In Parks on the Air News: We’re quickly approaching what is usually the busiest POTA weekend of the year – the annual Plaque event. Last year there were about 500 activators that put more than 700 parks on the air. We’re hoping you’ll head out to a park also, to see if we can hit the 1,000 park mark. Whether you activate or hunt, there are 17 plaques up for grabs to reward your efforts for the categories of Most Contacts overall, voice contacts, CW contacts, digital contacts, rover & chaser, DX by IARU region, and clubs. Check out the plaque section from the menu at pota.app for more details. If you’re activating with a club, either for the summer plaque event, or at any other time of year, we also recommend checking out the new “POTA Guide for Clubs” available from the resources section at pota.app. This guide is a short must-read for clubs, that will help ensure a fun and successful activation. And now for the monthly stats update: April showers may bring out May flowers, but just as importantly, they also bring out the park activators! We had over 2,000 operators out who did nearly 11,000 Activations from 4,255 parks, in 30 different DX entities. The same top activators have continued their runs, with N2NWK taking the top spot for number of activations with 253, W6ZD grabbing the high count of parks, with 123. The top hunters for the month were also repeats - K9ICP hunted 957 parks, and AD2CD made 1,769 hunter QSOs. In POTA DX, Spain held the top spot in Region 1 with 167 activations, just ahead of England’s 151. Canada and Japan continued to hold their top spots Regions 2 and 3 respectively. One of our top DX Activators this month was a familiar operator to the late-shift crowd, who now has a new callsign – VE3JLN, formerly N6NRD, did 87 activations, while also rolling over the Kilo level at 14 different parks in a single day. JF7RJM took the top spot for number of parks activated, with 40 for the month. By special request this month, we’d also like to share the activity by time of day. If you’re a new activator or hunter, you’re likely to have the most success 15:00 and 21:00 utc on 20 and 40 meters. And last but not least, let’s check in on the progress of the Bailey-Sprott Challenge. In 2021 N5HA and W9AV each managed to hunt a park every day, so in 2022 we’re following along to see if anyone else can match their feat.
Been working the POTA stations as I come across them, Many have had great signals on 17m !! Rick WH6LU
Really enjoy working the POTA stations, getting a surprising number of stations from the Eastern part of the US here in Wyoming! Brent/KK4NAW
I do as well! Looking up their locations, seeing photos of the various places, and learning more about a particular park is most enjoyable. Since I can no longer operate /P as I often did years ago (long before POTA), it's a pleasant way of vicariously doing so. Many thanks, Activators!
POTA has got me back into the hobby, and back into CW after 30+ years - I'm happy to support my (WA) state park system and have a great time on the radio...Thanks! de K7EVM
I was surprised while working the SO-50 Sat, I got a POTA station. First one I have heard on the Satellites.
Why do POTA ops hate AM? They routinely set up on frequencies used by AM operators: 3.873, 3.875, 3.880, 3.885, 7.285, 7.290, 7.295. PLEASE check the band plan before picking a place to have your little pileup!
Hi, I checked the band plan and it doesn't specify which mode that should be used within the phone portion of the bands mentioned. It is also not specified in the ARRL frequency allocation guide. So if it is not listed anywhere how are people to know? No one hates AM, if the frequency is not in use it is open to any licensed armature for use. You can just as easy move to one side of typical frequency you like to use and I am sure you will be heard just as easy. [/QUOTE] have your little pileup![/QUOTE] So does this mean you hate POTA?
have your little pileup![/QUOTE] So does this mean you hate POTA?[/QUOTE] A quick google shows: http://www.arrl.org/am-frequencies
So does this mean you hate POTA?[/QUOTE] A quick google shows: http://www.arrl.org/am-frequencies[/QUOTE] Ahhh yes AM activity is found on and around the frequencies below, grouped to minimize friction with incompatible modes. I guess around means adjacent to a busy freq right?
Chasing POTA activators is certainly fun. Regarding FT8 POTA Ops- If these Ops could send the POTA Park designator in the Free Msg-Box5 after the RR73, or after a few CQ's ("CQ POTA W8XYZ" + "POTA KFF-9999"), this would help us fill in our (adif) log entries correctly. Watching the POTA Spots/Activations site- I've noticed some activators are not on the list, so their Park QTH is unknown. Not all Activators post their planned sked on their QRZ page. We also don't see a transmitted 4 digit grid (this would not pin point a park qth either). Hopefully I'm missing something here. Thnx in advance for any help +feedback.
I just read the pdf on the POTA site. A valid POTA contact is : Both Calls/Time/Date/Band/Mode. Sounds like this is it for credit. The (adif) Park Designator and MySig- SOTA info is not required. Is this correct? Thanks
