Great notes, Dennis.  I have activated about 10 POTA but I am not a formal member…need to find out more.  BUT….YOU….WOW!  100 in a year.  Congratulations!

73, Bill

Bill Priakos – W5SJ

10 Free Ferry Heights

Fort Smith, AR 72903

479.461.8368

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Dennis Schaefer
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2023 3:06 PM
To: ADXA <[email protected]>
Subject: [ADXA] 100th POTA activation, with help from K5UR

I have two main ham radio interests - DX’ing and portable operation.   I’ve done a lot of portable stuff in ARES/RACES, etc, and wouldn’t miss Field Day.   POTA (Parks on the Air) is perfect for me when I want to get out of the chair but still do some radio.   I talk about and promote POTA a lot and set up a POTA booth at our hamfest in 2023.  People think I’m really active, but my stats are dismal.  I decided I would try to get up to 100 total park activations by the end of 2023.   This is still very modest, because some people have thousands.   

I finished my 100th activation today at Lake Dardanelle State Park.  Almost all of my activations are 100% CW.   It can be slow, because there are many POTA operators who are learning CW.  It’s the same at Field Day - lots of people who don’t really do CW but aspire to be proficient.   It’s hard to work more than one every minute - I worked 35 in about 25 minutes today.  The main thing I keep telling myself is that it is wonderful that all those people are actually doing it!  They take a deep breath and plunge right in.  It does not matter if they are proficient yet.  If we encourage them, they have a chance.

Of course, many of the POTA callers are very proficient.  Today, I heard a weak signal and finally pulled our K5UR!   I was running 40 watts to a Hustler mobile antenna on the banks of Lake Dardanelle, but we completed the 20M CW contact.  Thanks, Rick!

This just proves what we have known - nothing gets by Rick.  He’s always listening.

I think POTA is good for ham radio in many ways, so I’ll continue to do it.  I am glad to get to a nice round number of activations, though.  Now, bring on the next round of DXpeditions.   The goal for the DeSoto Challenge has been updated - 1500 by the end of 2024.

73,

Dennis/RZ