The Nosey News Hawk peers down from the winter sky…
❄️ A Quiet Week… Relatively Speaking
It’s been a quiet week in POTA, which we’ll generously blame on Winter Storm Fern, who showed up right on cue for Winter Field Day and promptly turned it into a very real emergency communications exercise. ❄️📻
Despite the chill, Pack Mule logs continue to trickle in. Ed W4EMB is still holding the Lead Mule position with 6 qualifying hikes, though Lucas K9RFL is close enough to be breathing down his pack straps. 🐴🎒
Behind the scenes, the PN&R sites underwent a bit of maintenance—mostly chasing edge cases in the new Field Notes email submission system. Quick reminder: 📧 If you’ve got park info worth sharing, send it to parks@pota.news. No account, images welcome, we just tidy it up and make sure the park number is in the subject line. Easy peasy.
🆕 AA4FX Joins the Party
Welcome aboard to AA4FX, a brand-new activator who wasted no time—two activations in week one, same park, running an ICOM 7200 at 100W. Logged on an iPhone because hey, if it works, it works. That’s the POTA spirit. 👋📡
🏖️ C6ABJ Does “Winter” Field Day (Quotes Intended)
While much of us were chiseling ice off coax, C6ABJ was doing Winter Field Day in the Bahamas. Challenges included ice cream trucks and red wires on negative terminals.
We are not the same. 🍦😎
🌍 Propagation Was Feeling Generous
Jay WQ0A reports an outstanding run from US-4468, including Alaska, Puerto Rico (3,300 miles), and a WHOPPING contact with Perth, Australia.
(Editor’s note: by “trip,” Jay means “contact,” not “vacation,” though frankly both apply.) 🌎✨
Meanwhile, Gerry VE8GER appears to be running so much power that the air around his antenna is ionized.
Either that or the aurora is jealous. ⚡🛸
❄️ AA8UP Laughs at Winter
John AA8UP braved the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, operating in conditions best described as “why though?” Snow, wind, cold—and still logging 37 CW QSOs across four bands in under an hour. Respect. 🥶💪
🏰 Castles on the Air!
Across the pond, John M7JCZ lit up not one but two historic sites:
- Moreton Corbet Castle & Grounds (GB-6326)
- Corbet Wood National Heritage Site (GB-1603)
Operating 20m SSB, John logged 46 QSOs, including a memorable 1,420-mile contact into Romania. Because if you’re going to struggle through a QSO, you might as well do it from a castle. 🏰📻
🎯 N5NU Sets Goals. Smashes Them. Rescues a Dog.
Running as CE3/N5NU from CL-0266 in Chile, Jason went in with two goals—and nailed both.
- Dialed in a homemade 4-element 10m Yagi
- Logged 86 QSOs on 10m SSB
- Hit 101 DXCC with portable gear
AND—because overachievers gonna overachieve—he also rescued a lost dog and reunited her with her owners.
This activation had everything. 🐕❤️📡
🏆 New WAS Award Unlocked
Another Worked All States milestone this week—Alaska was the final piece of the puzzle. Proof once again that persistence (and good propagation) pay off. 🗺️🏆
🐾 Paws On the Air
A new Facebook group, Paws On the Air, celebrates the furry companions who join us in the field. Radios, dogs, cats, and unconditional moral support—what more do you need? 🐶🐱📻
⏳ POTA Before POTA
Before it was cool, Jason W3AAX (right) was activating parks back in 2005–2006—HT, dipole, hiking up Oklahoma’s Gloss Mountain long before “portable” was fashionable. We know and love him as the guy who got POTA off the drawing board and into the parks.
This week, he was inducted into the Black Swamp Amateur Radio Club, and honestly? 👏🎖️
☢️ US-0225: Radioactive… Literally
Activators at Rocky Flats Wildlife Refuge (US-0225) may want to read the signs—new warning placards are going up advising visitors of possible radioactive contamination from the site’s Cold War history.
Still on the air, still beautiful—but maybe don’t lick the dirt. ☢️🌾
That’s it from the perch this week.
Cold fingers, warm signals, and as always, don’t forget to send those juicy POTA tidbits to the Hawk at tips@pota.news.
🦅 CAW! Your Nosey News Hawk is off to check the ionosphere!
Source material compiled from community posts and PN&R submissions.
