by William Eric McFadden
From the park website:
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Santa Fe Prairie Nature Preserve contains high quality mesic and dry-mesic gravel prairie recognized by the Illinois Natural Areas Inventory. Gravel prairie is extremely rare in Illinois and the Midwest. Mesic gravel prairie dominated by prairie dropseed, big bluestem, and Indian grass makes up most of the site. There is also dry-mesic gravel prairie that is dominated by big bluestem, Indian grass, prairie dropseed, and porcupine grass. Prairie cord grass, blue joint grass, and multiple sedge species dominate the wet prairie. Characteristic species of the marsh community include bluejoint grass, narrow-leaved cattail, great bulrush, common arrowhead, and winged loosestrife. Approximately 225 native plant species have been recorded from the site.
Pictures
Bonus Gallery
Description
On Monday, March 10, 2025, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful activation of Santa Fe Prairie Nature Preserve (US-7839) in Illinois as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.
Upon arriving in the Chicago area for a work conference, and after successful activations of William W. Powers State Recreation Area and Pullman National Historic Park, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, performed an activation of Santa Fe Prairie Nature Preserve. Eric was accompanied by his wife, Vickie.
The Santa Fe Prairie Nature Preserve Caboose Visitor Center was closed but the parking and fishing areas remained open. Upon arrival, Eric selected what he had hoped was an out-of-the-way parking space and deployed his 28½' end-fed random wire antenna as a vertical supported by a 31' Jackite telescoping fiberglass mast in a drive-on base. Because of strong winds, he chose to operate inside his car. Mounting his Elecraft KX2 on the car's passenger-side dashboard, Eric was on the air at 2217 UTC.
Eric's station.
As expected in an urban environment, 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 2220 UTC with VE4SI in Manitoba. QSOs came very quickly, with Eric's twelfth QSO coming at 2232 UTC with N1XV in New Jersey. This run included a P2P QSO with K5BDH who was activating Sheldon Lake State Park (US-3056) in Texas and QSOs with operators located in Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana (2), Manitoba, New Jersey (2), New York, and Texas (4).
In all, Eric made twelve QSOs in about fifteen 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 walking tour of the grounds before leaving to check into the hotel.
The Caboose Visitor Center.
Bonus Galley:
Eric spent Tuesday and Wednesday at the aforementioned work-conference but had evenings free to enjoy Chicago.
The Chicago Skyline at Night as viewed
from the 28th floor of the Hyatt Regency
McCormick Place on March 10.
The Navy Pier ferris wheel
at night on March 11.
The Chicago Harbor Southeast Guidewall
Light as viewed from Navy Pier on March 11.
The 111' tall Chicago Harbor Light as
viewed from Navy Pier on March 11.
The William E. Dever Crib Light as
viewed from Nacy Pier on March 11.
(return)