What is POTA?

POTA stands for Parks On The Air and refers to Amateur Radio operators deploying portable radio equipment and operations that promote emergency awareness and communications from national/federal and state/provincial level parks. There are two primary methods to get involved in POTA. One is activating a park and the other is hunting a park.

Activating a park involves identifying a national/federal or state/provincial level park and deploying portable radio equipment (a transceiver, power source and antenna) within the boundaries of the park and making at least 10 contacts (contacts should be logged).

Hunting a park involves contacting those stations that activate parks. You can do this from your home or other locations. You can also do this from another qualifying park. When this type of contact is made it is designated as a park-to-park contact. All contacts should be of a simplex nature, that is not using a land based repeater for the contact.

Watch a video that describes what POTA is.

First activations.

Resources.

Use the POTA website as a starting point. Sign up and create an account on the POTA website. You will track your activations, parks and logging here. There is a wealth of information to help get you started like additional videos on activating and hunting.

Follow this link for the official POTA website. https://parksontheair.com/

To contact the Trident Amateur Radio Club POTA team email us here -> pota@tridenthams.org

Below are the latest posts and news items related to POTA. Click here if you’d like to post your own story!

  • Marine Mobile POTA Assault on Old Island (K-3906)
    by Jim Wasson
    Marine Mobile POTA Assault on Old Island (K-3906) In May of 2020, Old Island Heritage Preserve WildlifeManagement Area, near Beaufort, SC was first activatedby our…
  • pota test
    by Steve Anderjack
    testing a new blog post
  • Breaking News with POTA
    by Steve Anderjack
    The POTA self uploader is now live. Matt did a great video for us. https://youtu.be/bW9RXVJDvsY
  • OUR FIRST MOBILE MARINE POTA ACTIVATION
    by Jim Wasson
    It was a clear and sunny day on Saturday, June 18, perfect for an activation at K-0518 Cape Romain from my Bayliner 185 with first mate Rich Lorenzo, K4ZRL. We also brought fishing…
  • RaDAR Leopard Attempt
    by Steve Anderjack
    With the end of my company fiscal year approaching i found out i had some time off that was use or lose. Since i had…