Amateur Radio Station WD8RIF | POTA Activation Richard Bong State Recreation Area

On Thursday, March 13, 2025, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful activation of Richard Bong State Recreation Area (US-4265) in Wisconsin as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.

Following a two-day work conference in Chicago, and following a successful activation of Big Foot Beach State Park, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, performed an activation of Richard Bong State Recreation Area at a picnic shelter on the shore of Wolf Lake. Eric was accompanied by his wife, Vickie.

Eric and Vickie arrived at Richard Bong State Recreation Area at about 1830 UTC and took a few minutes exploring the place. Eric finally chose as his operating location a picnic shelter on the shore of Wolf Lake. Despite gusty winds, Eric chose to operate in the elements. Placing his Elecraft KX2 on a picnic table, Eric deployed his Tufteln (link) 35' end-fed random wire antenna as a sloper to the top of his Goture Red Fox Super Hard 720 carbon-fiber mast held upright on a spike stuck into a sand of a beach-volleyball court, placing three 17' counterpoise wires directly on the ground. Eric was on the air at 1852 UTC.

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.

During this operation, ionospheric conditions would prove to be unsettled. The solar indices at the start of the operation were SFI=160, SN=160, A-Index=32, and K-Index=3, slightly better than they were while Eric was at Big Foot Beach State Park earlier in the day.

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 1853 UTC (after Eric's very first CQ) with K2JB in North Carolina. QSOs came quickly, with Eric's twelfth QSO coming at 1906 UTC with KB4QQJ in North Carolina. This run included a QSO with HA9RE in Hungary and QSOs with operators located in Florida (2), Idaho (2), New Jersey (2), New York, North Carolina (2), Tennessee, and Virginia.

Switching to 40m, Eric began calling "CQ POTA" and self-spotted himself on POTA Spots. His only QSO in this run came at 1912 UTC with WX1J in Michigan.

Needing to hit the road for the long drive to Indiana Dunes National Park and Indiana Dunes State Park, Eric decided to end his operation with thirteen QSOs in about twenty minutes of on-air time. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made with five watts output.

Just as he had completed packing up his station and taking photographs of Wolf Lake, Eric received a text from Don, WB9CYY, saying that Don was setting up at Turtle Creek State Wildlife Area. Eric replied that he would try to work Don from the Visitor Center.

Arriving at the Visitor Center, Eric was disappointed to find it closed, but he was pleased to be able to try to make another P2P QSO with WB9CYY. Grabbing his KH1 Micro Travel Kit and, knowing that Don was on 40m, Eric attached the AXE1 40m Antenna Extender, the 48" whip, and the 33' counterpoise wire to the KH1 and stretched the counterpoise wire out on the ground. Tuning to Don's frequency, Eric could hear him well and, at 1952 UTC, while standing on the edge of the parking area and using the KH1 in "walkie-talkie" mode, Eric and Don completed a P2P QSO on 40m between Turtle Creek State Wildlife Area (US-9868) and Richard Bong State Recreation Area (US-4265), bringing Eric's QSO count at Richard Bong State Recreation Area to fourteen.

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