McKinney ARC POTA Event
November 10, 2023 – November 12, 2023
Good morning fellow operators!
We have scheduled our next camping / POTA outing. We like to explore places that we’ve never been to, so we have booked a campsite at Cooper Lake State Park, which is on Jim Chapman Lake near Commerce and Sulphur Springs. Drive time from McKinney is about an hour and 20 minutes. For POTA, this is park K-3000.
We will head there on the afternoon of Friday, November 10th and stay until Sunday afternoon, November 12th. Most of the action will take place on Saturday, November 11th.
We will be in the Bright Star Campground, South Sulphur Unit, Site 033.
The address is:
Cooper Lake State Park
1690 FM 3505
Sulphur Springs, TX 75482
Campsite GPS Coordinates:
33.28866475022596, -95.6740249377473
Parking Area GPS Coordinates:
33.2889975078474, -95.6767317519403
For everyone’s comfort, I wanted to ensure there will be extra parking and restrooms close by. I have attached a map and satellite view of the camping area.
There are still some camping spots available. Currently, the adjacent Site 034 is still available. So – have a camper/RV and want to stay the night? You can book reservations at:
No camping? No worries! All of you are welcome to come over and hang out with us, build an antenna, do a POTA activation, or just chill out – whatever suits your fancy! I plan to bring items to make some dipole inverted vee antennas. They are one of the easiest antennas to build and tune and don’t require special equipment to use. If you have HF radio equipment, bring it along. If you don’t have equipment – we can share! Who knows what else we might get into!
Do you have a little mic fright? I think we’ve all had that at some point (some of us still do). Don’t worry about that either – this is an excellent time to get through it and we’re here to help. A POTA outing is a great start to learn how to get on the air and work pileups – which is incredible experience for field day next year.What to bring? Bring yourself, family, radio equipment, and a fishing pole if you want to fish. Food wise, we’ll make this like a family reunion – or a potluck picnic. Bring a dish to share and we’ll have some good food early Saturday afternoon.I believe there is a Texas State Park entry fee of $5 per person, unless you have a Texas State Parks Pass. The pass is $70 per year and can be purchased online. If you’re interested in POTA or camping, the pass will pay for itself in no time! Also – no fishing license is required in Texas State Parks!Let me know if you’ll be coming up to join us. I was previously asked what hours we are typically awake. I am an early riser, so early morning is fine with me if you’re planning to come up on Saturday. If you’re planning to spend the night, we’ll pack up early in the afternoon on Sunday.Send me an email or call or text with any questions.Thanks and 73!RobertWZ5V214-506-8001
