Pymatuning State Park
Pymatuning State Park in PA, K-1407. Went there for the Western PA POTA party hosted by Jim, KC3GUU. Several stations were set up running SSB so I ran FT8 from my Jeep.
Thanks to my portable WiFi set up, I was able to freely walk around and chat with people while activating running FT8.
Pymatuning State Park
Pymatuning State Park K-1986. This park is on the Ohio Pennsylvania border. This is the Ohio side.
Stayed at the campground and also ran a Late Shift activation making a total of 62 QSO’s
Mosquito Lake State Park
Mosquito Lake State Park K-1978. Another quick activation. There is a nice beach with a nice playground for kids.
I did have a couple stop and ask if I was tracking a rare bird. OK that goes on the list of strange questions.
Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park
POTA Activation of Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park in Ohio, K-1980. Stopped here for a quick activation.
In order to insure a successful activation, one must propose a toast to the antenna with the coffee cup.
Made 20 QSO’s all on 40 Meters SSB.
Malabar Farm
Camping at Malabar Farm K-1974. This is the Horseman’s campground which is nice, but you need to bring your own water. Here is a link to google maps of the campground.
It doesn’t seem like many people know about this gem which is OK with me! My daughter, KC8GRS is chilling in the chair on the left. We will be back here for sure!
One of the things I wanted to see on this camping trip, is it possible to activate QRP in a heavily wooded setting. Since our campsite was next to the woods, I hiked in about 100 yards and set up.
Its a little hard to see, but in the middle of the photo is my 40 / 30 / 20 meter shortened vertical antenna.
This particular test was a success and it gave me confidence to set up and run QRP in this setting.
As usual, this was at my go-to park, Malabar Farm K-1974
QRP POTA
Running the QCX mini QRP during a late shift activation at Malabar Farm K-1974. This was in the evening of the camping trip from the previous two photos.
Since I was near my Jeep, I could use my 40 spiderbaem to support a full sized 1/4 wave vertical. with the QCX mini running 5 watts. This is a great way to POTA and enjoy the campfire.
Made 62 QSO’s all QRP. For logging I use VLS Logger on my phone. It works great for POTA.
Van Buren State Park
Van Buren State Park K-1998 in Ohio. It took a bit of looking around to find this spot, as this park seems to be set up for camping with RV’s. The sites were very close together.
It was a nice evening and I shared this spot with a husband and wife who were fishing. Made 66 QSO’s. Then Late Shift came and I made an additional 61 QSO’s
West Branch
West Branch State Park K-1999 in Ohio. This is a beautiful park with a great beach and very nice sand.
I set up at this picnic table with my QCX mini and made 15 QSO’s Including EA1AF in Spain on 20 meters with just 5 watts.
Then when late shift started at 0001 UTC, I ran some 40 meter SSB out of the jeep and made 29 QSO’s.
The nice thing about waiting around for the late shift, is that you get 2 activations on one trip to a park.
