Parks on the Air
® Parks on the Air ® (POTA) is a site for international portable amateur radio operations that promote emergency awareness and communications from national/federal and state/provincial level parks. Websites– parksontheair.com and pota.app Types of Parks on the Air Operators: . Activator–the operator that goes out to the park(s), sets up a remote or mobile station and makes contacts with POTA Hunters and Activators in other parks. Hunter–the operator that seeks and contacts operating POTA stations. Log these contacts if you like for award credit with ARRL, LOTW and QRZ. Steps to becoming a POTA operator: Gather all necessary equipment to operate remotely or mobile on at least 20M and 40M HF if you desire to be an Activator that travels to parks to activate. Go to parksontheair.com, then go to the Help/Getting Started Tab. Register your callsign and make a login if you want to do POTA. Watch videos on POTA, read the rules, check logging requirements (Activators are the only loggers) and make your account. Be sure to keep up with your login and password or use your Google or other credentials. If you only want to be a HUNTER, you do not need to keep a log, but you still need to register your callsign to receive any awards and operate and contact POTA sites from home or remotely. The Activator checks the pota.app website and determines the park (reference) number they wish to activate before traveling to the park. You must be in the official boundary of the park or within 100 ft of a recognized trail in order to activate the park. If you have cellular signal, you can schedule the activation on pota.app, and check the current POTA spots on pota.app. Select the best band for your operation. Check that your chosen frequency on the band is free and Call CQ POTA and give your callsign. You can spot yourself on the POTA.app. Calls will usually begin within a minute or two after the website updates your spotting information. You must have at least 10 contacts to have a successful activation. Log your confirmed contacts on paper or electronically. Keeping accurate logs is the responsibility of the Activator and contacts should be submitted on the POTA.app website as soon as possible. After submission, you will begin getting credit and possible POTA Awards. You will learn a lot about remote operation of your equipment and traffic handling from this process, but more importantly, you will have fun.
POTA anyone? |
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