Beyond 5NN exchange!

Our daily discussion group at the local repeater has a few POTA activators. So naturally, POTA comes up as a topic quite often. On one of these occasions, a participant remarked that he does participate in POTA hunting or activation. "Quick contacts are not for me", he said. He said that he preferred long chats with a microphone, it allowed for a more personal connection he opined.

The group is very friendly and no one takes offense. Amateur radio is a hobby with a wide range of participatory choices. To each his/her own is my deeply held opinion as well. We accepted his opinion at face value.

However, when the discussion ended, his remarks got me thinking! I am both a rag-chewer and a POTA nut. I am mostly CW; but by no means a CW snob. My choice of CW is purely mathematical; more distance per watt with my less than ideal antennae. I frequently have CW rag chews, and have had some deep and meaningful exchanges. So I don't think SSB is essential for a personal connection. With that out of the way, I wanted to see if his opinion about short contacts and POTA held water for me. 

Here is where the surprising fact surfaced. I found that POTA provides for more meaningful ham radio partnerships and have allowed me to bond with some of my fellow operators in its own unique way. 

Please allow me to explain...

In recalling my rag chews and long QSOs, I see that they go beyond the typical ham radio stuff such as the rig and weather. They have ventured into something trivial such as the new car they were buying ... to homebound ham with injuries who was having trouble with his kids. But the deep connection ends with the end of the QSO. I rarely ever get to hear from them again. There almost seems to be some unwritten rule about not working the same call again. These meaningful exchanges fade into oblivion...their call signs forgotten..

Not so with POTA. My typical activations net about 20 QSOs; I am not a power activator. This low volume comes with several advantages. When I come back home to log my QSOs I look up each and every call sign on QRZ. I will also glance into any blogs or websites linked on their profile.  Over time, I started recognizing frequent hunters. Every time I hear the call of  a repeat hunter, I will try recollect their names. I do not use a computer during activations and my phone is strictly used for spotting. So when I respond to hunters by name, it is because I recall them from the QRZ lookup. Over time, their profile picture and significant details in their page are also recollected as I respond. I now have a clearer picture of who I am responding to. These days, I am more efficient and good at recognizing first time hunters. I circle the calls and try to pore over their profiles when I get back home to see what they are all about!  [Note to Repeat Hunters: If I do not respond with your name when you hunt, don't despair, it is only a matter of time before I get your name into memory :-) ]. 

I am sure that most hunters also look up the activators QRZ. If not, I sincerely encourage them to do so. It is really fun to form a fuller picture of the ham on the other side of the QSO. 

POTA is about fellowship even when you treat it as dealing with anonymous entities. Every time I head out I know I can always count on hunters to make my activations successful. Being an activator, I appreciate the effort that goes into making one and the fear that grips you when your CQs go unanswered at the beginning of every activation. I have been surprised by hunters in the west coast respond to my CQs at 6:30 AM [ 3:30AM their time] when I have activations before getting into work. 

The fellowship extends in the other direction as well.  I realize that for many HAMs hunting POTA is a major activity for the day. I am happy to have done my little bit in making their day a little sweeter. I once worked a hunter in WA state from one of my state parks. I got a letter with his QSL a few days later. In the letter this HAM mentioned that he used to frequent the park in his childhood days in Michigan. He also added that he has not been back here in over 40 years. He fondly recalled his summers spent in the park and thanked me for the park and the reminiscence. I was deeply moved that a simple activation can have a powerful impact on a person's day. Now, I don't get to work WA state every activation, but every now and then I will work this hunter and we always exchange a quick sentence or two.

POTA also brings people together as common interests do. Our morning group is planning joint activations over time. This is another way POTA enriches participant experience and brings people closer together.

That being said, I am a participant in a few HF SSB nets. The camaraderie of a regular gathering of people with frequent exchanges is indeed hard to beat; you really build bonds and friendship over time. But short of that, to me, POTA is indeed the next best thing if one is willing to put in the effort. If you go beyond the 5NN exchange you'll find that it is better than rag-chewing with strangers whom you may never see or hear from again!

What do you think?

Contests and POTA

 My experience of POTA activation on a contest weekend!

This weekend was the ARRL CW contest. I have never been a contester other than answering a few random CQs for contesters in the past. This weekend, I decided to take a plunge (well dip my toes). I had been working on getting my rig set up for integration with N1MM+ logger and had successfully tested it. Since my CW skills aren't the greatest, I decided to S&P (search and pounce) rather than calling CQ. This way I had the time to decode the callers call sign after hearing it multiple times.

