POTA: Now It’s Time to Activate

A Personal Journey Into Parks on the Air

So, you’ve found a park, you’ve checked the rules, you’ve figured out when you’re going, and you’ve got your POTA spot picked out.

Now what?

Well, it’s time to actually activate the park.

You need the most expensive radio, the biggest antenna, the largest battery you can carry, and enough equipment to make your truck look like a mobile communications command center.

Just kidding.

You just need the basics.

The whole idea behind Parks on the Air is getting outside, getting on the air, making some contacts, and having fun. You don’t need a $5,000 radio setup to do it. In fact, one of the great things about POTA is seeing just how little equipment you can get away with and still have a successful activation.

For a basic activation, you really need four things: a radio, an antenna, a way to support that antenna, and power.

That’s it.

Well… technically you also need some way to connect everything together, but hopefully you’ve already figured that part out.

Finding Your Park — And Reading the Rules

Before you head out, make sure you know where you’re going and what you’re allowed to do when you get there.

POTA parks aren’t all the same.

Some have plenty of room to spread out. Others may have designated picnic areas, parking areas, or other restrictions on where you can set up. Some parks may have rules concerning antennas, generators, vehicles, or other equipment.

Take a few minutes before your activation to check the park’s rules.

The last thing you want to do is arrive at your carefully selected activation location, unload half the contents of your truck, and then discover that the park doesn’t allow what you just brought.

Ask me how I know.

Well… actually, don’t.

Just check the rules.

Radio and Antenna — They Work Together

There’s no single “right” POTA radio.

A 100-watt HF radio will certainly get the job done. So will a QRP radio. I’ve seen people activate parks with everything from full-sized base-style radios to tiny radios that you could practically carry in your pocket.

The important thing is that you have a radio that you’re comfortable operating and that fits the kind of activation you’re planning.

The same thing goes for antennas.

A good antenna doesn’t have to be complicated. A dipole, an end-fed antenna, a vertical, or another simple portable antenna can all work extremely well.

The antenna is also one of the most important parts of your station.

You can have a great radio, but if your antenna isn’t working properly, you’re going to have a frustrating afternoon.

Get the antenna as high as practical, get it away from obvious sources of noise, and make sure your connections are good.

And remember: portable doesn’t necessarily mean complicated.

Sometimes the simplest antenna is the one that gets you on the air fastest.

Power — Keep It Simple

Power is one of those things that can become unnecessarily complicated.

You can run from a vehicle, a battery, or even park-provided electrical power where it is permitted. The important thing is to know what your radio requires and plan accordingly.

If you’re using vehicle power, make sure the connection is properly fused and capable of handling the current your radio can draw.

If you’re using a battery, know how much capacity you have and how long you expect to operate.

And don’t forget that a radio doesn’t draw the same amount of power all the time. Receiving takes relatively little power compared to transmitting, and transmitting at 100 watts takes considerably more than transmitting at 10 or 20 watts.

I learned this one firsthand during my recent activation at Columbus Lake.

I started the activation at 100 watts. Everything was going great until the battery started to sag under the load.

Rather than packing everything up and calling it a day, I simply dropped the radio down to 50 watts.

Problem solved.

I continued making contacts and finished the activation without having to change the entire setup.

That’s one of the advantages of keeping things simple. You don’t necessarily need more equipment. Sometimes you just need to adjust what you’re already doing.

Generators are another option, but they add weight, noise, fuel, and another piece of equipment to your setup. Some parks may also have restrictions on their use.

For most portable operators, a good battery is going to be a much simpler solution.

And remember: you don’t have to operate at 100 watts just because your radio can.

The goal isn’t to see how much electricity you can turn into RF.

The goal is to make contacts.

You’re Ready. Now What?

At this point, you’ve got your park picked out.

You’ve checked the rules.

You’ve got your radio, antenna, support system, and power.

You’ve set everything up, connected the coax, checked your SWR, and turned the radio on.

Now comes the fun part.

It’s time to get on the air.

And this is where things can get interesting.

Because the first time you call CQ from a POTA park and people start answering you, you may suddenly discover something nobody warned you about:

People actually want to talk to you.

Sometimes a lot of people.

That’s when the theory you’ve been reading about turns into actual operating experience.

Listening before you transmit, calling CQ, recognizing callsigns, handling a pileup, getting accurate signal reports, keeping track of your contacts, and knowing when to move to another frequency are all skills you’ll develop by doing it.

And don’t worry if it isn’t perfect the first time.

It won’t be.

Mine wasn’t.

That’s part of the fun.

Every activation teaches you something.

Maybe your antenna needs to be higher. Maybe your battery wasn’t big enough. Maybe you brought too much equipment. Maybe you didn’t bring enough.

Maybe you discovered that the park picnic table makes an excellent operating desk.

Or maybe you discovered that the picnic table is occupied by twelve people eating lunch and your radio station has to move to the back of the truck.

That’s POTA.

You figure it out.

You make some contacts.

You learn something.

And then you do it again.

That’s really what this series has been about from the beginning.

You don’t have to have everything figured out before you go.

Get outside. Get on the air. Get in the park. But most importantly, HAVE FUN and Keep it Simple!!

73, KF5WZD – Chris