✨ CAW-CAW, POTA PEOPLE! ✨
The Hawk returns this week riding a thermal of RF, caffeine, and mild incredulity. We’ve got sunshine activations, permit heartbreak, kilo glory, pulled pork diplomacy, and at least one philosophical question about what it means to be “in a park.” Tighten those guy lines, crack open the logbook, and let’s flap through it. 📻🌲🦅
🌞🌊 Winter? Never Heard of Her — Texas Style 🌊🌞
Kirk Hooks shared a glorious scene from North Texas, where winter appears to have been politely declined. Operating alongside N5TLH, KJ5MQE, KM5RF, and N3KDP, the crew soaked up sunshine, water views, and the ultimate winter bonus: finally working Hawaii, thanks to AH6KJ.
📸 Photo credit goes to N5SMW, whose image may legally qualify as a mood enhancer. Meanwhile, several northern operators quietly adjusted their parkas and sighed. ❄️😅
🚫🏝️ Alcatraz Dreams: Temporarily Grounded 🏝️🚫
Bad news from the permit desk: Justin NU6W reports that his application to activate Alcatraz was met with a firm negative. The National Park Service is not issuing special use permits at the moment.
“CQ CQ from The Rock” will have to remain a fantasy… for now. 🪨📻
The Hawk recommends patience, persistence, and maybe a Plan B with fewer guards.
📅📬 Got an Event? Email It Like a Pro 📬📅
Planning a POTA meetup, activation weekend, or general RF mayhem? Send it to calendar@pota.news.
⚠️ IMPORTANT ⚠️
Please specify whether times are LOCAL or UTC/GMT — because time zones are sneaky little gremlins and the Hawk refuses to guess. 🕰️😤
🇹🇷💥 Türkiye Tag-Team DOMINATION (600 QSOs!) 💥🇹🇷
Strap in. Furkan TA7H and TA2HTU went full send:
🚗 ~400 km traveled
📍 11 activations total (6 WWFF, 5 POTA)
📻 550–600 QSOs
🏆 FOUR ATNOs (previously unactivated parks!)
The freshly conquered references:
• TR-0440 / TAFF-0057 — Acarlar Longozu
• TR-0439 / TAFF-0204 — Gölcük Nature Park
• TR-0167 / TAFF-0203 — Poyrazlar Gölü
• TR-0130 / TAFF-0132 — İl Ormanı
Cold. Snowy. Long days. Full logs. Absolute legends. ❄️🔥📻
🎪🌴 Hamcation POTA Meetup — Florida Edition 🌴🎪
The 4th Annual Hamcation POTA Meetup is officially on deck at Wekiwa Springs State Park (US-1927)! Expect radios, snacks, door prizes, familiar YouTube faces, and enough enthusiasm to power a small repeater.
📍 Live Oak Pavilion, Apopka, FL
🗓 Thursday, February 12
⏰ 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Equipment encouraged but not required. Pants also technically optional (but recommended). 😄📻
Pro tip: Hop over to the PN&R POTA Calendar, where you can add this and other POTA action to your own device’s calendar.
🏆📊 200 Activations! Jason Brings the Receipts 📊🏆
Jason CE3/N5NU casually dropped a monster milestone: 200 POTA activations 🎉
📈 The stats are chef’s kiss:
• 18,000+ QSOs
• Activations across 10 U.S. states + 4 countries
• Mode breakdown: 54% CW, 45% SSB, 1% digital
That’s not just operating — that’s a lifestyle choice. Respect. 🫡📻
🍖😋 Activate, Then Eat Like a Champion 😋🍖
Kjetil LB4FH activated NO-3226 / NO-2526 and then immediately made the most correct decision of the day: stopping for a pulled pork sandwich.
The Hawk officially recognizes this as an advanced POTA technique. 🐷📻👏
🧢🌲 New POTA Club in Connecticut! 🌲🧢
Welcome to the world, CT POTA Activators Group, club call WB1CT!
More local coordination, shared intel, and at least one operator who brought three radios “just in case.” You know who you are. 😄📻
🐴🔥 PACK MULE WATCH — DRAMA BREWS 🔥🐴
The Pack Mule leaderboard holds steady with Ed W4EMB as Lead Mule 🥇.
But the Hawk spies intrigue: a possible first Mule-to-Mule QSO, when Perry W1GRD activated US-4701 Douglas State Forest and was contacted by W4EMB.
Was Ed in a park? Near a park? Spiritually aligned with a park?
