If you were hoping for a quiet, ease-into-the-year sort of January… well, you’re clearly in the wrong hobby.
The first week of 2026 delivered first activations, last-needed awards, ice-fog endurance tests, bike-mounted antennas, international bunker roves, and at least one park ranger reassured by the presence of “the guy with the big antenna.” Let’s get into it.
[cover photo: KL5PF via Facebook]
🏗️ “The Guy With the Big Antenna”
Chas N8KO made his very first POTA activation at US-10555 – Pleasant Hope SCA, an uncommon site with only 30 prior activations.
A coat on the dashboard raised a ranger’s eyebrow — but once Chas explained ham radio (and mentioned the antenna farm behind the car), the ranger relaxed, returned with snacks, and all was right with the world.
Results?
- 54 CW QSOs in 20 minutes
- 91 total contacts
- 72 CW
- FT4, P2P, and happy digital hunters
As Werner N8BB noted: Chas’ signal is always solid — and now POTA knows why.
🤝 Mutual Aid, Perfectly Tuned
Colleen W8CPR and Pavel VA4ADM demonstrated pure POTA symbiosis:
- Pavel provided Colleen’s final province for Worked All Provinces
- Colleen returned the favor with a needed U.S. state for Pavel’s QRZ USA-250
This is how awards should happen — one QSO at a time.
📻 A QRZ Regular Goes Portable
Longtime QRZ fixture Dave W7UUU officially joined the POTA ranks recently.
Once again we observe a familiar phenomenon:
👉 Once you activate a park, you’re never really just a “shack operator” again.
Welcome aboard, Dave.
🎯 Dom NC4XL Reaches 35,000 P2P QSOs
Dom NC4XL crossed a staggering milestone: 35,000 Park-to-Park QSOs.
A rainy day turned productive with activations at:
- US-10406
- US-2723
Totals (before dupes):
- 347 contacts
- 56 P2P
- 27 DX
- 7 Canadian
The decisive QSO came courtesy of John W5JCC, whose 2-fer delivered Dom’s 35,000th P2P.
Dom reminds us: POTA is a Field Day every day.
🏅 Decades of Service: Fran KC1NDQ
Fran KC1NDQ, President of the Pilgrim Amateur Wireless Association (PAWA), was recognized for decades of community and volunteer service.
PAWA continues to be a southeastern Massachusetts POTA powerhouse — and Fran remains one of the program’s quiet pillars.
🌍 Romania Goes Big: POTA & BOTA Group Activation
An ambitious group activation unfolded around Bucharest, featuring:
- YO3DYL
- YO3BEL (Sara)
- YO3GPH (Adrian)
- HA5CR
Activated locations included:
- Pădurea Băneasa
- Pădurea Tunari
- Bunker 4 Tunari (B/YO-0040) (combined POTA/BOTA)
- Lake Băneasa – Multiple Use Area
- Bunker Fort 1 Chitila (B/YO-0018)
- Pădurea Roșu
Multiple operators, multiple references, sustained pileups — and a reminder that POTA is truly global.
🎓 New Year, New Skill?
Matt K2EAG reminded operators that learning CW is a perfect January resolution.
The Long Island CW Club (LICW) makes it easy:
- Drop-in classes
- Learn at your own pace
- Focus on on-air success
- Weekly portable operating forum
POTA is one of the friendliest CW environments there is — short exchanges, real QSOs, and encouragement everywhere.
🌳 HA5CR Completes First POTA Activation
HA5CR completed a first-ever POTA run, activating:
- RO-0112
- RO-0009
- RO-0390
- RO-0380
- RO-0110
- B/YO-0040
- B/YO-0018
Four operators, multiple locations, hundreds of QSOs — and a strong start to the year.
🇮🇹 IX1CKN Lights Up IT-0120
IX1CKN rang in the new year at IT-0120, logging:
- 61 QSOs
- 16 DXCC entities
- Strong coverage across Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, France, England, and beyond
A fine way to start 2026.
🤔 John W5JCC: What Will He Do on Day Two?
After kicking off the year with six parks activated, ten bands completed, and even snagging a Warthog, John W5JCCleft us all wondering… What’s next on Day Two?
Given precedent, probably something mildly outrageous.
❄️ KL5PF in the Ice Fog
Featured on the cover: KL5PF activated US-9697 – Creamer’s Field Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, operating in:
- -40°F
- Ice fog
- Dead calm air that finds every weak spot in your setup
Despite frozen radials and numb fingers:
- 17 QSOs
- 10m dominant
- FT8 did the heavy lifting
Winter POTA is not about comfort — it’s about commitment.
🧍♂️ KO4MAQ’s First Solo Activation
KO4MAQ completed a first solo activation at US-9924, logging:
- 18 QSOs
- 11 P2P
- 45,781 km total QRB (yes — more than one trip around Earth)
A strong solo debut.
🚗 Ten Parks, One Rove: Matt K2EAG
Matt K2EAG completed a ten-park rove across Pennsylvania, activating parks including:
- US-8730
- US-1423
- US-1422
- US-1406
- US-1396
- US-1340
- US-1394
- US-1379
- US-1348
- US-5476
Total: 363 contacts and zero dupes. Impressive.
🥾 Bill W0VZ Battles Through
Bill W0VZ set out for a New Beginnings activation that didn’t go to plan — low power, weak signals, and early frustration.
Then he met K5DOW and K4QED, joined a three-operator activation, hunted, pounced, and walked away with:
- New QSOs
- New friends
- Activator & Hunter 2026 New Beginnings stickers
Lesson for 2026: Go activate anyway.
🚲 Cary K5DZR Activates by Bicycle
Cary K5DZR completed his first bicycle activation at US-1042 – Gulf State Park.
