East Harbor State Park
East Harbor State Park, K-1949 on Lake Erie. Spent the weekend with the family here. Had a great time on the beach, and made 3 activations – one was a Late Shift activation.
Fowler Woods
Fowler Woods, K-9407 located just north of Mansfield, Ohio. Its a nice little park with, a nice boardwalk.
This was a quick activation while on my way to East Harbor on Lake Erie. This is a nice quiet park.
I made 38 QSO’s in about 45 minutes – all SSB on 40 meters.
Mohican River Wildlife Area
Mohican River Wildlife Area, K-9483 near Gann, Ohio. This covered bridge is just outside the park that is on an Amish buggy trail / bike trail. Its well worth checking it out.
Finding a location to activate was a bit tricky. I found this location to be a good place.
Made 23 QSO’s, 7 CW, 13 FT8, and 3 SSB.
Clearfork Gorge Nature Preserve
Clearfork Gorge Nature Preserve K-9398. This park is a hike-in only activation. So this meant using my two QCX-mini transceivers.
The trail head is across the road from the Mohican fire tower.
Once on the trail, you will hike in about 100 yards and you will come to a fork in the trail. Take the right fork to the nature preserve.
Clearfork Gorge is an old-growth forest area. It reminds me of the Speeder chase scene in Return Of The Jedi.
Once I reached the Clearfork Gorge sign, I noticed to the left and off the path was a high spot. Since I was only running 5 watts, I needed all the help I could get. So that is where I chose to set up.
This is a photo of my DIY 40 / 30 / 20 meter vertical I use for when I am on a hiking activation. Here is a blog post on this antenna build. It uses a 19 foot collapsible fishing pole.
Its a bit difficult to see, but its there. I use yellow para-cord for the guy lines to support it. That helps out when looking for the antenna in the photo.
Here is QCX mini transceiver. It runs 5 watts QRP, CW only. They are fun to operate.
Made 15 QSO’s on 40 and 20 meters.
I will definitely be back to Clearfork Gorge Nature Preserve.
