National Parks on the Air NPOTA. By Bob Voss N4CD

Transcription

1 National Parks on the Air NPOTA By Bob Voss N4CD

2 N4CD Mobile at Big Bend National Park

3 NPOTA What is it? Year Long Event sponsored by ARRL and National Park Service (NPS) th Anniversary of NPS Promotes ARRL and Ham Radio Logbook of The World tracking QSOs Any ham can participate! Wildly popular program and fun! Operate from home or parks

4 Two Ways to Participate Chasers Operate from home and work the parks Confirm contacts via LoTW Work toward awards and Honor Roll LoTW tracks contacts Activators Go to National Parks and make QSOs Upload logs to LoTW 486 different parks Some easy - others challenging

5 Park Designators Parks have designators - HP35, NP04, LK02, NS55, NM16, WR11, TR15, SS09 used to track activity Historic Places, National Parks, National Lakeshore Sites, Monuments, Wild Rivers, Trails, Seashores, etc. You learn the lingo fast! Didn t know we had so many? Me either!

6 NPOTA - What to Chase? 59 National Parks like Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Big Bend, Yosemite Hundreds of Monuments, Historic Places and Sites, Trails, Memorials and Associated Areas - all 50 states and territories Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials in DC, Appalachian Trail, Clinton Birth home, OKC Memorial

7 What s in Texas? Two National Parks Big Bend & Guadalupe Mts Palo Alto Battlefield & Fort Davis Two Historic Trails - from Spanish times San Antonio Missions/ Waco Mammoth LBJ Home/Ranch & Big Thicket Preserve Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River Chamizal Memorial - (El Paso area) Amistad and Lake Meredith Recreation Areas Alabates Flint Quarry Monument

8 Sample N4CD activations Chimney Rock, NE No QRN! Brown vs Board of Education Topeka KS QRN Central!

9 Sample N4CD Activations Hot Springs AR Fort Davis West TX

10 Activators Should Have Proof Take a Picture of you/mobile at the site Sign Visitor Log at Site Get Passport Book Stamp

11 How to get started? Go to and select On the Air!

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13 Rules for Chasers Work as many of the sites as possible any band or mode Over 399 of the 486 park units have been worked by K5RK Exchange = Signal Report and QTH (TX) To join the hunt upload your contact data to LoTW for confirmation. Totals shown for your call sign

14 What? Not on LoTW Yet? Most DX ers already on LoTW All hams may use LoTW no charge Simple sign up get your trusted QSL program and certificate so you can upload your QSOs. Elmers help get you set up on LoTW YouTube Videos show how to do it.

15 Rules for Activators Must be on Park Property - usually easy but not always. 100 of the park units are troublesome. Most are easy. Some are just a building. ARRL site list notes which are sensitive and require advance coordination Special rules for Wild and Scenic Rivers and Trails

16 Do you need Park Permission to Activate? Self contained mobile usually not. Pull in to park and operate. Observe ARRL NPOTA list if sensitive designation. To set up portable coordinate with park rangers. They ll guide you. Call ahead!

17 Two types of Trails Regular trails like Oregon,California,Santa Fe Trails that are historic no one uses anymore. Park within 50 feet of them or at a Fort or Mission where they went through -- OK to run them mobile no sweat. Scenic trails like the Appalachian, Ice Age, North Country must be reached on foot. No mobile Operation! No vehicles.

18 NPOTA Activators Activators are: QRP guys on Trails and Rivers or Mountain Tops (SOTA) to mobile stations to fixed portables the whole gamut. Some clubs go big time. Most activity on 20M here 40m back east most on SSB by 10:1 ratio to CW. Digital just 1 to 2%. Some making contacts on PSK31.

19 Promoting Ham Radio Many activators set up in visible location with large NPOTA banner promote ARRL and ham radio. (takes coordination) Some try to work with youth groups to expose them to ham radio - get them on the air Many clubs getting in on activations of nearby sites

20 How popular is it? Over 300,000 contacts uploaded to LoTW since Jan 1! On a pace for a million by year end! Over 4,500 activations have taken place. To get credit for an activation, at least 10 QSO s must have been made from site.

21 Typical Portable Operation at NP47-Redwood by AI6CD

22 Keeping Track of Things LoTW tracks how many parks you have worked on the NPOTA page The Honor Roll requires you work 75% of all National Parks (59 of them) that have been put on the air 45 to date. Four hams have reached the 45 worked level so far. Awards for activators and chasers too!

23 LoTW tracks your progress/status

24 Top Dogs in NPOTA Larry, K5RK near Houston leads with 399 of 486 NPS sites worked. Stu, KB1HQS lives in DC area and leads in number of activations. You get credit for each activation each time you put out a site/park/trail on a different day. From Dallas, the nearest parks are 140 miles away! Most miles away!

25 Wrapping it up National Parks on the Air NPOTA is an ARRL program working with the National Park Service to celebrate the NPS 100 th Anniversary and promote ham radio It s wildly popular with thousands and thousands joining in the fun. Like ARRL Triple Play. You should join in the fun!

26 Resources ARRL NPOTA web site and LoTW Facebook Group NPOTA 3000 plus members now. Spotting Facebook, DXsummit.fi Activation Plans on ARRL NPOTA page plan ahead know what s on! QST Magazine multiple articles.

27 N4CD goes QRP Portable Some sites such as the Scenic Trails cannot be run mobile. They must be reached on foot to be in the spirit of the event! Others like the Clinton home no parking spot to run mobile. N4CD has run Ice Age, North Country Scenic Trails - portable with FT817ND, AlexLoop on Tripod.

28 AlexLoop

29 AlexLoop Magnetic Loop Weighs 1.5 lb popular with SOTA folks Covers 40-10M 15w SSB 10w CW limit Narrow Bandwidth KHz Works decently Used at Clinton Birth home for 200Q s Made my 10+Q s from the scenic trails Going portable up north at 40 deg is nuts!

30 AlexLoop Goes together in a few minutes Small nulls off side of loop - minimal Not cheap N4CD is working on the lightweight tripod I reached the trails on foot but not far from the car hi hi

31 N4CD Stats 76 Different Parks/Sites/Trails Activated 90 Activations on Leader Board 11,892 NP QSO s Uploaded to LoTW 15,500 miles since Jan 1, 2016 on cars 14 states traveled so far Goal at least 100 park units by Dec 16 Lots more to come

32 NPOTA Parks on the Air By Bob Voss N4CD