The PN&R Pack Mule Award celebrates POTA activators who put their station on their back and haul it into the woods, or up a mountain, or down a stream. It is a difficult award to achieve — at a minimum you are hiking 100 miles, and doing 100 activations, carrying everything in each time. I’m out quite a bit, and hike on every activation, and I think it’ll take me about two years to get there.
General Rules
These rules apply to all of the PN&R awards.
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- PN&R Awards are available to anyone in the world.
- All references / parks accepted by the Parks On the Air™ program, worldwide, are eligible for use in the program. For simplicity the PN&R awards call these parks.
- You may submit an activation from a park as many times as you like, though we do encourage you to explore other parks!
- If a park overlaps a different park or trail, only one may be submitted for a given activation. If you are in a five-fer, you’ll need to pick one.
- For activations involving more than one operator, each activator that submits a log for the activation must complete each QSO claimed on their own, and submit their own log or attestation.
- Only contacts made on or after January 1st, 2026 are eligible for PN&R awards.
- Each unique combination of callsign, mode, and band qualifies as a QSO.
- Awards are given to the operator, not the QTH, i.e. if you move or change callsigns, you don’t have to start over.
- To be submitted for credit, a park must show a minimum of 22 QSOs from the park. This is a complete activation. You may activate and log fewer than 22 (an incomplete activation) and then go back any number of times to meet the minimum and complete the activation.
Specific Rules
These rules cover the PN&R Pack Mule award. Activators must submit logs showing that they have achieved the criteria for the award to mule@pota.news.
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- Complete 100 park activations entirely by hiking, cycling, paddling, or other non-motorized means, each conforming with the General Rules.
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- The operator, radios, antennas, power sources, and all supporting equipment must be carried at least one half of a mile (about 1km) away from any motorized vehicle.
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- You must not use a vehicle in any way to provide support to the station other than getting you close to the activation point.
Submitting Logs
To qualify for the Pack Mule Award, submit ADIF formatted logs providing evidence that you’ve met the criteria to mule@pota.news. You may submit them all at once if you like, but if you submit them as you work on the award, you’ll be added to the Pack Mule Leaderboard here on PN&R.
What You’ll Get
A huge sense of accomplishment for certain, and the admiration of your fellow activators! This is going to require a lot of work. To be honest, we are still thinking about what the Pack Mule award should be. It feels like it should be a physical thing, probably related to hiking in some way, and engraved with the accomplishment. We’re discussing this very thing over on the PN&R forum, so if you have an idea for the award, drop in and let us know. A certificate will accompany the physical award.