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On a hot and sunny July afternoon, Josh Senefeld, N8VXR, conducted a successful Parks on the Air activation of Fox Lake State Wildlife Area, US-9465. Josh arrived to Fox Lake around 1720 UTC and parked his car in the southeast corner of the north parking lot off of Brown Road. After turning off his car, Josh decided to setup his station in his trunk and put his antenna in the grass behind the car. His station consisted of his Yeasu FT-817ND, Wolf River Coils 213” vertical whip with a window screen ground plane, all mounted on a ground spike and fed with RG-58 coax, and his CWMorse Pocket Single Paddle Iambic Key. He was on the air by 1730 UTC. Josh's station. His antenna. Having good cell service at the site, Josh had no issues accessing the POTA.app spotting page and after identifying an empty frequency, he spotted himself and began calling CQ. The first station that called Josh was also his first QRP SSB DX contact with F5PYI from Maclas, France! They both exchanged 52 sign...

On a humid July evening, Josh Senefeld, N8VXR, conducted a successful Parks on the Air activation of Strouds Run State Park, US-1994. Josh has been hunting for the Kilo Award for making 1000 QSOs from the same Parks on the Air Entity, prior to this activation, Josh had 936 QSOs from Strouds Run, after this activation he now 959 QSOs. Josh arrived to Strouds Run around 2205 UTC and he found the picnic tables by the swim beach area to be unoccupied. He parked his car and then started to setup his station consisting of his Yeasu FT-817ND, his new to him LDG Z-817 ATU, WD8RIF's Chameleon Emcomm III end-fed antenna strung up in a tree fed with RG-58 coax, and his brand new CWMorse Pocket Single Paddle Iambic Key in purple. He was on the air by 2230 UTC. Josh's whole station. His Z-817 atop his FT-817ND. His new single lever paddle from CWMorse.us . Josh decided to start his activation by hunting some CW Park-to-Park QSOs on the 40 meter band, however, he noticed that he barely had a...

On a cool and breezy July morning, Josh Senefeld, N8VXR, conducted a successful Parks on the Air activation of Lake Alma State Park, US-1967.  Josh arrived to Lake Alma at 1255 UTC and parked his car near the Birch Bottom Shelter. He then unpacked his gear and setup at a picnic table under the shelter on the west side. Then Josh scouted out a nearby tree to identify a good branch to put an arborist throw line through as he wanted to use a Chameleon Emcomm III that his buddy Eric, WD8RIF, had loaned to Josh. After many failed attempted at a very nice branch, Josh decided to try for a slightly lower hanging one and got it on his second try! After attaching the radiating element to the end of his throw line he raised the antenna up and it ended up making an inverted-vee shape. Josh then placed the transformer and winder on the edge of the concrete slab the shelter sits on and tied his throw weight to the line on the other side in order to keep the antenna in an inverted-vee shape. He ...

On a humid June afternoon, Josh Senefeld, N8VXR, conducted his first successful QRP Parks on the Air activation of Strouds Run State Park, US-1994. Josh has been hunting for the Kilo Award for making 1000 QSOs from the same Parks on the Air Entity, prior to this activation, Josh had 926 QSOs from Strouds Run, after this activation he now 936 QSOs. Josh arrived to Strouds Run at 2040 UTC and noticed that the Bulldog shelter was empty and had no cars in the parking lot. He parked his car at the shelter and then started to setup his station consisting of his new to him Yeasu FT-817ND, Wolf River Coils 213” vertical whip with a window screen ground plane, all mounted on a ground spike, and fed with RG-58 coax. He was on the air by 2057 UTC. Josh's station. His antenna setup near Dow Lake. Since Josh was still learning his way around the FT-817 as it arrived the same day, he decided to hunt Park-to-Park QSOs to get his ten contacts. Cell service at the Bulldog shelter was weaker than no...

On a very hot and sunny June afternoon, two members of the  Athens County Amateur Radio Association , Josh Senefeld, N8VXR, and Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, conducted a successful Parks on the Air activation of Chief Cornstalk Wildlife Management Area, US-7048. The pair of activators were joined by one of Eric's dog, Theo, and they arrived to the Chief Cornstalk Pond around 1715 UTC and took a short walk around the small site to take in the sights of the small but beautiful pond. After returning to Eric's car, they unpacked their gear and begun to assemble their stations.  The sign on Upper 9 Mile Road. Theo investigating the sign at the pond. Josh assembled his station consisting of Eric's Yeasu FT-817ND QRP transceiver, LDG Z11 tuner, Eric's Chameleon Emcomm III end-fed antenna strung up in a tree in an inverted-V configuration, and fed with RG-58 coax. The process of getting the Emcomm III into the tree was not an easy task however. Eric's friend Thomas Witherspoon, K4...

