Parks-on-The-Air. What is it and how to get started.

Parks-on-the-Air (POTA) is an international program within the Amateur Radio community where amateur operators (hams) make contacts with other amateur operators from national and federal/provincial parks. Operators are divided into two categories: activators and hunters. Activators set up portable communication in the aforementioned parks and hunters are stations that make contact with the activators. There is some great video content that has been made by the POTA organization as well as from talented POTA participants. This blog entry is going to highlight some videos that will help better explain POTA, how to get started, and the things you can do in the program. If you have any questions, please ask them at the bottom of this blog entry and I will do everything possible to get you an answer.

The first video is from Mike, amateur station K8MRD. Mike has a great YouTube channel in which he discusses various topics pertaining to amateur radio.

The next video is actually a series of videos from Matt, N3NWV. Matt’s videos are featured on the POTA website and can be found at this link: Video Guides for Activators. Here is one of the videos in Matt’s series:

Mike, KB9VBR also has an informative and entertaining YouTube channel in which he often chronicles his POTA adventures. Mike often makes videos of POTA activations that include both the thrill of victory and agony of defeat. Here is one of my favorite videos from Mike:

Josh, KI6NAZ runs the very popular Ham Radio Crash Course YouTube channel. Every Saturday Josh does a live stream video on different ham radio topics. Here is one of his live streams on POTA:

The above videos only scratch the surface on the video content available on POTA. Just do a simple search in YouTube for Parks on the Air and see what pops up. I make my own content but it is raw and mostly unedited. If you get involved in POTA you can create your own content. Creating content is a way of investing not only in POTA but in the amateur radio hobby.

Happy hunting and activating! de K4NYM