UPARC Members Visit Crooked River State Park in Georgia
By Tom Schaefer NY4I on March 25, 2024
Jeff NE4C operating with Ryan AF4O from Crooked River State Park [Photo by NY4I]Icom IC-7300 and Elecraft KPA500/KAT500 Combo [Photo by AF4O]Tom NY4I working CW contacts [Photo by AF4O]Wire antennas in the trees [Photo by AF4O]Over the weekend of March 20th – March 23rd, 2024, Ryan AF4O, Jeff NE4C and Tom NY4I traveled to Crooked River State Park in Georgia for a RISK Tournament (yes, RISK the board game). The tournament is in the park in rented cottages. Besides the tournament, there is plenty of time for other activities so Ryan brought his Icom 7300 and the Elecraft amplifier along with wire antennas to activate the park for POTA with 500 watts of power. Jeff NE4C and Tom NY4I were also able to operate the station setup in the kitchen table of a cabin. The pile-ups were really big as the power and park attracted lots of stations wanting to work the park. All three operators ran SSB and Tom even managed to get in 11 CW contacts completely hand-sent (as in the computer did not send the CW). Ryan also made a bunch of contacts from his truck from within the park.
Also fun was that some of the tournament players came into the cabin to watch the radio operation and were really excited about what they just saw. Pile-ups are exciting! Maybe we will get a few new hams out of it to boot.
Contacts made included 54 SSB by Ryan AF4O, 135 by Jeff NE4C and 32 by Tom NY4I.
I have been licensed since 1980. I am one of the founding members of UPARC and am active in helping out the club where I can. I am on the repeater committee as well as part of the web team. I live in the Countryside area of Clearwater and work some DX, do a bit of contesting and also satellite work.
