The third scheduled 'Parks on the Air' (POTA) event will be held Saturday, August 19 from 9 am to 1 pm at the Washington Crossing NJ State Park, Sullivan's Grove (next to the Visitors Center). Park admission is free. Rob, WA2RT, will be the primary contact for this third event.

If you are interested in seeing portable HAM radio operations, please consider coming to this third event for the W2CRA club.

If you wish to participate, please bring a portable HF rig and battery power. I use Bioenno LiFePO4 (12V 12Ah) pack, It comes with the popular Anderson connectors to my radio. You could also participate as a second operator on someone else's station at the event.

I have used several types of HF antenna for POTA operations. Most of the time I use vertical whips (Buddisticks with 2 above ground radials or Wolf River Coil mini-coil, 102" whip and 3 x 33' ground radials). I have also used end-fed half wave sloping wire antenna. Trees are available!

Most importantly, if this is your first time working a POTA station, be sure to register on https://parksontheair.com . Registration is free. Use your callsign. Registration is necessary to spot yourself on the POTA network and for Hunters to find you, your operating mode, and frequency.

The Washington Crossing State Park POTA park number is K-1634.

I also have the POTA app on my iphone. If I choose to go 'hunting' while at a POTA park, I can see other active 'Activators' on air with my cellphone to achieve a 'Park to Park' QSO.

Finally, if you've read this far, please make a note of two additional POTA events I plan for September 9 (9 am to 1 pm) and October 7 (9 am to 1 pm). We will meet down by the Delaware River, on the NJ side. There is a small park road on the right side before the bridge over the Delaware River. A few hundred feet down the road, on the right, proceed into the parking lot, then make a sharp left turn, and proceed into a second parking lot. On the left side, there is parking for a small grassy and shady area. There is a statue of a man painting on an easel. A bathroom is nearby (within 200') of this spot. Bring your own snacks, beverage, table and chair.

The special attraction for this location is it is the overlap for 3 POTA parks (a 3-fer). Register your spot on the POTA network with the first park K-1634. But also note in your log the two additional parks: The Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park K-1613 and the Lower Delaware Scenic River State Park K-0684. If you get a P2P QSO here, be sure to convey this information to the operator working you.

I use HAMRS to log my POTA activations. There are other logging packages available, however, it is important to log your Activations and contacts into the POTA database to get your awards and also provide credits to the operators working your POTA station. Youtube tutorials for POTA QSO loggings are available.