On a warm and sunny June afternoon, two members of the  Athens County Amateur Radio Association , Josh Senefeld, N8VXR, and Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, conducted a successful Parks on the Air activation of Tu-Endie-Wei State Park, US-1823, and the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, US-4572. Josh met Eric at his house in Athens, Ohio before setting out on their journey to West Virginia, a new state to activate, for Josh. After putting their lunches in the cooler, Josh's gear in Eric's car, and getting one of Eric's dogs, Theo, ready, the trio set out for their drive to Mountain State. They arrived before 1400 UTC and took a walk around the beautiful site on the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers.  After their walk around the site, the two unpacked their gear and begun to assemble their stations on the south side of the park. Josh assembled his station consisting of Eric's Elecraft KX2 QRP transceiver, Josh's Wolf River Coils 213" whip, mounted on a groun...

On a pleasant June afternoon, Josh Senefeld, N8VXR, conducted a successful Parks on the Air activation of Strouds Run State Park, US-1994. This was Josh's 20th activation of the park, earning him the Oasis Activator Repeat Offender Award for 20 activations from the same Parks on the Air entity. Josh has also been hunting for the Kilo Award for making 1000 QSOs from the same Parks on the Air Entity. Prior to this activation, Josh had 19 successful activations of Strouds Run with 875 QSOs, after this activation he now has 20 activations with 926 QSOs. Josh arrived to Strouds Run around 1935 UTC and he found the picnic tables by the swim beach area to be unoccupied. He parked his car and then started to setup his station consisting of his Icom IC-718, Wolf River Coils 213” vertical whip with a window screen ground plane, all mounted on a ground spike, and fed with 25’ of RG-8X coax. He was on the air by 1745 UTC. His operating position. The 213" whip. Josh's activation techni...

On an overcast and coll June afternoon, Josh Senefeld, N8VXR, and Cade Saugier, KC3EKE, conducted a successful Parks on the Air activation of Strouds Run State Park, US-1994. This was Josh's 19th activation of the park on his hunt to complete the Oasis Repeat Offender Awards for 20 activations from the same Parks on the Air entity. Josh has also been hunting for the Kilo Award for making 1000 QSOs from the same Parks on the Air Entity. Prior to this activation, Josh had 18 successful activations of Strouds Run with 825 QSOs, after this activation he now has 19 activations with 875 QSOs. When Josh and Cade arrived to the park they wanted to activate from Josh's usual spot, the picnic tables by the swim beach area because Cade's wife was going to join the two later to grill chicken for dinner. However, the picnic tables were being used by a large family, so they drove around by the swim beach area and found it to be very packed with people. Josh decided, much like his previou...

On a cool and windy June afternoon, Josh Senefeld, N8VXR, conducted a successful Parks on the Air activation of Strouds Run State Park, US-1994. This was Josh's 18th activation of the park on his hunt to complete the Oasis Repeat Offender Awards for 20 activations from the same Parks on the Air entity. Josh has also been hunting for the Kilo Award for making 1000 QSOs from the same Parks on the Air Entity. Prior to this activation, Josh had 17 successful activations of Strouds Run with 793 QSOs, after this activation he now has 18 activations with 825 QSOs. When Josh arrived to the park he headed to his usual spot, the picnic tables by the swim beach area. The spot was empty, however, he decided to check the Horsemen's Area off of Scatter Ridge Road. When he arrived he found a horse trailer and truck had been parked right in front of the picnic table. As it was to close to where he would've put his antenna he headed back to his usual picnic table. He arrived to the site aro...

On a warm and sunny May afternoon, Josh Senefeld, N8VXR, conducted a successful Parks on the Air activation of Strouds Run State Park, US-1994. This was Josh's 17th activation of the park on his hunt to complete the Oasis Repeat Offender Awards for 20 activations from the same Parks on the Air entity. Josh has also been hunting for the Kilo Award for making 1000 QSOs from the same Parks on the Air Entity. Prior to this activation, Josh had 16 successful activations of Strouds Run with 750 QSOs, after this activation he now has 17 activations with 793 QSOs. Josh arrived to Strouds Run and headed to his usual spot, the picnic tables by the swim beach area. The park seemed to be bustling with cars, however, this spot was completely empty of people. However, after a drive around Dow Lake after his activation, Josh found where all the crowds were. He arrived to the site around 1717 UTC and began to setup his station consisting of his Icom IC-718 (now with a new screen!), Wolf River Coil...