Parks on the Air and camping is a great combination and if you love both of those activities, I invite you to attend our first ever Wisconsin POTA campout on October 13-15, 2023 at the Clear Lake campground in the Northern Highlands American Legion State Forest (POTA K-7260).
What to Expect
Your hosts, Michael KB9VBR, Travis W9HDG, and Joe KD9CJX have been getting together for an autumn campout for a few years. Parks on the Air has been always been a highlight of these adventures. This year we are opening up our campout to the greater POTA community. This event will be part social activity and part Parks on the Air activation. You can activate as little or as much as you want, in whatever mode you choose. The sky is the limit. Learn new skills, see now other hams operate, and learn how to deal with interference when a bunch of hams get on the air at the same time. That’s always part of the fun. The weekend is guaranteed to be a blast.
A formalized list of events will be put together as we get closer to the date, but you can expect the following:
- Friday evening social campfire
- Morning group breakfast. A propane griddle will be available.
- Saturday POTA activations, group and individual
- Saturday evening pot luck dinner (bring a dish to pass)
- and much much more
Camp the entire weekend or just come out for the day/evening. We’d love to have you either way.
Dates and Location
October 13-15, 2023
Northern Highlands American Legion State Forest
Clear Lake Campground
8282 Woodruff Rd, Woodruff, WI 54568
The campground is located off of State Hwy 47 between Woodruff and Lake Tomahawk Wisconsin
Clear Lake Campground, sites 701-801, is located in the southern portion of the forest on the southwest corner of Clear Lake. All sites in the campground are reservable. This 846-acre, the exceptionally clear lake provides excellent boating and good fishing. There are six vault toilet buildings, six hand pumps for drinking water, one flush toilet building with showers, a sanitary dump station and separate trash and recycling dumpsters. This campground has a large sandy beach with a marked swimming area, a water ski area, a boat landing and several boat trailer parking lots dispersed throughout the campground.
Important Details
Your hosts Michael, Travis, and Joe are in sites 781-783. If you are planning to camp, please reserve a site on that end of the campground loop (or anywhere else in the campground if you desire).
Campsite reservations may be made through the Wisconsin State Park System: https://wisconsin.goingtocamp.com/
There is no additional charge for the event. You will need a Wisconsin State Park sticker or other admission to enter the campground.
If you are planning to attend, Please email Michael, KB9VBR, via the contact form or kb9vbr@jpole-antenna.com. Let me know your site number if you are camping, or give me a heads up if you are coming out for the day.
There are not any electrical sites in the Clear Lake campground. Generators are allowed during daylight hours as long as their operation adheres to the campground rules.
There is a modern shower house with flush toilets in the campground. There are no guarantees that it will be open as the campground usually winterizes them mid October. Vault toilets are available.
This is a family friendly event. Alcohol is permitted in accordance to state park rules. We only request that you conduct yourself in an appropriate manner.
This is not a Parks on the Air sanctioned event, you are responsible for your own actions. Event hosts assume no liability.
Please be aware that camping mid October in Wisconsin can run the gamut. The weather may be beautiful and sunny or it can be cold and snowy. Typically Mid October in Northern Wisconsin we expect highs around 50 and lows down to 32. This event will happen rain or shine. Be prepared for changing weather conditions. If you need to cancel due to the weather, that is totally ok.
Communications
Since we are all amateurs and communications is the focus of the weekend, here are several repeaters and simplex frequencies we will use for the event. At the bare minimum please have the simplex ones programmed in your handheld so they can be used for in park P2P contacts:
Simplex
146.520 Mhz Simplex Talk-in and in park P2P channel
146.550 MHz Simplex event channel
446.000 Mhz UHF P2P channel
Repeater
145.130 (-offset, 114.8) WE9COM, Sayner. Wecomm network. Primary Talk-in. This repeater is not linked
146.940 (-offset, 114.8) W9RRA, Rhinelander. Backup talk-in repeater
147.120 (+offset, 114.8) W9RRA Willow Flowage, linked to 146.940
146.895 (-offset, 114.8) WE9COM, Irma. Wecomm network. This repeater is linked to the system
I will be monitoring the Sayner and Rhinelander repeaters and 146.52 simplex if anyone needs any traffic assistance as they are heading to the campground on Friday. I’ll also leave on my APRS beacon, KB9VBR-9, to help you home into the campground.
Merchandise
We’ve got long and short sleeve T-shirts and a hoodie with the event logo on it. You can order those items from the Spring shop. https://kb9vbr-antennas.creator-spring.com/
Questions
If you aren’t sure what to expect, please check out this video from last year’s camping event.
Still more questions, Please email Michael, KB9VBR, via the contact form or kb9vbr@jpole-antenna.com. I’ll be glad to answer them
Updates
Watch this space for event updates and additional information
September 22, 2023: The campout is legit! The story was picked up by AR Newsline and it appeared in their September 22 edition of the Amateur Radio Newsline report for September 22, 2023. If you listen to the podcast, the campout is mentioned at 9:45.
September 5, 2023: Showers/Dump Station. I’ve been informed that the shower house and dump station at the Clear Lake Campground is scheduled to be winterized on October 9-10. That means it won’t be available for use during the Wisconsin POTA campout. You still should be able to dump your tanks, but the hose won’t be operational to flush your system. If you are in need of a dump site for your RV, contact the park off for dump station status. I have also found a couple of options:
Northwoods Travel Center
2219 N Stevens St, Rhinelander, WI
(715)369-5038
BP Gas
N357 Brandenburg Ave, Merrill WI
US Hwy 51 exit 205
(715)536-1912
Camping World
15650 County Hwy XX, Rothschild, WI
US HWY 51/I-39 Exit 185
Free for Good Sam members
(877)878-8102
September 3, 2023: I put together a quick video to promote the Wisconsin POTA campout. You can watch it here:
August 30, 2023: It appears that there are eight sites reserved for the weekend and about 12 people have confirmed with me that they are attending for the day or the entire weekend. This event is certainly a go and I’m pleased with the turnout so far. There’s still room for you, if you wish to attend.
August 23, 2023: Sconny Wandering recently did a video on the Clear Lake campground. He does a pretty good description of them, if you want to see what the sites look like:
Recent Comments