POTA Activation - Wayne National Forest, US-4521, April 17, 2024

On an warm April afternoon, Josh Senefeld, N8VXR, conducted a successful Parks on the Air activation of the Wayne National Forest, US-4521.

Josh arrived to Utah Ridge Pond around 1550 and found the gate to the parking area close to the picnic table to be open. After parking and unpacking the car, Josh found a good spot for his antenna to the right of the picnic table. Thankfully the tree branches were high enough up as to not interfere with the antenna. He put the ground spike in, attached the antenna, and unrolled the window screen ground plane and attached it, then retracted 6" of the whip, and then attached the coax to his IC-718. Josh was on the air by 1600 UTC.

Josh's setup at the picnic table.

The view of Utah Ridge Pond.

After turning on his radio, Josh found an empty frequency (14.256 MHz) and started calling CQ. His first contact came from KN4ZUJ in Florida, and his second from KD0VBL in Minnesota both at 1602 UTC. Then a Park-to-Park QSO came next from K9JFB from two parks, US-6979 and US-6980 in Rhode Island at 1603 UTC. His next Park-to-Park contact came at 1612 UTC with K1WIT from US-8430 in Massachusetts. Contacts then started coming consistently, about one every minute, which surprised Josh a little bit since it was a Wednesday afternoon, but it was a pleasant surprise. About ten minutes later, he got another Park-to-Park QSO with KO4CDM from US-1909 in Florida at 1622. Then another string of QSOs, this time with a slower rate than before. Twenty minutes later, Josh scored another Park-to-Park contact with KX4LEO from US-3615 in Florida at 1642. His last Park-to-Park contact was with VA3BJI from CA-6095 and CA-5082, making this Josh's sixth hunter QSO with CA-5082 which is The Great Trail of Canada National Scenic Trail. His last contact of the activation was with N5KGY in Mississippi at 1658 UTC.

After wrapping up and packing up, Josh took a since walk around the pond and soaked in the beautiful weather. It had rained throughout the morning in Southeast Ohio and it nearly dashed Josh's hopes of activating a park on Wednesday, but after everything cleared out of the area the day completed changed for the better.

Overall, Josh made 50 QSOs, 6 of them being Park-to-Park, in 56 minutes of operating time. All of his QSOs were SSB and were made with 50 watts of output power.