US-6317

Moody Branch Wildlife Area

960 acres of Florida scrub in northern Manatee County, about twenty miles northeast of Parrish. Manatee County acquired it in 2004 under Florida Forever and the FWC manages it for gopher tortoise and Florida scrub-jay habitat. A roofed pavilion with real tables on a gravel pad, open sky in every direction, and a genuinely quiet noise floor.

At a glance

Entry: Free
Hours: Opens half an hour before sunrise, which makes it a good early...
Operating position: Drive-up
Tables: Yes
Shade: Good
Restrooms: None
Water: Bring your own
Grid: EL87vp

Official park page FWC → Trail maps, closures, facilities and current alerts, kept current by the agency. Activation history POTA.app — US-6317 → Every activation, activator and hunter log for this park. This guide covers conditions on the ground, not the logbook.

Useful for activating

Listed by FWC , checked August 2026. Not verified on site. This is only what affects operating — see the park’s own page for everything else.

Roofed pavilion
Hiking trails

Full details on the FWC site →

Getting in

Parking

One entrance with a parking area. The entrance lot is inside the park boundary, so operating from it is legitimate. Vehicles are not permitted past that point — no driving the trails.

Hours

Opens half an hour before sunrise, which makes it a good early site.

Access

FWC-managed wildlife and environmental area. No daily-use permit required.

Setting up

Where to operate

A roofed pavilion with two long picnic tables on a gravel pad, past the parking area. Shade, a flat surface and clear sky in every direction. The antenna went about twenty-five feet out from the pavilion in low mown grass.

Noise floor

Genuinely quiet — the best in this dataset. Barbados was worked on the first call at 5 W. Note that this was achieved with the engine off and no Starlink running, which costs about 6 dB on 20 m when both are on.

Antennas

Sandy scrub soil takes a ground spike well. There is no water source on site to fill a tripod ballast bag, so a spike is the practical choice. Measured matches on a spiked vertical with three radials in the mown grass about twenty-five feet out from the pavilion: 1.315 at 14.070, 1.269 at 18.12 and 1.18 at 21.074, each after adjusting the coil and whip for the band.

Cell coverage

general: A cell hotspot was used successfully.

Before you go

Conditions to plan for

No water and no restroom — bring what you need. The pavilion turns into an oven by ten in August.

Park rules

Managed scrub-jay and gopher tortoise habitat. Keep gear on the gravel and mown grass, watch for burrows, and do not guy anything into the scrub. Vehicles are not permitted beyond the entrance area.