Parks on the Air (POTA) Announces New Annual Plaque Event

No I can not say any Ham radio contest excites me, I just do not see the need, I am happy to just get on the air do a little ragchew, make contacts around the world, using QRP (5 Watts or less) Sending out and receiving cards from those I have made a honest contact with using CW mode. It is irritating during contests there are people sending digital FT8 and such down in the CW only portion of the bands, seems some contesters think during contests all rules are out the door. 72'

 

You have to see both sides of every situation eh? I don't grok competition and I'm not thrilled with what contests do to the bands but on the other hand I like 160m. Go try to find a contact on any given night. On a contest weekend I can work a bunch of states and provinces in one evening. It sucks but...

Hey, has anybody ever done POTA on top band?

 

Oh geez I just realized.....Because I have IBS, I should really be calling CQ PITA.

 

Not many seem to go down there but I know it happens, maybe even more than I know. I actually have a couple SSB contacts on 160 meters as a hunter running QRP, so I thought that was cool. I'd like to see more activators work 160 myself.

 

OMG ssb AND QRP you are the patron saint of self mutilation. I applaud you!

I live in VE-4030 Roche Lk Provincial park, so every time I get on the air it is a POTA. No big deal. If the current CME's and geomag storms settle down before spring we can sked. Do you speak CW? I have worked the eastern states on 160 but not on phone.

Best regards.

 

They were marginal contacts at best only a state or two away, but I think they could hear me better than I could hear them oddly enough. I don't really speak CW currently, though I'd like to get back at it again sometime soon. 160 is one of those bands bands I work occasionally but would like to put more effort into.

 

Not quite correct...

The Parks on the Air Plaque Event is a new Annual Event. It never existed before this year, 2023.

The Parks On The Air (POTA) organization was founded in 2018 (that's 5 yrs ago), it was a spinoff from the WWFF group that started in 2010.

And amazingly, people have been going to National Forests and other field locations to get on the air and/or work contests for decades

https://www.qsl.net/ae0q/contest/wyo.htm

Glenn AE0Q

1997 QRP ARCI Fall Contest, Medicine Bow NF, Wyoming

 

Is that shot in the vicinity of Vedauwoo? I used to love stopping there to climb as it was right in the I-80 routes to other points out west for me. Last time would have been mid 1990's, but I really enjoyed spending time there.

I think the seven year reference might have been looking back to the ARRL National Parks on the Air event in 2016. Just a guess, but the number of years is right.

 

Just a few miles north I got off 80 on Hwy 210, then took a dirt road north off 210 as it curved back east towards Vedauwoo..
The hill had two big, tall trees 150 ft apart, perfect for the 80m Carolina Windom!


N0TBM during QRP To The Field 1996

 

Nope, none of those.

Here's what I use:

https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/a-few-pictures-of-the-southgate-type-7.453281/

It does the job....

How did you account for them?

And why are grace periods "foolish"?

Fun fact: Before 1984, the license term was 5 years and the grace period 1 year. FCC doubled both to reduce their administrative workload. This change also meant that from about 1989 to 1994 there were no license expirations at all.

Of course you do, because the inclusion of grace period licenses delays the effects of dropouts by 2 years.

What will be interesting is what happens to the AE7Q numbers starting in December 2023.

I like you too, even though you're missing an important point.

Go for it!

IMHO, the number of active amateurs is much more important than the number of amateur licenses.

73 de Jim, N2EY

 

"CW only portion of the bands"? Where are those?

In Part 97, I can find only two "CW only" subbands: 50.0 to 50.1 MHz and 144.0 to 144.1 MHz. That's all.

All the non-phone parts of the HF bands are shared between CW and digital.

Or did I miss something?

73 de Jim, N2EY

 

I do not feel that I am missing any point, but I do feel we just don't see eye-to-eye on the topic. Populations increased and hammies licensing increased - go figure. Like Lynard Skynard once said, "I'm a simple man..."

How can you, effectively, measure active hammies? Every hammy I know is active...

It is my position that grace periods for SK call signs serves no real value; as I mentioned/debated in another thread in this forum is that I'd like to see the numbers of family members who take a relative-SK's call sign.

Try some Moto for your VHF/UHF/900 needs - it is stellar equipment.

Hey - at least we like each other! Woo hoo! While I irrationally hate the Buffalo Bills, and wish them nothing but the worst, I was rooting for the NY Giants this season (my dark horse). I say that because you've a "2" country call, and yes, I know you're in PA.

 

All I'm saying is that we see different trends because you look at numbers that include the grace period, and I look at numbers that don't. It's obvious that not including the grace period licenses is the more-accurate number.

One measure is how busy various bands are.

I agree, sort of - but the FCC doesn't. Here's why:

If an amateur dies, and nobody tells FCC, the license will simply stay on the books until 2 years after it expires. That process costs FCC absolutely nothing.

If an amateur dies, and somebody tells FCC, the license will be cancelled, but will stay on the books until 2 years so that a family member can apply for and get the call without it going through the lottery. That process costs FCC some work - but not as much as combing various records to figure out who died and when.

Years ago - probably before your time - someone sent phony death information to FCC and had someone's license cancelled as a prank. The cancelled licensee was very much alive and only found out what had happened some time later. There was a lot of ruckus about this, and FCC was very embarrassed, so they raised the bar for license cancellation.

I'm sure it is....but I don't have any VHF/UHF/900 needs.

I started with a 3 land call, then moved to New York State in 1977 and got this call. That was so long ago it's not a vanity - it was sequentially issued. When I moved back to PA in 1979 I kept it because, if I'd let it go, FCC would not have reissued it to someone else. (Lots of strange rules changes back then).

As for sports.....you may enjoy this:

https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?th...ended-consequences.530446/page-3#post-3916026

73 de Jim, N2EY

 

@N2EY can you jump on 40? I am camped on 7.184... 17:52z

73 DE KQ1V Hank

 

https://www.arrl.org/files/file/conop.pdf