W8O/NE-001 Noblet Benchmark

After working a church parking lot SOTA on the way to Dayton, it was time for an apple orchard SOTA on the way to Dayton. Noblet Benchmark is on the property of Apple Hill Orchards in Lexington, OH. The shop was open, so I bought some tasty apple cider donuts and asked the cashier for permission to operate. She called up the owner, who was used to hams asking to do this every now and then and she quickly approved.

I walked to the benchmark itself, which was about 200 feet down the road next to the apple trees. The bands had appeared to calm down a bit, and I managed to work DX with S57S on 20m. It was an enjoyable activation next to the flowering apple trees, and I netted 20 QSOs this time.

With this activation in the books, I’ve completed all the 4-point SOTA peaks in Ohio (being perhaps the first SOTAer to do so?):

• W8O/CT-001 Campbell Hill
• W8O/NE-001 Noblet Benchmark
• W8O/NE-002 Round Knob
• W8O/NE-003 Ashland County HP

This activation, as is becoming tradition, was chased by a POTA coda. I headed to Mt. Gilead State Park US-1979 to work the afternoon CWops Test. A solitary rain cloud passed over the first 10 minutes of the contest, but then it was smooth sailing.

• Trailhead: 40.72697, -82.61666 : Apple Hill Orchards parking lot
• Map: [AA3TZ SOTA]
• Route: The survey mark itself is on orchard property a few hundred feet along the road
• POTA: None, though US-1979 Mt. Gilead State Park is about 25 minutes away