Parks on the Air Mapping Coordinators Take on the World

Parks on the Air is adding parks worldwide at a dizzying pace to satisfy the thousands of new activators and hunters coming into the program. For an all volunteer organization, this means a lot of hard work behind the scenes to review park criteria, setup these new parks and to make sure the existing parks are identified properly. James Gallo, KB2FMH, is a veteran Parks on the Air volunteer who has been helping out with United States parks and Maine specifically. James talks about the mapping process as well as an unusual anomaly with Roosevelt Campobello International Park National Historic Site, US-ME K-7977, that is actually located in Canada. Join me for this conversation with long time ham radio operator James Gallo, KB2FMH.

 

Good video.

 

When I was the map rep for NC. I went through every unit and checked the pin placement. I also looked through Google earth, Google maps and any info from the state and made sure they were all correct. That was 2 years ago. I moved a lot of pins to the entrance or a parking area using GPS.

 

Thanks for all those hours! And, thanks for watching the interview with James.

 

Yes it was a lot of hours of data mining to sift through. In the end I was able to add close to 100 parks into the NC.

 

I have about 5 parks near me with the closest at about 30 miles away.

 

I live inside VE-4030 so every time I get on the air is a POTA.... But I have IBS so I call CQ PITA.

 

I wish they would update and allow new parks in the USA. I emailed about two corrections months ago and got a "We are aware of those" response but nothing happened.
1. A park is listed twice with two numbers. Listed twice under two very similar names in the same location. The only place I have ever seen the second name used is on POTA.

2. A national-level park has most (as in 90% or more) of it's property in Rhode Island, yet is only listed for Massachusetts! I would rather operate in the large wooded park area (all in RI) and not the tiny parking area at a visitor center or a town's Main Street. K-7971 Map is here, only pages 5&6 are in MA, the listed state for the park:
https://www.nps.gov/blrv/planyourvisit/upload/blrv-park-boundary-map.pdf

3. I know of at least a dozen small state parks that I'd love to activate, but didn't make the cutoff time for new parks. A couple acre swamp with no parking area is a park with a number, but a historic 100+ acre park with a large parking area and picnic sites, lookout tower, etc didn't make the cut.

It's time to expand the USA parks!!!

 

So go out there with your radio and use it! Why can't you just do that? Is it a big deal that some self declared fictitious "authority" hasn't ordained it? You still get to operate radio in a natural space you seem to love. The contacts you will make will be just as real and memorable as will the sun and wind in your face. If I climb to a summit that isn't on somebody's list and make contacts do they not count for me?

 

Whoosh.

 

Funny. Everyone thinks they could do more and better than people who actually DO it. Until I activate every reference in New England I see no need for more parks. For example I could work all of CT and RI, much of MA, and some of NY and never be more than 100 miles from home. Hundreds of references.

A lot is being done behind the scenes, adding information, maps, and links to the park pages. Kudos to the doers!

 

At my current rate, I'll complete RI and all of the MA parks within 50 miles within a couple months. I do make contacts from those "Other Parks" that didn't make the list, but it would be nice to give those 100's of contacts credit for a POTA as I recognize many of the callsigns from POTA activations.

 

So work on Kilo or Rover awards. Hunters will be there no matter how many times they’ve worked you and/or that reference. That’s what Repeat Offender is all about.

 

Another great video Kevin, I certainly appreciate all the work that the volunteers put into the POTA program.

It's always a pleasure to get @KB2FMH in the log especially for the late night "parks in the dark" activations.

 

Thank you for all that you do from all of our volunteers.
A very good video and we are all needed to make it work.
Thanks to all of our Activators and Hunters. Without each other it is dead air.
73's from WNY de N2VPJ
Bob