Six Parks in Four Days: A POTA Run from DC to the Gulf Coast

August 2026

Our youngest daughter began college this week at Georgetown. Hoya Saxa! With my wife flying out of DC for business after the move-in, this left me driving our vehicle alone back to South Alabama. Perfect excuse for a POTA rove!

Between Washington DC and Alabama were five activator states I hadn’t worked yet: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. A morning of “free time” allowed the activation of DC before we were finished with our events on the hill.

Before leaving, I tasked my AI-maintained second brain to plan the route and pick most of the parks — it worked out which ones sat closest to the highway in each state before I left DC. I didn’t stick to the plan exactly, but I leaned on it more than I expected to, and it saved me a lot of planning time.

DC — Theodore Roosevelt Island (US-0791)

First stop was Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial. 22 QSOs on 40 meters SSB, Xiegu G90 and the Buddipole. One thing worth knowing if you’re ever out that way: the island also qualifies for US Islands as DC003R, a river island, though it doesn’t count for IOTA under their river-island rules. Nice dual-credit park, sitting right in the Potomac between DC and Arlington.

Maryland and Virginia

Oxon Cove Park & Farm (US-7776) in Maryland and Mason Neck State Park (US-1308) in Virginia were the two toughest activations of the trip, propagation-wise — not by QSO count, but by effort per contact. I could hear plenty of stations. They couldn’t hear me. 40 meters was the best band I had that day, and I worked for every single contact. Later inspection uncovered an issue with my 20 meter antenna settings; some tap and counterpoise adjustments helped open up 20m for later activations. This was my second time ever using this HF setup in the field. Overall it worked great — I learned quite a bit, and had a lot of fun with it.

North Carolina

NC Transportation Museum State Historic Site (US-6847) came next, and things smoothed back out — 11 QSOs, no drama. Caught a nice video of a museum train in action while I was there.

South Carolina

Cowpens National Battlefield (US-0702) was next. Same G90, same Buddipole, same operator who’d been struggling two days earlier — 13 QSOs, two of them DX: Italy and France, worked off a Revolutionary War battlefield. The band was open and the antenna was now resonant, without the tuner. Perfect combo!

Georgia — Tugaloo State Park (US-2203)

For Tugaloo, I camped the night in my vehicle. This allowed operation after dark — the day-use areas close at dark, but camping guests can stay on. Tugaloo was a great spot with gracious camp hosts. I enjoyed the company, and the weather was perfect. Slept with the windows open!

The 40 meter setup at night generated 20 QSOs to close out the sixth park. Three of the South Alabama POTA Posse reached out for that activation: KQ4VVQ, K4BOS, and K4LLL. It was great to hear the guys on the air — I hadn’t heard from any of them since Washington DC, when I logged fellow Posse member KQ4TPD from the island up there.

The numbers

Six parks across DC and five states, four days, something like 1,900 miles round trip. 90 QSOs total, all phone — no CW, no data this trip.

VHF is the weak spot

Everything above was HF, and the G90/Buddipole combination did exactly what I asked of it. VHF is a different story — one contact the whole trip, on 146.520 simplex. That’s not a gear complaint, it’s just a gap. I’m looking at a better VHF setup for the next long drive, maybe an SDR, maybe something else. Haven’t decided yet.

Six parks, four days, and gear that’s earned its keep.

73, AE4JC