Every year, just like clockwork, the SFTARC has brough a little bit of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve to the rest of the amateur radio world. At the same time, we have brought the amateur radio into the public view. Those efforts have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. As proof, the National Park Service has presented the SFTARC with a Volunteers-In-Parks Certificate to recognize our club's efforts for our May 2023 operation from the Tallgrass.
Some years the KS0KS call sign is used from the Tallgrass as a Special Event Station, with times and frequencies published in QST Magazine
Other years, the KS0KS call sign has been used as a POTA (Parks on the air) activation. (K-3673 is the POTA designator for the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.) Either way, there is something special about operating from the nearly 11,000-acre preserve. It is also fun to be able to demonstrate amateur radio to the curious visitors. And as icing on the cake, the NPS gets to count our time as volunteer hours--a plus for the NPS.