Ham Outreach

 

RI QSO hunters – this is your week! 

Starting today through Sunday (Sept 6-10, 2023)  a collaborating team of about twenty POTA – Parks on the Air enthusiastic activators from across the country, region, and state are setting up their portable rigs across the 52 officially-recognized POTA parks. 

Already this morning from just before 8am until around Noon, I was able to hunt 12 unique parks across the SSB bands of 40m, 20m, 17m and 15m from my home QTH. I was logged by 11 unique operators, including Kerri Wright, KB3WAV (with over 170,000 POTA QSOs to her credit) as well as the NCRC organizer of this event, Jim Garman, KC1QDZ – taking a break from his farm between tomatoes and turnips. 

POTA hunters, near and far, are encouraged to keep an eye on POTA Spotting and join the fun. It’s a great way to understand your band propagation and make progress on your POTA – Worked All RI award.

Real time POTA spotting information here: https://pota.app/#/

The list of the 52 RI POTA parks can be found here: https://pota.app/#/parklist. Select United States, and then the drop down filter to select Rhode Island.

Eager to jump in and activate? Go for it! And maybe bring along a licensed operator who hasn’t been able to get on the air recently for whatever reason. Second and even third operators are always welcome.

Meanwhile, kudos to the team currently activating Block Island park K-0513: Jim Garman, KC1QDZ from Newport, RI. Shown here with Fran Kelly, KC1NDQ from nearby Swansea, MA and hosting event visitor Scott Majors, K3SDM from Kentucky. (Another NCRC team will be activating Block Island again tomorrow – so check back frequently. )

Huge shout out to the POTA RI Park Activators I spoke to already this morning,

• Kerri, KB3WAV
• Brian, N1BS
• Kathy, KA1THY
• Brian, N2BTD
• Lou, WZ3J
• Dave, W3DRE
• Willy, W1LY
• Jim, KC1QDZ
• Fran, KC1NDQ
• Scott, K3SDM
• John, K9FDB
• John, K1JSM

Thanks to so many for voluntarily traveling to RI to amplify everything we love about radio in RI. Thank you to the many Rhode Island hams activating and collaborating to show what’s possible with amateur radio today. 

With special thanks to the Newport County Radio Club for supporting new ham Jim Garman, KC1QDZ and his vision for POTA – Activate All RI. 

What’s not to love about the ham community? 

73, Nancy Austin, KC1NEK 

• Newport County Radio Club outgoing club president
• new RI Section Manager

Don’t miss POTA – Activate All RI (Sept 6-10, 2023) 

Remember, POTA Hunters do not need to submit logs.

Activators will need to keep and submit their log of at least 10 time- and frequency- marked QSOs for an official activation to be recognized by POTA.  QSO credit will then be awarded to both parties, almost instantly. 

Lots of activators – but still. Small State; Big Pile-up.

Have fun! Get on the Air! Meet new hams. 

For more on what’s possible with POTA, check out: https://ri-arrl.org/pota/

 

 “I learned more from your POTA demo today than I learned as a new ham over the last year! Thank you!” – Mike, KC1NFG (visiting Newport and welcomed to join in and GOTA.)

Today’s Newport County Radio Club (NCRC) POTA demo at Brenton Point Park was well attended by club members as well as a ham just passing by.  All were curious to jump in and learn how to quickly deploy a portable antenna and POTA setup to get on the HF bands quickly and make contacts. Jim Garman, KC1QDZ and Randy Jones, K8ZFJ were ideal mentors, helping some make their first POTA QSOs. 

From September 6-10, 2023, the NCRC is hosting a collaborative effort to activate all 52 RI POTA parks. For more information on POTA – Activate All RI and resources for getting started with Parks on the Air, please bookmark: https://ri-arrl.org/pota/