trucks, and even back-hoes jockeying on the narrow island roads as contractors worked on getting properties ready for the upcoming rental-season.

Based on his research, Eric had planned to bicycle past the Loop Trail trailhead and perform his activation at the Middle Trail trailhead.

The "Maritime Forest State Preserve" marker
indicating the entrance to the Bald Head Woods
Reserve State Conservation Area.

Arriving (unscathed) at the Middle Trail trailhead, Eric met a local there who told him it would be worthwhile to return the Loop Trail trailhead, hike into the forest a hundred yards or so, and see the ancient live oak known as the Timmons Oak. This Eric did and he was amazed by the size and apparent age of the Timmons Tree. During his ride back to the Loop Trail trailhead, Eric had begun think about trying to perform his activation at the Timmons Oak, but once there, he immediately saw that the trail was too narrow to allow him to set up a station there.

Bicycle-Portable POTA

Eric bicycled back to the Middle Trail trailhead, did a bit of a reconnoitre, and decided to bungie his Goture Red Fox Super Hard 720 carbon-fiber mast to the fence, slope his 28½' end-fed random wire from his station on the boardwalk up to the top of the mast, and place two 17' counterpoise wires directly on the boardwalk. He placed his bicycle directly beneath the sloper to prevent other visitors from walking into the radiator wire. Placing his KX2 on the boardwalk, and extending his telescoping stool so he would be able to sit, Eric was on the air at 1738 UTC.

The Middle Trail trailhead sign.

Eric's KX2 on the boardwalk.

Eric's mast and antenna, as
viewed from his operating location.

Eric's clipboards on his lap,
ready for CW-copy and logging.

Eric's KX and clipboards, the
latter sitting on the stool.

A second view of Eric's mast and antenna.

As he had hoped, 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.

With improving solar numbers (SFI=156, SN=84, A-Index=15, K-Index=1), Eric anticipated no trouble making the ten QSOs required to validate his activation.

To give his buddies Thomas, K4SWL, in western North Carolina and Mike, K8RAT, in central Ohio a chance to work him, Eric began his operation on 40m. He was a bit suprised to find that the best match his KX2 could find for the 28½' EFRW with two 17' counterpoise wires on 40m gave an SWR of 2.3:1. Deciding to just run with it, he found himself a clear frequency to run, began calling "CQ POTA", and was auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO came at 1739 UTC with Thomas, K4SWL, which was a pleasant surprise. QSOs on 40m came steadily, with Eric's fifth QSO coming at 1948 UTC with N0OEP who was performing an activation of Yorktown National Battlefield (US-8204) in Virginia. Alas, Mike, K8RAT, reported via text that he was unable to hear Eric's QRP signal on this band. This run included the aforementioned P2P QSO and QSOs with operators located in North Carolina (2), Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia.

When calls stopped coming on 40m, Eric switched to 20m and discovered that the best match his KX2 could find for the 28½' EFRW with two 17' counterpoise wires gave an SWR of 2.8:1. While this was not ideal, Eric once again decided to just run with it and found a clear frequency to run, began to call "CQ POTA", and self-spotted himself on POTA Spots. His first QSO on 20m came at 1755 UTC with K9IS in Wisconsin, and this QSO was a good indicatation of how the rest of the QSOs on 20m would be—K9IS's signal was very weak, just above the nearly inaudible noise-floor. Nevertheless, QSOs on 20m came steadily, with Eric's fifth QSO in this run coming at 1807 UTC with WB8DTT in Michigan. This run included QSOs with stations located in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Texas, and Wisconsin. All five of these stations were very weak into Eric's receiver, just above the low noise floor, and several repeats were required because of RF interference from some of the electric golf carts and from loud tires on other golf carts.

When calls stopped coming on 20m, Eric switched to 30m and was pleased that, on this band, his KX2 easily found a 1:1 SWR match for the 28½' EFRW with two 17' counterpoise wires. Finding himself a clear frequency to run, Eric began calling "CQ POTA", and was auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO in this run came at 1811 UTC with K4MNF in Kentucky. This was followed at 1812 UTC by a QSO with Eric's buddy Mike, K8RAT, in central Ohio.

Finally, Eric tried hunting for P2P QSOs but didn't succeed in making any. When his wife texted that she was waiting for him at the lighthouse, Eric knew that it was time to tear down the station, pack everything back onto his bicycle, and continue his ride.

In all, Eric made twelve QSOs in a bit over half an hour of on-air time. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made with five watts output.

Bicycling to the lighthouse and additional exploration of the island by bicycle

Eric chose to ride the longer way back to the ferry terminal and the nearby lighthouse, continuing down Federal Road and up South Head Wynd along South Beach to the lighthouse.

Upon arriving at the lighthouse and finding his wife there, she volunteered to watch the dogs while he toured the lighthouse. Eric didn't argue, paid the small free, toured the small museum, and then climbed the 108 stairs to the top of the 110' tall lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse in North Carolina.

After Eric finished his tour of Old Baldy, Vickie asked him to follow her to some shops she had seen earlier, shops she had been unable to go into because she wasn't able take the dogs in with her. Eric agreed with this and followed her back down Federal Road to Maritime Way and the shops thereon. Once there, he walked the dogs and then sat with them while Vickie briefly shopped.

Once Vickie finished her shopping, it was time to get the golf cart back to the vendor or risk paying for a second day. Vickie sped away back up Federal Road with the dogs while Eric followed more slowly. Upon arriving back at the area near the ferry port, Eric looked for additional views of Old Baldy and found good vantage points on the wooden-deck bridge over the marsh and near the golf cart rental company.

Upon finding his way back to the cart rental company, Eric was relieved to learn that Vickie had, indeed, gotten the golf cart back before the 4:30pm deadline, and he sat with the dogs while Vickie shopped in one last store.

As the 5:05pm ferry boarding time arrived, Eric was pleased to learn he wouldn't need to secure an oversize luggage tag for his bicycle for the return trip. He removed the KX2 Mini Travel Kit from the bicycle and surrended the bicycle to be loaded onto the ferry, and then he and Vickie (and the dogs) got in line to board Ranger for the return trip to Southport.

The trip back to Southport on Ranger was uneventful, although the temperature had dropped due to cloud-cover, and the breeze from the boat's passage was cool.

Back at Southport, everyone disembarked, and Eric retrieved his bicycle once again. Leaving his bicycle with Vickie and the dogs at the terminal, he walked to the parking lot and was only briefly confused about where his car was parked. Driving back to the terminal, Eric picked up Vickie and the dogs, loaded his bicycle onto the roof of the car, and then drove to the unfortunately named restauant called Fishy Fishy, on the water in Southport, where he, Vickie, and the dogs sat in the outdoor patio area and had an excellent dinner of fresh haddock fish and chips (for Eric) and fresh peel-and-eat shrimp (for Vickie) while Theo barked at gulls and Ginny (somewhat successfully) tried to steal Eric's fish and chips.

Eric also submitted his log to the World Wide Flora and Fauna in Amateur Radio (WWFF; link) program.