From the nature preserve's website:

Johnson Ridge State Nature Preserve is a 208-acre site with second-growth oak-hickory woods and deep ravines covering most of this preserve. The most interesting sections are the prairie barren openings dominated by blackjack and post oaks.

Some of the more significant species present in the prairie barren openings include green milkweed, spider milkweed, prairie false indigo, large summer bluets, false scurf-pea, Carolina buckthorn and few-flowered nut-rush.

Pictures

The Johnson Ridge State Nature Preserve sign
The Snake Root Trail trailhead
Eric's station: 1 | 2

Description

On Friday, August 2, 2024, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful activation of Johnson Ridge State Nature Preserve in Kentucky as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.

While enroute to Frenchburg, Kentucky, for a family gathering, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, stopped at Johnson Ridge State Nature Preserve for a quick activation of this new-to-him POTA unit. He was accompanied by his wife, Vickie.

The Johnson Ridge State Nature Preserve
sign on Marjorie Johnson Road.


The Snake Root Trail trailhead.

Arriving at the tiny unoccupied parking area at about 1600 UTC, Eric quickly deployed his 28½' end-fed random wire antenna as a vertical supported on a 31' Jackite telescoping fiberglass mast in a drive-on base and placed three 17' counterpoise wires directly on the ground. Because of the threat of rain, Eric mounted his Elecraft KX2 on the dash of his car and was on the air at 1604 UTC.

Eric's station.

Eric was pleased to see that he had good cell-signal and that he 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 40m by finding a clear frequency to run and calling "CQ POTA", and he was pleased to be auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO came at 1608 UTC with KQ4CW in Virginia. Despite elevated solar indicies (A-Index at 22, K-Index at 2), QSOs came steadily, with Eric's tenth QSO coming at 1622 UTC with W3IPA in Pennsylvania. This run included QSOs with operators located in Virginia (2), North Carolina (2), Kentucky, Maryland, West Virginia, Michigan, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania.

Switching to 20m, Eric found a clear frequency to run, began calling "CQ POTA", and was again auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO in this run came at 1622 UTC with WB0CJB in Tennessee. QSOs came quickly, with his final QSO coming at 1631 UTC with WD5JR in Oklahoma. This run included QSOs with operators located in Tennessee, Arkansas (2), Kansas, and Oklahoma.

Needing to hit the road toward Frenchburg, Eric decided not to hunt for P2P QSOs.

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

(return)

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