by William Eric McFadden
From the wildlife area's website:
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Land acquisition for the construction of Tycoon Lake began in 1957 and was completed in 1960. Construction of two earthen dams across an old channel of Raccoon Creek was completed in 1960 and fish were stocked the following year. The lake was constructed for recreational purposes. Tycoon Lake lies within the 684-acre Tycoon Lake Wildlife Area. The area surrounding Tycoon Lake is gently rolling to hilly. Most of the uplands surrounding Tycoon Lake are forested with some brushland/open areas present as well as some wetlands. Tycoon Lake is relatively shallow; maximum depth is 18 feet. There are numerous tree stumps along the north shoreline that attract fish as well as some old fence rows that were present prior to impoundment.
Pictures
Description
On Saturday, April 13, 2024, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed a successful activation of Tycoon Lake Wildlife Area in Ohio as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program.
Following a visit to the MOVARC Hamfest in nearby Bidwell, Ohio, Eric visited Tycoon Lake Wildlife Area on a pleasantly-warm but very blustery spring morning, arriving at the park's boat-ramp area at about 1330 UTC.
The Tycoon Lake sign.
After finding himself an out-of-the-way area to set up his station, Eric parked and set up his KX2 on his folding camp-chair and deployed his Tufteln (link) 35' EFRW as a sloper up to the top of his Jackite 31' telescoping fiberglass mast on a drive-on mount. When it came time to deploy his three 17' counterpoise wires, many minutes were lost while he (successfully) searched the ground for the three-to-one counterpoise wire adapter he had unknowingly dropped. Eric was on the air at 1355 UTC.
Eric's station.
Eric had good cell-signal at this location, and he was able to spot himself to POTA Spots (link) and to use POTA Spots to identify possible park-to-park (P2P) QSO opportunities.
Eric began operations by checking POTA Spots for P2P QSO opportunities and at 1358 UTC he completed a P2P QSO on 20m with K4NYM who was performing a three-fer activation of Colt Creek State Park (US-1848), Green Swamp Wilderness Park Reserve (US-5330), and Florida Trail National Scenic Trail (US-4559) in Florida.
Finding his own frequency on 20m, Eric began calling "CQ POTA" and was auto-spotted on POTA Spots. His first QSO in this run came at 1401 UTC with KJ7RPL in Oregon. QSOs came quickly, with Eric's twelfth QSO in the run coming at 1415 UTC with N6MRS in Florida. This run included QSOs with operators located in Oregon, California, Rhode Island, Arkansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Kansas, Idaho, Florida (3), and Utah.
Switching to 40m, Eric found himself 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 1421 UTC with WB8LZR in North Carolina. As on 20m, QSOs came quickly, and Eric's twelfth QSO in this run came at 1430 UTC with NK2C in New York. This run included a P2P QSO with VE3KZE who was activating The Great Trail of Canada National Scenic Trail (CA-5082) in Ontario and QSOs with operators located in North Carolina (3), Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio (2), Ontario, Virginia, and New York (2).
Eric finish his operation by hunting for P2P QSOs. At 1434 UTC he completed a P2P QSO on 40m with KU8T at Ouabache State Park (US-2263) in Indiana, and at 1438 UTC he completed a P2P QSO on 20m with N3RN at Murphy Creek State Conservation Area (US-8362) in Florida.
When a sudden wind gust bowed his mast enough to nearly pull his KX2 off of the camp-chair's fold-up table and onto the ground, Eric realized it was time to quit. In all, Eric logged twenty-nine QSOs, including six P2P QSOs. All of Eric's QSOs were CW.
Tycoon Lake.
"No Parking".
(return)