John AD5YP, Mike KC5OKP and Rick operated rover for the Louisiana QSO Party. From 12:00 noon to 4:30 PM
we operated from Fort Jackson in Plaquemines Parish.

Fort Jackson was built to provide protection against hostile forces. Construction of Fort Jackson, named after
Andrew Jackson, began in 1822 and was completed and occupied in 1832. The total cost of construction was $554,500.
It was then garrisoned by a small force until February 9, 1842, when it was declared a military
reservation by executive order of President John Tyler. With the coming of the Mexican War, it was imperative
that the Forts, St. Phillip and Jackson, be prepared for any emergency. On June 1, 1846, Governor Isaac Johnson
of Louisiana ceded the lands to the National Government. Fortunately, these defenses were not needed during the
Mexican War.

 Unfortunatly Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Gustov have done what hostile forces could not do.
 It is unlikely that the Fort will be able to recover as the damage has been so intense to the
for a history of Fort Jackson go to
http://users.stlcc.edu/jangert/ft_jack/jackson.html 
http://www.civilwaralbum.com/louisiana/fortjackson_battle.htm
http://www.civilwaralbum.com/louisiana/fortjackson_history.htm
 

The octupus in the air with 20m and 40m hamsticks in place at 18 feet. (design allows
for 4 bands in the air at one time.) We operated with an Icom 706MKIIG at 100 watts running
on its own marine batteryfor power.

The weather was less than perfect. Worse was the sand
gnats that attack in droves any time we ventured out of the truck.  So we sat in the truck and operated from cramped
quarters for four hours.  It rained the entire four hours we
were at Fort Jackson. We put the octupus (December 2008
QST) up as the rain slacked off about 12:30PM. It was
still raining when we took it down and started working
our way back toward home. 164 contacts in the four hours
we where at Fort Jackson made it worth the trouble.