As Winter turns to Mud Season in Downeast Maine, many EAWA members and friends are thinking of the upcoming Parks On The Air (POTA) season. Yes, hams can activate POTA year-round, but many of us wait for the milder temperatures of spring to start our POTA adventures. POTA is not only popular among our local hams, it’s exploding in popularity around the world. According to Kevin Thomas, a member of the POTA Board of Directors, “More than 85,000 parks are now active across 236 DX entities, with over 84,000 registered operators.” He also noted that the POTA website “processed 10.6 million QSOs in 2023, 13 million in 2024, and 15.2 million in 2025.”
Part of the fun of any ham radio activity is setting personal goals, then working to achieve them. In the POTA program, some of those goals may involve achieving POTA.app awards. Whether it’s that very first award, the Bronze Award, for activating/hunting 10 different parks, the Sapphire Award for activating/hunting 75 different parks, the Kilo Award for activators who have made 1,000 QSOs from the same park, or the Rhino Award for activating 10 different parks in 24 hours (a POTA Rove Award), there are many short-term and long-term challenges to consider. (See the full list here.)
There is a new POTA challenge slowly gaining popularity that comes from POTA News & Reviews, called the Pack Mule Award. This challenge involves hiking all your equipment into a park such that you are at least 1/2 mile from your vehicle. The Award requires 100 hiking activations, with at least 22 QSOs per activation. This certainly qualifies as a long-term challenge! (See more about the Pack Mule Award here.)
For some operators, the awards are nice but secondary to the personal goals and challenges that keep their POTA experiences fresh and interesting. Let’s hear from some of the EAWA members regarding their 2026 POTA goals.
Joan W1DLC plans to activate Baxter State Park, using CW and 10 watts. She added, “In addition to other camping activations, I am looking forward to operating with my POTA friends Barbara KC1SSY and Matt KC1VLH.”
Matt KC1VLH, shared “My goal is that by the end of the year I hope to add parks in the remaining 3 New England states as well as New York and Pennsylvania. I also plan to get other Maine state parks.”
Barbara KC1SSY shared that one of her goals has already started, which is to try her best to make a POTA contact everyday. Her second goal is “to increase my number of individual and group POTA activations through 2026, including some new-to-me parks and ideally at least one in another state.”
Dick W1KRP said, “2025 was a ‘year to forget’ so 2026 is going to be the opposite. POTA is at the top of my fun-list.”
John KQ1P hopes to try bicycling to a location for an activation, enjoy the EAWA club POTA activations, and to activate some new-to-him parks.
Greg KC1RID, an avid SOTA activator and hiker, said that while at Baxter State Park this year he will “at least do POTA in the evenings.” He added, “one of my goals is to hike all the Maine 4000′ mountains, so I might bag one or two other mountains outside of Baxter.”
Stan W1BOY stated his goals included “more activations this summer, both 100w picnic table portable and QRP hiking portable.” Stan has his eye on the Pack Mule Award.
Marion W1GRL shared that she hunts POTAs often, but hasn’t completed many activations. Her goal is “to keep up with W1BOY’s activations and use CW for POTA QSOs.”
In a club the size of the EAWA, there are likely to be active POTA hunters and operators not mentioned here. For example, Mark W1ABY is a dedicated POTA hunter. There are also those who support POTA operators, both human and canine. In a location as beautiful as Downeast Maine, combining ham radio with the natural landscape creates a perfect match!
As you make your POTA plans, mark your calendar for the Maine-wide POTA Day, Saturday, May 16. Also, keep an eye out for the traditional fall EAWA Club POTA activation, which usually comes around in September or October. If you haven’t tried POTA yet, perhaps reading these goals will inspire you to become a POTA operator. The people mentioned in this article would be happy to chat with you if you have questions. POTA ON!
Written by Marion W1GRL
W1TU 