Good evening,

I've just got back from an attempt activation at GB-2447 Chadkirk and I only managed 4 contacts.

I have tried 20m, and got 3, tried 17m and got 1 local contact, nothing on 40m or 10ms.

I'm using an endfed longwire homebrew on a pole and with the same setup the other day manged 40 contacts on 20m Inc that of Europe, UK, USA and Canada.

I can hear a lot of people both uk and Europe but no one can hear me.

25w power max, yaesu 891, mat 30 tuner

Are the bands bad or is it my setup?

How do you talk about POTA with others outside the amateur radio community?

The rules around late shift and early shift are detailed in explain when it starts and ends, etc., but they don't explain what the time is in reference to?

This evening I was active across the start of late shift (1800z in the UK), getting on air with my first QSO at 1750z and the last at 1820z.

Does this activation qualify as a late shift? Is it only the QSOs after 1800z? The exact nature of what the start time refers to is not clear.

Any help appreciated.

73 de M1GEO/P

Earlier this summer after seeing a group of kite hobbyist at the park while doing an activation I figured it seemed like a fun challenge to run a kite antenna.

After learning how to fly a power sled kite and building a new EFHW, things went pretty smoothly getting the setup on the air for the first time :)

Kit Antenna

49:1 and Static Arrestor

Hi all. I can’t figure out what this icon means in the POTA app. I can’t seem to toggle it on or off. I haven’t found anything helpful In the documentation or in an inline search…

After reading some reviews and watching a few videos on portable parasitic arrays, I decided to set up my own. For the driven element I used my 6m-20m collapsable whip with a magic carpet ground plane. For my parasitic element, I used a 2nd collapsable whip that was grounded out with radials. Although I have seen different numbers suggested, I went with 105% of the length of the driven element for the parasitic one and 15% of the wavelength for spacing. between the two I aimed the array to 60 degrees from my location in Southern California for 10m.

Using 20 watts, I got a lot of good signal reports with plenty of 5-9s, a 5-7 in Delaware and 5-6 in St. Lucia. Overall very pleased with the results.

It does take a little longer to setup than a single collapsable whip and if you change bands, you have to adjust the length of both elements and the spacing. But for single band use you will pickup some directional gain. Definitely something I recommend and will keeping experimenting with!

https://preview.redd.it/yermofnvo70e1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fafe4b78f9b72d69929547f38a94b2d2b37b4586

I'm still fairly new to this, but I've been hunting POTA for a couple of months, and during the day I see most activations are on 20 meters, and in the evening it's mostly 40 meters. I see way less on 10 meters though. I'm wondering, why is the 10 meter band not as popular? Wouldn't the smaller antenna size make it a really convenient choice for something like POTA?

I'm only doing CW by the way, so maybe I missed out on something.

I like CW POTA hunting. I haven't been doing CW for long, so often what I'll do is listen how the activator handles a QSO with someone else so I know what to expect before replying myself. What I've heard multiple times now, is that an activator will call CQ many times without getting a reply. And then when someone replies, there'll suddenly be many people replying to the next CQ. Just now for example, I was listening to someone calling CQ, and I thought, let me just listen how this goes. But after like 10 CQs with no replies, I started feeling bad for him and replied. And then after the dit dit, there were suddenly multiple hunters sending their call sign. Were they all doing the same as me, waiting for someone else to reply first to see how it went?

I usually activate on CW but today did a lot of SSB on my activation. When I’ve tuned around SSB hearing POTA stations they’re giving out their park number. I had Park-to-Park QSOs today and they send their park numbers. I don’t encounter this on CW.

Why do people do it when the activator sends in their log and all of the stations they’ve contacted will get the park info then?

I called for over an hour today from a 4 POTA spot and only got 2 contacts. At least the view was nice. Got plenty of odd looks from people who were out for a drive. My kit: FT-857 20 watts SSB, Packtenna EFHW on a DX Comander mast.

Activated Eldorado Canyon State Park west of Denver (US-1216) this morning, leaving the house in the dark at 0530 local. Set up by headlamp at 7400 ft (2255m) elevation and worked the 1300Z CWops CWT, then kept working CW on 20m, 17, and 10m for a few hours.

Beautiful Fall weather to use the QRP 5w mcHF radio and also new 43 ft mast with the 20m EFHW vertical hanging from the top. Made total of 117 QRP (5w) contacts this morning with 21 countries.

https://preview.redd.it/e2aitxf91nwd1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa690be765a1ba4c4c12000b305c4e9667d296cc

https://preview.redd.it/rdau98wa1nwd1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb2e01d403015964700cb4c67344ca558e200cb5

https://preview.redd.it/4vl9romd1nwd1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=82d99da3b55a6e0b8f28997b5c846dd27bc5e813

Lets start this conversation off!

What power sources are people using to power what radio when your out portable.