Despite equipment issues and weather hiccups, he adapted his vertical mount, made the activation valid, and now plans many more bike-based activations.
📡 Mike N2MAK Hunts RTTY POTA
Mike N2MAK logged 22 RTTY QSOs from US-5283 before switching to SSB.
RTTY lives — and POTA makes room for it.
🌱 Miki E75HZ Starts the New Season
Miki E75HZ earned a 2026 Activator certificate, celebrating a new beginning and reminding us that every season starts with that first CQ.
🏅 Dom NC4XL and His POTA Community
Dom also shared the results of his long-running Operator-to-Operator recognition, celebrating hunters who reached:
- 500
- 1000
- 1500 contacts with him
Over 60 operators now sit in those clubs — with hundreds more climbing the ladder.
POTA, at its best, is about lifting each other up.
📰 New on POTA News & Reviews
Fresh PN&R posts this week include:
- NV9Z activates every day for a year
- PA3FBO makes first POTA contacts
- Site features for:
- US-6979 – Arcadia Management Area, RI
- US-2451 – Nickerson State Park, MA
- US-4712 – Upton State Forest, MA
🐴 Pack Mule Hits the Trail
The Pack Mule Award is officially underway.
Starting January 1, 2026, activators can now log toward:
- 100 miles of hiking
- 2,200 QSOs
This is a long-haul award — not a weekend sprint.
The leaderboard is live, logs are arriving, and the first true Mules are quietly getting to work.
👉 https://pota.news/pack-mule-award/
❄️ One Wildcard Too Far: LB4FH Reaches for Antarctica
Kjetil LB4FH had one of those days that reminds us why we keep radios in the car just in case.
Three activations in a single day — spanning POTA and WWBOTA — is already a respectable effort. But buried in the log was something special: a Park-to-Park QSO with Antarctica.
Yes, that Antarctica.
The QSO remains unconfirmed (for now), but the propagation map alone tells the story: long arcs stretching southward from Norway, touching Europe, Africa, and then plunging into the Southern Ocean. Even when a contact doesn’t quite make it into the record books, moments like this remind us that radio still has the power to surprise — and occasionally to flirt with the impossible.
📡 Morse Academy Rings in the New Year
If “learn CW” made your New Year’s resolution list, Matt K2EAG was quick to remind everyone that help is readily available.
The Long Island CW Club (LICW) continues to be one of the most welcoming on-ramps to Morse code:
- Drop-in classes
- Learn at your own pace
- Emphasis on getting on the air, not just memorizing charts
- A weekly portable operating forum (POTA-friendly, naturally)
Short exchanges, friendly operators, real QSOs — CW and POTA remain a natural pairing.
🕯️ Silent Key: OM6RT
The POTA community paused this week to remember Richard Tóth, OM6RT, who passed away suddenly on December 20, 2025.
Richard was:
- Regional Manager for POTA in central Slovakia
- An enthusiastic POTA and SOTA activator
- A familiar voice to many under the PMR callsign Rišo Žilina
He spent his final day doing what he loved most: operating from a hilltop. On behalf of SK POTA HQ, friends and fellow operators were asked to take a moment to remember him — and to honor the spirit of portable radio that he so fully embodied.
🌍 When the Rare Ones Call You
Perry W1GRD (yes, that Perry) recently spotted VP2MAA and VP8LP answering stateside CQ POTA calls.
If you’ve ever had one of these stations come back to your call, you know the feeling: part disbelief, part adrenaline, part frantic scramble to make sure you didn’t imagine it. Moments like these are why hunters keep one eye on the cluster and one finger hovering over the VFO.
🇮🇳 First Activations, Many Lessons: VU3VLG at IN-0067
Bharath VU3VLG closed out 2025 with a deeply thoughtful and thoroughly documented first POTA activation at IN-0067 – Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve — and what a first it was.
This wasn’t just an activation. It was:
- Airlines, batteries, and regulations
- Field improvisation with a zBitx
- EFHW deployment challenges
- Security checkpoints, paperwork, and curious officials
- FT8-only survival mode
- Bonfires, wildlife, and band conditions
Despite multiple near-misses, Bharath activated IN-0067 successfully, logging 36 QSOs across 15m, 20m, and 40m, including DX into Poland and Samoa on QRP power.
Along the way he:
- Documented India’s WPC field-operation permissions
- Explored real-world skip zones
- Logged manually via PoLo on a phone
- Learned exactly how much battery anxiety QRP can generate
And as a bonus? Tigers. Leopards. Kingfishers. Eagles. A bonfire arranged by kind resort staff when temperatures dropped into the single digits.
This is the kind of first activation story that becomes a reference point — not just for India, but for new activators everywhere.
🏅 A Thousand Strong: W2DON Hits the Kilo
W2DON quietly crossed a major milestone, logging 1,000 CW QSOs from US-3455 – Lake Del Valle State Recreation Area.
A kilo on CW is no small thing — it’s consistency, patience, and the ability to sit still long enough for propagation to do its thing. The propagation map shows a healthy spread, reminding us that CW remains one of the most reliable long-distance tools in the POTA toolkit.
🦅 The Best Part of Radio Is Still the People
As the first full week of 2026 wraps up, one thing is already clear: POTA didn’t ease into the new year — it charged straight out of the gate. From frozen Alaskan fingers to warm bonfires in India, from first-ever activations to 35,000th milestones, this week reminded us that Parks on the Air is less a program and more a living, breathing community. Whether you’re hiking in, pedaling up, keying CW for the first time, or chasing that one improbable signal path across the globe, you’re part of the same story. Until next week, keep your batteries warm, your logs backed up, and your curiosity tuned just a little off-frequency — you never know what might answer your CQ.
73, Ada, Your Nosey News Hawk 🦅
