POTA Activation - Strouds Run State Park, US-1994, April 14, 2024

On an sunny but breezy April evening, Josh Senefeld, N8VXR, conducted a successful Parks on the Air activation of Strouds Run State Park, US-1994.

Josh arrived to Strouds Run and found his usual activation sites to already be occupied, so he went back to a back-up site he had activated from before, close to the boat dock around 2145 UTC and started to unpack his gear. After unpacking his backpack Josh decided to put the antenna about 20' across from the picnic table he would operate from. He put in the ground spike, attached the antenna, then unrolled his window screen ground plane, and retracted about 6" of the whip, attached the window screen ground plane, then attached the coax to his radio. Josh was on the air by 2200 UTC.

Josh's setup with the antenna across from him.

A view from the Bulldog Shelter parking lot on the way out.

After everything was setup, Josh decided to start by hunting a Park-to-Park contact, he found K5MPD from US-2799 in Oklahoma at 2201 UTC. Then Josh found an open frequency and started to call CQ, his first contact was with AJ5C in Arkansas at 2206 UTC, then KJ5EDW who was mobile in Texas at 2207 UTC. Then a Park-to-Park QSO with KF5DPX from US-2986 in Texas at 2207 UTC. He was shortly followed up by another Park-to-Park contact with AE5DS from US-3022 in Texas. At 2229 UTC, Josh got a call from CO6QK from Cuba! This was his first DX in a long time while activating. Josh wouldn't get another Park-to-Park contact until 2245 when N0CSM called from US-2359 in Louisiana. Then more DX appeared, this time from Europe! At 2246 UTC, Josh got a call from IU1HJF in Bellinzago Novarese in the north of Italy.

As late shift was approaching (2300 UTC at Strouds Run) Josh decided to take a short break, add the Sport Forty Coil in line to his antenna, and tuned it up on 40 meters. He decided to start his late shift by hunting more Park-to-Park QSOs, first with KD9UDV and KD9UKV from US-0735 in Maryland at 2306 UTC. Then Josh found an empty frequency on a very QSB infested 40 meters. His first contact while running the frequency was with KO4KAD in Virginia at 2308 UTC. At 2314 UTC, Josh got another Park-to-Park contact with N9UQ from US-4153 in Illinois. Then he hit the mother load of Park-to-Park QSOs with VE3BMO and VE3WKG who were in four parks. Josh had heard the pair when he was hunting KD9UDV and KD9UKV and immediately knew what he was in for at 2315 UTC. Their four parks were CA-5568, CA-0063, CA-6003, and CA-5082. Josh continued to run the frequency some more with a slower rate as compared to earlier on 40 meters and wrapped up at 2327 UTC.

Overall, Josh made 83 QSOs, 14 of them being Park-to-Park, in 1 hour and 26 minutes of operating time. All of his QSOs were SSB and were made with 50 watts of output power.