I have only been on HF for about 6 months, and know my EFHW isn't well positioned for HI. I have reached that islands on a few occasions (QSO party etc.) but so far no dice on a POTA activation.

https://preview.redd.it/uwhc66uke4wd1.jpg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30cf11297ea434810e14cab445a6c638e551fa3f

Hi,

How and when do you include your park number when using FT-8 and making a park to park QSO?

Thanks Christian

I'm still a pretty new ham, and I like hunting POTA using CW. In some cases I'm not sure what is appropriate, so maybe someone can give me some advice:

1. I just hunted someone on 20m, and see them move to 40 meters. Is it ok to reply to them again? Or is that weird?
2. I was listening to someone calling CQ, but I wasn't quite ready to reply. So I wait for them to call CQ again, but they go silent, but haven't sent QRT or left a QRT note on pota.app. Maybe they stopped, but kept the radio on while packing up. Is there something I can send that means something like "hey I'm here if you want another contact". Maybe QRV?
3. Someone comes back to me with my call sign, but there's so much QSB that their signal then disappears. I'm not sure what to do in this situation, so I tend to do nothing, but that feels impolite. I know they're replying to me, but since their signal just faded away I don't even know when they send BK, or if they could even still hear me.

To the Parks on the Air community:

As some of you may already know, our founder, Jason Johnston (W3AAX), has stepped aside from management of the organization. For now, I have taken over the management of Parks on the Air on a day-to-day basis.

All of Parks on the Air owes a great debt to Jason. Without him, we certainly would never be able to enjoy the program we have today. His leadership and guidance were instrumental in growing Parks on the Air from a fledgling group of operators back in 2017 into the world-class phenomenon we enjoy today. I’m sure I am not alone in saying that his combined passions for amateur radio and the great outdoors were instrumental in re-kindling my joy in the hobby. Thanks to Jason, we are now able to enjoy our passion at over 60,000 parks around the world.

It is not my intention to run the organization as an individual. In my opinion, the sheer size of Parks on the Air today precludes management by a single person. Therefore, I have enlisted the help of some of our members to continue to "steer the ship". This management team or Board of Directors has been put in place to make crucial decisions about the direction Parks on the Air takes in the future. We will meet on a regular basis to discuss the issues at hand. When crucial decisions need to be made, those decisions will be made by a majority vote of the Directors. Please join me in showing these people your support as we continue to grow Parks on the Air into the world-class organization that it is.

Thanks & Best 73,

Rick Parent W0ZAP Parks on the Air Director/Adviser

Parks on the Air Board of Directors:

Mike Case (W8MSC)

Thomas Martin (W8TAM)

John Ford (AB0O)

Tom Suggs (N4MTE)

Mark Torigian (K8MST)

Kevin Thomas (W1DED)

Rick Parent (W0ZAP)

Attempted a 4 park rove today but had to cut it short after #3 due to unforeseen circumstances. Really interesting pattern here that demonstrates the fun challenge of QRP, particularly in this form factor.

1st activation was crazy quick, 15 minutes from turning the truck off, activating, and heading to the second park. 13 QSO’s. Heck yeah!

Park 2 was alot slower, about 30 mins start to finish for 10 contacts. Opted to chase for 4 of them since my calls were going unanswered (the irony of breaking pileups but not getting CQ replies is not lost on me).

Park 3 would have been a drag if not for the nice scenery (pictured above). 50 mins start to finish (truck to truck) for 10, with one of them being a SOTA chase.

Park 4 didn’t happen, I was needed elsewhere by a family member.

I am almost wondering if the proximity of the parks confused the chasers into thinking they already chased me? Each about 10-15 away from each other. In any case, temps were great and I had more fun with my impossible rig, a 5w HF HT with a 4’ whip.

I've only been into amateur radio earlier this year, so last winter I hadn't even heard of POTA yet. But since then I've been kind of addicted to chasing POTA, and soon (hopefully) activating. What's the activity like in winter? I'm in Canada (Montreal area). Our winters are very cold, so probably no winter activating for me, but will there be people to hunt? I can generally receive east coast US really well.

I had exactly 1 hour of free time today to rest and recover from another full day of post-Helene chainsawing. I put my brand new Elecraft KH1 in my pocket and drove to a nearby park since the storm destroyed my base antenna at home. I’ve had the KH1 for a couple weeks but no time to actually use it.

Walked on the trail for 5 minutes, found a nice cool spot, and 20 minutes later was in the truck heading back home to responsibilities after a successful activation. This thing is too cool!

First time doing parks on the air, loved it and made 21 contacts. What are peoples set ups?

I knew a was fire burning (Yellow Lake Fire Utah) in the distance and kept my stay short. Enjoyed getting out for the activation, US-4398. Soapstone Basin Utah, Uinta-Wasstch-Cache Natalie Forest is a beautiful area.