By Teri KO4WFP
In my final article, I activated Uwharrie Nationwide Forest in North Carolina on the Buck Mountain Fireplace Tower. After that activation, Glenn W4YES and I drove to Charlotte to go to school associates – Jennifer and Mike. Up to now, the day had been great. Nonetheless, it was removed from over.
Our ultimate night time of our getaway journey can be spent at an Airbnb in Camden, South Carolina. I selected to activate Hanging Rock Battleground State Historic Park (US-10470), a number of miles south of Heath Springs, South Carolina. The park is distant and never nicely marked. All there was to suggest its existance from the highway we traveled was house giant sufficient to accommodate two vehicles and a row of pilings. On one of many pilings was a white signal and, behind it, what appeared like a path.
The park has historic signifance. An outpost was established at Hanging Rock by the British within the 1700s due to its strategic location on the highway from Camden to Charlotte. In line with the American Battlefield Belief, a three-hour battle was fought on August 6, 1780 on the location as a “a part of a Patriot drive to reclaim the southern colonies after the siege of Charleston, South Carolina”. Fifty-three Individuals and 2 hundred British troopers misplaced their lives on this encounter.
Nothing in regards to the website at the moment brings to thoughts a battle. It’s a quick hike into the property earlier than one finds large boulders, a few of which look like hanging (therefore the identify, proper?).
We hiked a bit of additional into this property which appeared like a bit of slice of North Carolina in South Carolina. Spots of pincushion moss dotted the bottom and leaves crunched underneath our ft. Daylight filtered via the foliage. A small creek ran and burbled under the enormous boulders above not removed from a monument marking the battle.
We determined to arrange atop the best and largest of the boulders. On its high, the tree cover parted, giving my antenna simply what it wanted. I figured the Chelegance MC-750 would work greatest right here and, given I had a tripod to mount it, it will work tremendous regardless of a rocky base.
It was nonetheless early sufficient that 20 meters was an choice so I secured 14.048. It wasn’t lengthy after I noticed myself that calls started arriving. Over the subsequent half-hour, the calls have been regular – 24 to be precise. At 6:00 PM, I known as QRT as a result of we had but to examine into our Airbnb and wanted to be out of the park by darkish.
I used to be particularly happy to have one DX at this activation – Ignacio EA2BD. (Thanks, Ignacio!) I hardly ever get DX as I don’t chase it. This change was a pleasant shock.
Tomorrow, Monday, October 14, it was time to move residence again to Savannah, Georgia. Nonetheless, this POTA Babe was not completed! In fact, I’d discover a park to activate on the drive residence. Which park would I select and wouldn’t it achieve success? Keep tuned…
If you happen to’d wish to the park up shut and private in addition to watch Glenn “interview” me afterwards, try the video on my YouTube channel:
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