Parks on the Air Radio Ham in the Press
/“What are you doing?” is a question Paul Brandt has gotten used to being asked ever since he’s been “a POTA guy” going to parks.
An acronym for Parks on the Air, POTA is a nonprofit organisation founded in 2010 that supports the use of amateur radio operators being in state and national parks and communicating with other operators, wherever they may be.
“The goal of POTA is for ham radio people to have fun. That’s the goal”
It’s something the local resident got interested in as recently as last summer — an effort that involves going to a park, getting set up and hoping to make at least 10 contacts with other operators for POTA credit.
The sight of Brandt doing this, seated at a fold-up table with an antenna, his iPad and other equipment along with a POTA flag, attracts some people’s interest, and hence the inquiry about what he’s up to.
The response might be initially playful to inquisitive children, that he’s sending out special signals so the fish will come to shore, but to the accompanying adult, he’ll turn serious.
Brandt has found some are interested in details, while others are content with an abbreviated overview.
Either way, he’s happy to oblige.
Why would you want to communicate from a park?
“Why would you want to communicate from anyplace. As a hobby it’s because you’ve learned to use your equipment and want to see if the equipment you have can reach other people, so it’s a hobby of being able to actually make that radio communication”
