[SMCARA] Spring POTA meet up

[Shawn Shelko]

Hello SMCARA members and friends!

With the weather (hopefully) warming up in the coming weeks, several club
members have expressed interest in an amateur radio day in one of our local
parks and learning more about operating for Parks on the Air.  Operating a
portable HF station is fun and usually presents a great opportunity to
interact with the public, answer questions, and explain what amateur radio
is all about.  With the growing popularity of Parks on the Air, anyone
activating a park has the chance to work a pile-up and experience the
excitement. I invite anyone interested in portable operations for Parks on
the Air to come out and join in the fun.  Anyone holding any class radio
license or no license at all is encouraged to attend!  Several hams operate
from Newtowne Neck State Park often; that park has plenty of open spaces
for folks to park and gather, so we plan to set up there. Depending on how
much interest we have, we may set up several separate stations with various
antenna configurations. I do recommend bringing a folding/camping chair.

We will be monitoring the 147.390 KC3FOQ repeater in Leonardtown for
communication.

*When:* Saturday April 8th - Starting at 08:00 am

*Where:* Newtowne Neck State Park - GPS Navigation Address:21308 Newtowne
Neck Rd, Leonardtown, MD 20650
GPS coordinates for the parking area where we plan to meet:
https://goo.gl/maps/FCWoQ35p9HMZ5d9Z7
Park Webpage:
https://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/Pages/southern/newtowne.aspx

*What to expect:* Several hours of fun and good company.  This will be a
casual get-together where I plan to be available to show how I manage
logging contacts, uploading contacts to the Parks on the Air webpage, and
answering any other questions about POTA.

*Admission to this park is free.* There is a porta-john on-site at the
parking area. There are no picnic tables available - bring a
folding/camping chair if you'd like and a folding table if you'd like to
set up a portable station. If you plan to set up a station, please bring a
bandpass filter if you have one available so we don't interfere with each
other. I have a 40m filter and I know several other bands might be covered
by other folks attending.

Anyone who plans to attend, please give me a heads up so I know how many
dozen donuts to pick up!

Shawn Shelko
KC3PFF
Cell: 301-509-7662

Create a free POTA account and start contacting park activators today!
https://pota.app/#/