POTA 103 - Parks on the Air Activation and Tips

Great video! de W2CSI

Is POTA considered a contest ? Can POTA be done on the WARC Bands ?

Wear a go pro as a body cam and you don't have to worry about it lol.

Welcome to the hobby! Fun is what’s it all about.

We activated POTA last week, and I was using a 20-watt G-90. I had keyed and asked if the frequency was in use. No response. I called POTA CQ and made 3 or 4 contacts. Then some “person of low IQ started interfering I believe with a key, beeping over and over. Really irritating.

Love the rant. I just got licensed, just got a rig, just tried POTA as my first HF experience. I can’t recommend it enough for newbies like me. So yes, who would want to block POTA?

The problem with POTA is that it is bringing a lot of new Hams on the air. They are messing up the clear frequencies on the air. Guess you just hit a nerve. Don’t waste your time with them.

How about building a band pass filter for multiple bands within one box and then switch the input and output between each one using a rotary switch?

Interference like that is coming from ex-cb'ers. Thats why the old timers didnt want to see ham go to "non-code". Code on the exams kept a bunch of the lower IQ people out. In cb their goal is to run as much power as possible and ground somebody else out.

Glad to hear someone talking out against the QRM'ers. Sadly it seems someone has nothing else to do. We were playing with FT8 on 40 meters the other day and someone somewhere was playing "Adult Video" audio over everyone else. Nothing more discouraging than running across someone like that, let alone that there are children that are licensed hams also. They don't need to hear that crap. Did my 1st (non-successful) attempted activation the other day but learned that I need to go out earlier in the day as the park closest to me closes pretty early. Looking forward to going back out once the weather clears up a little bit around here. 73!

Good tips, thanks for the video.

coax and a T adapter

Best thing to do is ignore the qrm and don’t give the trolls the audience or a medium to display their antics. They are losers who can’t operate so their hobby is jamming. And when they get under your skin their winning, when you let them aggravate you, again they win by stealing your free thought 💭 Best ignore and qsy. Sum hunt the spotting site just to annoy those who spot. I prefer 160m most jammers don’t have the knowledge to build good antenna for the band so they come on and throw a puny s5 carrier and most on our net have amps a kw or so and we just talk over their signals and they leave after they know were winning ☺️😉

Check the Radioddity LPFX7 Low Pass Filter | 10M 15M 20M 40M 80M for an idea on the band pass filter. Thanks for the series of videos on POTA. You gave a lot of good information. I've been hunting, hopefully we cross antennas soon. 73, Ricardo W4RMZ.

Pro tip: Cutter Backwoods 40% Deet bug spray... lots of it. POTA hard!

Had a great time with everyone on Saturday. Learned alot. I was the only one that didn't activate , but me and mike changed that today. BTW Scott, I ordered the book you recommended. Looking forward to getting my extra. Thanks for the video. And don't let the trolls in Ham get you. They come in many forms. -N4PKR

Have a look at simple coax stubs ... cheap, easy and extremely effective ... for the cost of a few pieces of coax.

Good Video. Got out for my 1st ever Pota activation on Sunday from Idaho. Turns out I had a Pota park about 3 miles from my QTH. Had a great time. Icom 7300 on Solar and a Buddistick. Got 70 confirmed contacts in less than two hours on 20meters (14.308). Quite a bit of QRM at times, there were a couple rude hams, just ignored them and kept pounding away. They didn't stick around long. I know I got 4 or 5 contacts from Texas, so maybe I made contact with someone in your group. Got almost the entire United States as to geographical coverage. NE U.S. gave the fewest; made contacts in Canada and one in Alaska also. Congrats on activating your first park.

Great having you out this weekend. We will POTA again soon.

Great video, glad you said something about it. I have other words for that guy. Had a great time doing my first my activation. The prerecorded was a great idea. Got to see how to do it on the icom 7000. I feel the same way about POTA. Also it's a great way to use your radio equipment portabile.

Great Video. I went out on Sunday to try out my new Buddistick Pro. Wasn’t expecting too much, but ended up making over 400 QSOs, 63 Parks contacted. I had fun even though I was by myself. I am going to try and get others involved when we have the winter support your parks event. 73

Great video. The band pass filter build is great. A lot of us learn visually. The articles don't help much.

Great vid as always. KD2HAM

Good on you it’s like the ones that turn when you are having a. QSO de 2e0ree