On Saturday, October 19th, 2024, we held our fourth Meet and Greet and POTA event, at Jacksonport State Park, this time proudly activating the park under our new group callsign, W2RRC. George (AG5CC), Ruger, Nathan (KI5EDP), and John (KF5JJ) arrived early to ensure everything was set up and ready for our guests. The event was a great success, with smooth operations and plenty of fun throughout the day.

We were pleased to have Mark Ballard, the park superintendent, join us for a while. He even took some pictures and mentioned that he would include a note about Parks on the Air and the White River Radio Group in his report. Mark was very kind and helpful, giving us his card and letting us know to call him anytime if we needed anything.

A little before 10 a.m., folks began gathering. Billy (KI5LPJ) was the first to arrive, having camped at the Jackson Port Campground. Jesse (KJ5CAC), aka as YouTuber “Three Little Goats Homestead,” joined us and helped log some contacts. We also had Bill (K5OGR) and Jeff (W5SNG) join us, with Bill doing us a favor by activating the park using W2RRC on CW – thanks, Bill! Wayne (KB9ELS) SugarBear, himself came out, as did Emma and Genice (KI5GRX) and her friend Martha.
Chris (N5CRL) and Leanne (K5LPL) also attended. Chris is our net manager for all White River Radio W2RRC nets, the Happy Hams Net along with his 11-meter CB nets. We’re pretty sure he runs about a million nets a week!
Sheri (AB5SC) brought a big pot of beans and cornbread, which everyone enjoyed. and Nathan grilled hotdogs. Noel (K5NES) and Sherry dropped by with Sherry trying her luck fishing on the White River and Noel fishing for a new radio. We were also graced with the presence of the one and only John Godfrey (KE5NZY) and Alice Godfrey (KE5NZZ).

John and Alice got the chance to break in the KE5NZY Baofeng Blaster, which was presented to John. As you can see from the photos, you can expect to see this at future HAM events where John will be attending.
Although I didn’t get a complete list of everyone who attended, several more folks came by to say hello as we were busy logging contacts into the park. In total, we logged 116 contacts and 113 QSOs over 5 hours. We had 5 DXCC entries – 3 in Canada, 2 in Germany, and contacts from Cyprus and Madeira.

We also reached 30 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces, operating on three bands and in two modes. We worked 40m on SSB, 20m on CW and SSB, and 15m as well. Special congratulations to Nathan (KI5EDP) for being our DX QSO winner, and a big shoutout to Bill (K5OGR), who was the first to activate W2RRC using CW.

Here is a list of everyone that activated the park. using W2RRC.

David (KJ5GBC) also activated the park and will be listed as soon as he creates his POTA account. Ed (KF5ETZ) drove over from Jonesboro, It was grest to see and meet you, Ed. Also from Jonesboro way was Ken (KB6EMH). Thanks for making the trip Ken.





W2RRC also earned five Parks on the Air awards during the event. We achieved our Gold Hunter award for 30 contacts, Platinum Hunter for 40 contacts, Diamond Hunter for 50 contacts, Parks to Park for 50 contacts, and we also received the award for the Support Your Parks Weekend this fall.
Here are some pictures from the event. Thanks again to everyone who joined us!








If anyone else reading this attended or knows of anyone who did, please add their names in the comments so we can have a full record. We want to thank everyone for joining us, our group continues to grow, and most importantly, we continue to play radio and have a great time. If you’re interested in joining us, feel free to contact us here or reach out through our White River group on Facebook.
I may not have “played radio” Saturday, but I sure had a great time! Me and the ladies got caught up ! lol It’s always good to get with this group because it’s so laid back!!! Thank you George and Tank for always coming up with ham based events which also provide training for newcomers. A BIG Thank You to Sheri (AB5SC) for taking time to cook and bring the beans and cornbread, they were wonderful, and also to Tank(KI5EDP) for the hotdogs!!!