by William Eric McFadden
From the park website:
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William W. Powers State Recreation Area, located on Wolf Lake on Chicago's far southeast side at the Illinois-Indiana state line, offers opportunities to get outdoors and enjoy nature in the city for residents and visitors.
A 160-acre recreation area was acquired by the State of Illinois in 1947 and became known as the Wolf Lake State Recreation Area. Other acquisitions have now increased the area to 580 acres, of which 419 acres are water.
In 1965, the Illinois General Assembly approved changing the name of the site to honor the memory of William W. Powers, a former state legislator, who was well-known for his deep interest in the promotion of recreation for the residents of his district.
Wolf Lake provides outstanding fishing, with largemouth bass, northern pike, bluegill, redear sunfish, crappie, bullhead, carp, walleye, and hybrid muskie. About six miles of shoreline is available to bank fisherman.
William W. Powers SRA is a great venue for nature education for area children and families, as well as for picnics and family outings.
Pictures
Description
On Monday, March 10, 2025, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful activation of William W. Powers State Recreation Area (US-4107) in Illinois as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.
Upon arriving in the Chicago area for a work conference, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, performed an activation of William W. Powers State Recreation Area. Eric was accompanied by his wife, Vickie.
Smokey the Bear and the park sign.
While Vickie toured the Visitor Center, Eric set up his station and performed his operation. Despite seriously windy conditions—Eric was near "The Windy City", after all—Eric decided to perform his activation outside, in the elements. Finding himself an out-of-the-way location near the Visitor Center, Eric deployed his 28½' end-fed random wire antenna as a vertical supported on a 31' Jackite telescoping fiberglass mast bungied to his folding camp-chair, placing two 17' counterpoise wires on the ground instead of the usual three to avoid a trip-hazard. Placing his Elecraft KX2 on the camp-chair's flip-up table, Eric was on the air at 1910 UTC.
Eric's station overlooking Wolf Lake, the mast
collapsed for the photo because of the wind.
As expected, Eric 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 20m. Finding himself a clear frequency to run, Eric began calling "CQ POTA" and self-spotted himself on POTA Spots. His first QSO came at 1913 UTC with K1WAT in Pennsylvania. QSOs came very quickly, with his twenty-eighth QSO coming at 1949 UTC with WA8OJR in South Carolina. This run included a P2P QSO with KC2DWG who was performing a two-fer activation of Lake Ouachita State Park (US-1094) and Ouachita National Forest (US-4424) in Arkansas and QSOs with operators located in Alabama, Arkansas (2), Florida (3), Delaware, Georgia (2), Idaho, Pennsylvania (2), Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire (2), New Jersey (2), New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Ontario, South Carolina (2), Texas (2), Vermont, and Virginia.
Switching to 40m, Eric found the band to have an S4 noise floor. Nevertheless, he began calling "CQ POTA", self-spotted himself on POTA Spots, and his first QSO in this run came at 1953 UTC with KE4WLE in Ohio. This was followed at 1954 UTC by a QSO with K9CPO in Wisconsin and at 1955 UTC by a QSO with VE3PLN in Ontario.
During his operation, the strong, gusty winds threatened to knock down his mast. Eric actually wrapped two additional bungies around the mast to better secure it to the chair; he did this while remaining seated in the chair because standing up would have immediately caused the mast and chair to be blown over by the wind. The wind was so strong that it roared around Eric's earbuds, forcing him to cover one ear with his left hand, just so he could have a change of hearing the CW, while he transcribed it with his right hand.
In all, Eric made thirty-one QSOs in about forty-five minutes of on-air time. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made with five watts output.
Following his operation, Eric took the opportunity to make a quick tour of the Visitor Center, to view Wolf Lake, and to take photographs.
The Visitor Center.
Wolf Lake.
Eric also submitted his log to the World Wide Flora and Fauna in Amateur Radio (WWFF; link) program.
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