by William Eric McFadden
From the wildlife area's website:
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The wildlife area includes rolling hills, woods, open fields, and two water areas. Situated among wooded hillsides is 48-acre Fox Lake. A small pond is on the northeast corner of the area. More than half of the area is wooded. Oak and hickory are the most common tree species, with lesser numbers of beech and maple. Fifteen percent of the area is brushland, primarily sassafras and sumac. Another 25 percent is openland.
Pictures
Description
On Thursday, January 1, 2026, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful activation of Fox Lake Wildlife Area in Ohio as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.
In order to perform a "New Year's Week" activation, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, visited Fox Lake Wildlife Area on a very cold New Year's Day, Spring afternoon, arriving at the empty boat ramp parking area at about 2010 UTC. Eric was accompanied by little dog Theo. Eric began the drive to Fox Lake right immediately after Athens County went from a Level 2 Snow Emergency to a Level 1 Snow Emergency. Because his car is not equipped with snow tires this year, Eric drove his wife's Blizzak-equipped AWD Honda CRV.
"Fox Lake Wildlife Area"
After choosing an out-of-the-way parking area without overhanging trees, Eric deployed his Tufteln (link) EFRW as a 29' vertical supported on a Jackite 31' telescoping fiberglass mast supported in a drive-on base, placing two 17' counterpoise wires directly on the ground. Placing his Elecraft KX2 on the car's passenger-side dashboard and hooking up his earbuds and Whiterook MK-33 single-lever paddle, Eric was on the air at 2021 UTC.
Eric's KX2 station.
Eric's mast and antenna.
Eric had previously avoided the boat-ramp area for his activations of Fox Lake Wildlife Area because of a lack of cell-signal. He had recently been told that cell-signal was now available at the boat-ramp area, and he was very pleased to find that for this visit he did, in fact, have good cell-signal at this location and 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 started his operation on 20m. Finding himself a clear frequency to run, he began calling "CQ POTA" and was auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO came at 2022 UTC with W1RMW at Yanahli Wildlife Management Area (US-3970) in Tennessee. QSOs came very quickly, with Eric's fiftieth QSO coming at 2114 UTC with WB2TQE in Florida. This run included a P2P QSO with KX4BE at Nantahala National Forest (US-4509) in North Carolina and QSOs with operators located in Alabama (3), California, Connecticut (2), Florida (8), Idaho, Illinois (2), Kansas, Massachusetts (2), Minnesota (2), Missouri (3), Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey (3), New York (3), North Carolina (5), Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina (2), South Dakota, Tennessee (4), Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin.
Eric finished his operation by hunting for P2P QSOs. At 2119 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 20m with W4LOO at Savannas Preserve State Park (US-3654) in Florida. At 2122 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 20m with KE0VWA at Big Creek State Park (US-2281) in Iowa. Finally, at 2129 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 20m with K7SHR at Wagon Box Fight National Battlefield (US-10830) in Wyoming.
Theo-dog.
In all, Eric made fifty-three QSOs, with five P2P QSOs, with operators located in twenty-five states, in sixty-eight minutes of on-air time. All of his QSOs were made with CW and 5w output power.
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