SGS Computer

It seems like I can't catch a break with my Icom IC-718! Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the rig, it's robust, simple, easy to use, and I always get great signal reports when using it with my Wolf River Coil antenna system.  Today I tried to activate A.W. Marion State Park, US-1931, in Circleville, OH. I stopped at A.W. Marion while on my way to the John Glenn International Airport (KCMH) in Columbus, OH to bring a friend back to Athens after a trip back home to Utah. His flight ended up getting delayed early in the morning so it gave me a little bit more time to stop and activate a park that's farther from home than normal.  I arrived around 1845 UTC and found an abundance of picnic tables! My favorite place to activate from is a picnic table that looks over a lake at a park, there's just nothing else like it and it has always screamed "POTA" to me. I unloaded my gear and began setting up at a table that was about halfway from the parking lot to the...

As I wrote about earlier today in my Field Report for my POTA Activation of Strouds Run State Park  in Athens, Ohio, I broke my Icom IC-718's screen during a failed Parks on the Air Activation of Lake Logan State Park, US-1969. This post documents the day, the events leading up to what caused the damage, and lessons learned. On April 18, 2024, I knew I wanted to get out and activate a new park. I had just activated the Wayne National Forrest, US-4521, the day prior as I'm currently chasing the Silver Activator Award for activating 20 unique parks. Lake Logan would have been my 14th unique park on Thursday. The morning started off very rainy and I wasn't too hopeful that I was going to be able to get out and go somewhere new, but thankfully the rain cleared out before noon and I decided that I would head to Lake Logan. I chose the park because of it's close proximity to US Route 33 and it would only be a 30 minute drive to the park from my home in Athens, Ohio. I loaded ...