POTA Activation - Lake Hope State Park, US-1994, and Zaleski State Forest, US-5455, April 3, 2024

On an cold and windy April morning, Josh Senefeld, N8VXR, conducted a successful Parks on the Air activation of Lake Hope State Park, US-1994, and Zaleski State Forest, US-5455.

Josh arrived to Lake Hope and found the Lake Hope Shelter House to be empty. Indeed it was! Josh parked in the gravel by the shelter and got his gear out of his trunk. Josh began setting up under the shelter at 1223 UTC, he found a good spot to setup his antenna to the left of the shelter so the antenna wouldn't get tangled in the trees, he then put the ground spike in the ground, attached the Wolf River Coils 213" whip, and laid out the window screen (with his signature sticks to hold it down), retracted about 6" of the whip, and ran the coax to his IC-718. Josh was on the air by 1248 UTC.

Josh forgot to take any pictures because it was windy and cold!

After setting up and everything, Josh realized that he didn't have cell service! So he was unable to spot himself on the POTA website. Josh found an open frequency and started calling CQ, but no one came back to him, so he decided to start at the bottom of the band and work his way up to find Park-to-Park QSOs. Josh's first contact came from WQ9V from US-10274 in Texas at 1258 UTC, Josh asked him if he would be able to spot Josh on the POTA website, however, he didn't have cell service either! After going back up the band to an empty frequency, Josh decided to start calling CQ again, and this time he got a reply from KB0TYJ in New Mexico at 1300 UTC, Josh asked him if he could spot him and thankfully he could! Now he could start getting some contacts! His next came from W5AZO in Texas at 1303 UTC. Josh's second Park-to-Park QSO came from W5WLG from US-3029 in Texas at 1305 UTC. His only other Park-to-Park QSO came from AE5DS from US-3039 also in Texas at 1319 UTC. 

Josh did have a notable QSO with Walter, KA4KXX from Orlando, FL, who later emailed Josh a picture of the 20m home-brew rig that he was using during their contact.

Walter's 20m Sideband and CW rig.

Overall, Josh made 27 QSOs, 3 of them being Park-to-Park, in 33 minutes of operating time. All of his QSOs were SSB and were made with 50 watts of output power.