New portable operating idea — no parks, no summits, no rules

Wow!… and I thought my POTA- Porch On the Air! was silly!

 

CQ CQ BYOTA! Back Yard On The Air was born here! Been thinking about it for months.
Bravo Yankee Oscar Tango America

 

Why must everything be a competition? Why must we compete for scores? Why points? What does a score mean? Why must we compete for awards? What the dickens does an award mean?

None of this means squat to me (and many others). Just the joy of using a radio with the knowledge of a good antenna, hopefully homebrew, is enough for me. And for me, it's more fun with compromised "everytning" than my home station where I have optimized what I can to the best of my engineering and physics backgrounds. I have no need, requirement, inclination, want, desire, push, personnal gratification, or........, for competition, scoring, points, rewards,......

Just the fact that I know enough and exercise my right as a licensed amateur to get Out On The Air - OOTA. Next time we go camping, I will be calling CQ OOTA. I won't log anything. I won't expect any scores. I won't expect an award. I don't care.......!!! Just the enjoyment of making contacts, hopefully some a bit longer than the SOTA, POTA, XOTA like all the "touch-and-go"contacts so characteristic of those modes. I'll probably be on 20 or 40-meter QRP with an FT-817 and homebrew antenna likely using the Jeep Rubicon body as a counterpoise.

NUFF WRITT'N

OOTA........

Dave - WØLEV

 

This fits my outdoor operating style, so I signed up.

Thanks and I hope to hear you on the air soon.

73 Charles KC8VWM

 

Isn't that called mobile or portable ?

 

That's blasphemous! This is an entirely new way to work mobile or portable because it adds the "on the air" verbiage and a website to let the kool kids know when you are operating in your backyard or from a Walmart parking lot. It's not just operating portable or mobile, it is operating "out on the air."

 

Yeah, there are some things you can't un-see.

 

That was uncalled for.

 

All good valid points.
But no OTA needed. Just do it the old school way.
Just pick up the mic and call CQ. Answer a CQ. Ask to join in a QSO.
Do CW. Once long ago, OTA was a fine idea.
Now it's just crowding the bands, ( 40 ). There are a lot of nets and people having QSO's
Over crowding and it seems anything goes. I have NO PROBLEM with POTA. I call these stations, hit and run.
Just like it was on six meters when all anybody wanted was a grid square and then they were gone. Interrupt a QSO for that. Ask them if they would like to join in and no response.
Anyway, check those adjacent frequencies please, not just the one you want to operate on.
I hate reminding people that they are interfering with a net in progress or QSO just because they couldn't hear the other station. I get this ALL the time.
Somehow, we will work it out.
To the Amateur community, 73

 

As I read this a station is calling POTA over an active net. He is ignoring anyone coming back and telling him the frequency is in use. I will not post his call here, but he knows who he is. Now he is broadcasting some POTA song over the net.

 

Post the call. They need to called out.
That's just me, but you are a better class of operator. 73

 

Hey Mr Wizard! (sry, couldn't resist )
Questions, I get there's few rules, so get out an operate make 1 contact.
Can the contact be a home station? I feel it should, otherwise it will be a sparse program. The hunters are what make a lot of the pota program.
How narrow do you consider "getting out"? Portable setup in backyard? Not using a fixed antenna?
Like the idea, I know everything is "on the air" but this sorta can be the catchall. Specially for people that can't setup a home station, I used to be there and did this at parks. (Not pota just getting out)

Thanks for the work on this.

 

This is my kind of operating!... I often take my 891 camping but I never got into POTA activation because of the stress (for me) to upload logs...