Here's what I gleaned: Contesting (especially when running CQs) would require immense focus and is a test of endurance. I am not sure I can last more than a hour decoding CW at those speeds; or even if I will be able to decode callers on the first try. However, as a novice contester, I do recommend the S&P approach. It gives you an opportunity to listen to various styles of operation. In addition, you control who you respond to. The greatest advantage I found was that the entire world was available to you. I worked Asia (+Oceania), Africa, Europe and both Americas (including AK and HI)  with ease. There was almost no pileup and almost always got in on the first call to the station.  I was 100W max during my entire operation. Almost all the contesters were running 1KW stations that makes them an easy copy. I also believe they must have good antenna setups and hence can hear you better than most stations.

So why am I talking about this in a POTA blog? I need my POTA fix; contesting be darned! I went out both on Saturday and Sunday to activate K-1518. On Saturday, I activated around 1800 UTC. I found that I was able to get a slot on the bands relatively easy and completed my activation with ease. The only issue I ran into was my antenna (EuroCom vertical) fell down a couple of times in the windy conditions. I was not able to get the anchors in due to frozen ground! Note to self: Carry a mallet or a hammer to push the stakes in. 

On Sunday (near the final few hours of the contest) I activated around 2000 UTC. Now that proved to be a little difficult. The bands were full. Only 20m seemed possible as I did not get any RBN hits for my CQs on other bands. I thought I managed to find a an empty slot. But thrice I was run out (outgunned by a contester) off my frequency. Of the three who started CQs only one of them put out a QRL. Even then they did not even allow the time for me to respond to it. I am sure that contest-haters would pounce on it to extol the evil of contesters. That is not my intent here. I am just noting my observation that the bad reputation for discourteous contesters may not be without basis. For all I know, the contester could have been listening on the frequency and not heard my weak signal.  On the flip side, I had a few contesters who came back to me in response to my CQs. A win-win in my opinion.

POTA activation at K-1518. Frozen ground meant no guy lines for antenna on a windy day

I eventually managed to find a little corner of my own and was able to get the activation done. I was surprised there were enough hunters around, though I was the only one on the POTA spotting page for a while on the band.

I realize that this was much easier because I was CW and there is lots of room. I would never even think of an SSB activation during SSB contests (at least not with my low power rig)

I found that I enjoyed both contesting and POTA this weekend. So, next time I may not be foolish enough to go out on an activation during peak contest times and sneak activations in during lean periods. I could also try to work the contesters from the park to make my activation if the bands are good. Do you think I was foolish to try POTA activations on a contest day? And in case if you do ask: Yes, I am aware of the WARC bands.

Note:  I did meet other activators on both the days, but none were CW. On Saturday, I bumped into KU8RLY who had just wrapped up his SSB activation as I pulled into the lot. I had known him from HF nets and it was nice to meet him in person.  He said he had quite a few contacts including one to Alaska.

On Sunday, I saw another ham with an antenna. I went up and introduced myself to KE8YVH, who was on FT-8. I decided to go for a walk to give him time to complete his activation. When I came back after 4 miles of walking, he was gone and I was able to start and complete my activation.

AK Calling

It was a tossup decision: K-1518 or K-1495? Both these parks are about the same distance from my QTH. The toss came up in favor of K-1518. So I headed over there early Friday evening to enjoy and to have fun with POTA. 

Surprisingly for a warm [ for the season ] afternoon, the park was empty. I started my way at 20m and worked 30m, 17m, 15m and 40m. 20, 17 and 40 were the most productive. I got contacts from all parts of the country. 

When on 17m I got a KL7... and the band faded away. My heart leaped! Could it be? I went back with KL7?  No response...After a few breathless moments, I was almost about to put out CQ calls again, when the KX-3 awoke to the sweet sounds of KL7AC. Oh please... please... please... say your QTH is Alaska. Much to my relief I got a RST of 539 and QTH of AK.  I am just Hawaii away from being HFAS (Hunted from all states on POTA -- is there such a thing?)

I am glad I decided to go out today instead of staying home. To make the outing even sweeter, I also got to work a P2P from my friend W8SCS [from the Canadian American Net ]. He was coincidentally at K-1495 [ about 15 miles away ]  my other choice for the day. He was on his KX-2 at 5 W and I was on my KX-3 at 5W and JPC-12 vertical. It is interesting that I got the furthest and closest contact for the day on 17m. 

This has to be one of my most memorable activations to date. 

Edit: Feb 4, 2024. I was at Maybury again today and worked KL7AC as P2P from K-1518 to K-7238 on 17M.