On Saturday, September 10, 2022, members of the ACARA participated in the 15th annual PCARS “Ohio State Parks on the Air” (link), activating Strouds Run State Park at the Bulldog Shelter and operating under the club’s callsign, W8UKE.
Participants:
Nick Arnold, KD8FKB
Bob Curtis, KD8FRQ
John McCutcheon, N8XWO
Eric McFadden, WD8RIF
Bob Moore, KC8KSM
Paul Schulz, WD8SCV
Jeff Slattery, N8SUZ
Joe Weber, KE8LRZ
The station consisted of the ACARA’s Elecraft K3 transceiver; an LDG antenna tuner provided by Paul Schulz, WD8SCV; a 10-40m trap dipole and coax provided by John McCutcheon, N8XWO; an 80/40m fan dipole, coax, and a 24′ military mast provided by Eric McFadden, WD8RIF. The logging computer and Honda 2kW inverter-generator were also provided by Eric.
Because of the continuing COVID-19 situation, the traditional 5pm potluck was canceled in favor of a bring-your-own-food gathering.
Only Jeff Slattery, N8SUZ, and Paul Schulz, WD8SCV, operated the radio, and by the time the eight-hour event was over, the pair had racked up a total of 248 contacts and had worked stations in forty-nine Ohio State Parks, for a claimed score of 12,400 points. This result was significantly better than the thirty-three QSOs made and the 825 points earned by the club in 2020. By band, thirty-one QSOs were made on 75m and 217 QSOs were made on 40m. By operator, Jeff made 143 QSOs and Paul made 105.
Sharp-eyed participants saw a pair of bald eagles, a pair of blue herons, a pair of cavorting hummingbirds, and a small aquatic turtle during the period of the event.
UPDATE 2022-11-03: Results from OSPOTA 2022 have been posted at https://ospota.org/. After all the participating stations’ logs were cross-checked, the ACARA ended up placing fourth in class “Multi Op, Single Radio, Low Power, in a Park” with 12,100 points. The winning station in-class was Preble Amateur Radio Association activating Hueston Woods State Park operating as N8XC and earning 19,080 points. Second place in-class was Portage County Amateur Radio Association operating as AD8FQ and earning 16,390 points. Third place in-class was N8EU activating John Bryan State Park and earning 14,448 points.