qué buen articulo, gracias por depertar en mi nuevamente el hoby de la radio, depues de muchos años inactivos, POTA ha revivido en mi este hoby, he estado cazando, pero muy pronto iniciare mis activaciones en solitario. saludos desde Colombia
I got involved with POTA in it's first few months of existence after the ARRL ended their program. It was simple: The operator and all their equipment had to be in the park. No repeaters. That was about the extent of the major rules. Maybe there was about 7 rules. It was simple, the idea of the creators was a way for ham's to get out there in the wild and just have fun. These last few years there have become more and more rules and the idea of just getting out in the wild seems to be lost. Yes, I still do activations and hunting. It wasn't broke and didn't need fixed. Just the ramblings of an OM. POTA ON!
Excellent response. In my day I have seen how the corporate process weenies stifle innovation with burdensome processes, paperwork, and regulation. POTA is a hobby and fun thing to do. Please, no strangulation through regulation. KISS applies. By all means make things better, but please keep it fun for all.
Thanks for the video Kevin. I knew that some changes were being made and it seems like they are changes for the better. Years ago, after doing an activation, the log had to be uploaded to someone who first checked the log and then they uploaded the log to the POTA website. It was time consuming and this work was being done by a volunteer! When the time came that the activator could self-upload their activation, that made life a lot simpler for the activator and all the volunteers. I donate money every year to eham and QRZ because of the work that they do. If there was a way that POTA could set up something like that on their website or the app to donate $20 or $30 every year I would certainly do that. If enough hams did that, I believe it would be possible to cover your expenses. Kevin, I also appreciate your videos on contesting so please keep up the good work. N3EDO
If you go to the main POTA page on the upper right side there is a button you can click to make a donation.
Mark K8MST has a list of credentials that are long and varied. He went with us for two years to memorialize the Edmund Fitzgerald and her brave crew. This was a mission to the upper peninsula of Michigan, a mini DXpedition. I want everyone to know that you will not find a more kind, down to earth, and caring person in any group of people. So the POTA team has made a great choice in Mark K8MST. Thank you for your contributions to our fine hobby. I cannot think of a finer representative of our interests. 73 and god bless you Mark.
If you want the future of Pota to be better you better nip the bullshit on the Discord in the bud, it wont end up good for the brand. new hams should be embraced not bullied by friends of staff.
Change to enhance, fix something that is broken, or to bring new and exciting functionality to POTA is great. But...Change for the sake of change, is not good.
You mean like people who hike into parks rather than sit in their cars in a parking lot? Yeah...that's already a thing for a lot of POTA players. POTA has been around for almost 10 years. I haven't met a ranger in Washington, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, or British Colombia who is not familiar with the program. There are some park volunteers and staff who may not be as familiar probably because they tend to turn over regularly. Rangers came up and chatted it up with us during some club POTA activations. They knew exactly what we were doing. We even got one of them to make a QSO. BTW...municipal parks do not (should not) qualify as POTA parks. Pretty sure the majority of POTA players are using batteries, and some using solar to keep those batteries topped off. A wind generator is simply impractical for portable ops. While I am also surprised with the seemingly exorbitant server costs (without knowing the specs), but what is the value to SOTA and IOTA to 'streamline administration?' I especially doubt IOTA would be interested since their servers are in EU land.
Is it still nigh-on impossible to add new parks to the database? Last I checked, none of the parks around me were in there and when I asked how to add them, I was told off.
