KG5EIU Activating Spring Creek Forest State Preserve

Parks On The Air (POTA) activation. I visited Texas State Park K-4423 which is “The Spring Creek Forest State Preserve” park located in Garland Texas on December 27, 2021. It was a beautiful NTX day and very warm for late December with temperatures in the mid 70’s F and a slight breeze.

The purpose of POTA is for international portable amateur radio operators promote emergency awareness and communications with HAM Radios from national/federal and state/provincial level parks. Park K-4423 – The Spring Creek Forest State Preserve is very easy to activate here in the DFW area – you could even activate from your auto just by sitting in the parking lot – there are NO fees for access to the park or nature trails. Located at 32.9642, -96.6572 (Grid EM12qz) the Spring Creek Forest State Preserve Park is a very easy on/off the 190/President George Bush Turnpike at the Holford Rd exit. I was using my park go-box that has a Yaesu 991 all mode, all band HAM radio running 80-90 watts and using a 30 amp Bioenno batery box to power the thirsty 991 – all my activations were digital FT8 – I even managed to log a HAM station in South Africa! The antenna I was using was an Alpha FMJ on a 6′ speaker stand with 50′ of LMR-240 coax. Good times! When it was all over I had 49 contacts in my log in under 2 hours of operating out of the park.

POTA Setup – Activating Park K-4423

QSO map of all the contacts I made around the world from the park.

KG5EIU QSO Map From Park K-4423 Dec 27, 2021

Here are a few more photos of the activation.