The investigation continues. 🧐🌲📻
Leaderboard here: https://pota.news/pack-mule-award/
🎉📻 Patty W5AZO Goes KILO! 📻🎉
Patty W5AZO celebrates a KILO achieved at US-3023, with shout-outs to W7RTA and “Charlie in OR!”
As if that wasn’t enough, she also worked the park from Hawaii as AH6K. Because why not flex internationally? 🌺💪
🦏📍 Georgia Rhino Spotted! 📍🦏
Paul K4SYT reports bagging a rare Georgia Rhino from Kingsland, GA — a low-density region that makes every rare catch feel earned.
Proof submitted. Bragging rights secured. 🏆🐘
📬🌲 Send Those Park Reports! 🌲📬
Quick reminder: email your park reports to parks@pota.news — no login required.
Include:
✔️ Park number
✔️ Callsign
Help fellow activators with parking tips, trail notes, closures, and “watch out for that sneaky turn” intel. The Hawk is always hungry for data. 🦅📋
💥📊 Randy KZ4A Goes FULL SEND 📊💥
Randy KZ4A closed out the week with a personal best: 1,000 QSOs in a single activation — finishing off a hard-earned KILO award.
That’s the kind of day where you pack up tired, smiling, and slightly hoarse… and immediately start planning the next one. 😄📻🔥
🧮🔥 SEVEN. FERS. SEVEN. 🔥🧮
Scott W3GTR casually dropped a very rare 7-fer — activating seven overlapping parks at once. For the uninitiated: yes, POTA has n-fers (2-fer, 3-fer, etc.), but a 7-fer is deep wizard territory. That’s not just standing in the right spot — that’s cartographic enlightenment. Maps trembled. Logbooks applauded. 🗺️📻✨
[Publisher’s note: Ada didn’t know what a 7-fer was and asked, so I explained it. She almost has it. – W1GRD]
☀️💥 Support Your Parks Weekend Ends with a SOLAR MIC DROP 💥☀️
Just as Support Your Parks Weekend wrapped up, the Sun kicked in the door. On January 18, everyone’s favorite star (hereafter known as Flarey McFlareface) unleashed an X1.9 solar flare, complete with a full-halo coronal mass ejection.
As of 19 Jan, 18Z:
🌞 S3 radiation storm underway
🌌 Aurora predicted as far south as Alabama
Some folks support parks with donations. Others support them by absolutely hammering the ionosphere. 🔥📡✨
🇧🇧📻 Supporting Your Parks — Barbados Edition 📻🇧🇧
Because POTA is global and jealousy is universal, we had Support Your Parks participation from Barbados.
Sunshine, salt air, and RF flowing freely — a reminder that sometimes “field conditions” include palm trees and ocean views, as Chris 8P9CB (alias WA7RAR) demonstrated. Little to no sleep from arriving the day before? No problem mon! Chris lit up BB-0008 for one of his fave events.
The Hawk respectfully glares from colder latitudes. 🌴😎
🚗🚶♂️🚗 Two… Two… TWO Roves in ONE! 🚶♂️🚗🚶♂️
Yes, you read that right: two roves in one outing. Because why activate parks once when you can activate them again, differently? David AD5DS showed how it was done. According to him, his planned first ten-park rove went so well with 11 activations, he decided to do it all over again and did another 6!
This is advanced POTA math:
Rove + Rove = Extra POTA karma
Bonus points awarded for seat time, antenna gymnastics, and explaining this later to non-hams. 🧠📻
📰🌲 What’s New on POTA News & Reviews 🌲📰
Fresh site write-ups just dropped:
• US-4701 Douglas State Forest, MA
• US-4702 F. Gilbert Hills State Forest, MA
Meanwhile, the forums are buzzing — including a popular thread on Activator Non-Radio Favorite Things (a reminder that snacks, socks, and chairs are also mission-critical gear).
And yes…
❄️📻 Winter Field Day is coming.
🏕️📡 Winter Field Day + POTA = YES, ACTUALLY 📡🏕️
A friendly reminder that Winter Field Day is a fantastic opportunity to combine Field Day operations with POTA activations. Cold fingers, warm logs, and the undeniable joy of proving — once again — that hams will operate anywhere, anytime. January 24th and 25th. Be there, uh, aloha.
Layer up. Hydrate. Shiver. Call CQ anyway. 🧤📻🔥
🦅✨ And with that… ✨🦅
The Nosey News Hawk tucks her wings, sharpens her beak for next week, and reminds you all to keep those batteries charged, logs backed up, permits approved, and sandwiches properly sauced. Send your tips to tips@pota.news!
POTA on! 📻🌲🔥
