Operating

Videos: What’s next for POTA, ham radio helps rescue man trapped in cave

September 3, 2026 By Dan KB6NU Leave a Comment

What’s next for POTA?

I sometimes claim partial credit for POTA because Thom, W8TAM, was in one of my General classes. Maybe that qualifies me for one-half of 1%? one-quarter of 1%? Thom always teases me that I’m “ham famous,” but I think his work on Parks on the Air (POTA) is making him way more ham-famous that I can claim to be. Here he is on the Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio video channel, explaining some of the changes coming to this popular program.

Amateur radio tech aids Canadian cave rescue

On the next episode of the ICQ Podcast, we are going to discuss an interesting cave rescue story. As it happens, we believe that five-watt QDX-M transceivers from QRP-Labs, operating on the 2200m band, were used to communicate through 100 meters of solid rock in the rescue operation at Rats Nest Cave in Alberta, Canada. The rescuers used JS8-CALL digital mode to send and receive text messages with the trapped man. Here’s a news report on the rescue:

The Calgary Herald also published a story on the rescue on August 21, 2026.

For more information on the technology, you might want to read the recent article in MAKE: magazine, “Cave Radio – Talking Through Solid Rock.”

You know POTA. You know SOTA. How about BOTA?

August 24, 2026 By Dan KB6NU 1 Comment

A couple of days ago, I got an email from Rem, K6BBQ. He writes:

I am the national representative for the US Bunkers On The Air (USBOTA) program. I want to share with you what BOTA is and how ham radio is part of this.

Worldwide Bunkers On The Air (WWBOTA) consists of over 20 member countries and is an amateur radio awards scheme (like POTA and SOTA) focused on activating and hunting (chasing) bunkers. Some BOTA sites are also in POTA sites which some activators might find of interest.

The USBOTA program started earlier this year and needs hams to help it grow. The US bunker locations can be seen on this worldwide map.

From coastal fortifications and anti-aircraft emplacements to Cold War command centers, Nike missile sites and civil defense shelters they are silent witnesses to moments of national and international significance. WWBOTA exists to promote interest in them as part of our collective heritage and to connect the amateur radio community with these sites of history.

We invite you to join us — and to know a little about the bunker you visit, not just its reference number.

Sounds like fun to me, but unfortunately, just as there are summits near me in the flat Midwest, there are no bunkers near me, either. At least there are none currently. In a subsequent email, Rem mentioned that Civil Defense sites, such as fallout shelters, qualify as BOTA sites. He writes:

One other thing included is Civil Defense sites, including fallout shelters. These have been the greatest number of sites I’ve added. I don’t want to send hunters to a place without a fallout sign so I do ask for a photo that can be found from Google Street View or webpage.

There are some websites that claim to list shelter locations but these are only names of places (schools, city hall, fire station.). It’s too vague. Other sites will be more specific with a photo of the sign and building.

I see you live in Ann Arbor so I decided to check there. I found this. [This page mentions that many University of Michigan building may have fallout shelters….Dan] Unfortunately, what I found was too vague to be included. To have a site included, you need a description of the location and a photo.

To add a site, you need to make an account on the USBOTA site and then go to the submit a new location page.

I often go walking on campus. I just might scout around and see if I can find any that might still exist and are marked.

More POTA notes, 7/30/26

July 30, 2026 By Dan KB6NU 4 Comments

Here are a couple more POTA notes:

I’ve discovered the limits of my 9 Ahr BioEnno battery. I used it for the following activations:
- July 22, 1 hour, 15 contacts
- July 24, 1.5 hours, 31 contacts
- July 25, 1.5 hours, 60 contacts
- July 27, 2.5 hours, 52 contacts
- July 29, 1.25 hours, 40 contacts
About midway through this last activation, my KX3 began limitng the power output to 10 W. I guess that the battery couldn’t supply enough current to output the full 15 W. It did continue to work at 10 W, though, for the remainder of the activation. I recharged the battery overnight, and it worked just fine this morning.
My 40 contacts yesterday gave me 940 from the Iron Belle Trail (US-13184), so this morning, I decided to work the remaining 60 to get my “kilo” for the park. I made my first contact at 8:35 am, and for the next hour and a half, did pretty well. I made contact #59 at 10:05, which is close to 1 contact every minute and a half. Then, the band went south on me. Over the next half hour, I only managed 7 contacts.Even so, that put me over 1,000 QSOs for US-13184, so I’m happy about that. My 1,006 contacts and 29 activations don’t, however, get me onto the leader board, though. KE8VC leads with 117 activations and 6234 contacts!
After lunch, it was such a nice day that I managed to cajole my wife to head out to the Pinckney State Recreation Area (US-3322) with me. The bands weren’t as cooperative as they were in the morning, but I did manage to make 40 contacts over the course of two hours. I would have liked to make more contacts, but it was fun just chilling by the beach and enjoying the day.
Towards the end of the activation, a young man and his son came up to me and started chatting. He mentioned that he was planning to take the Tech test soon. I gave him my card and encouraged him to download my free study guide. I also gave him a demo of my POTA setup and explained what POTA was all about. I hope that he will get his license soon and join us on the air.

POTA notes, 7/27/26

July 27, 2026 By Dan KB6NU 78 Comments

Since the POTA gods (or in this case, a goddess) designated the Iron Belle State Trail (US-13184) a. POTA entity, this spring, I’ve been working a lot of POTA. The park is less than a mile from my house, and I can be on the air within 20 minutes of leaving my house. After this morning’s activation, I have a total of 900 contacts from US-13184.

This has given me a lot of time to make some observations about POTA operation. Here they are in no particular order:

I’m hoping to hit the kilo mark at US-13184 sometime this week, so that I can hit some of the other parks in the area again. Specifically, I want to head out to Pinckney State Recreation Area (US-3322). There’s a nice little lake with a sandy beach there, which is great for warmer weather.
Although there is more activity on the weekends, weekdays can be good days for activating as well. On Saturday, I made 60 contacts in an hour and a half. This morning, I made 52 contacts in about two hours and 15 minutes.
If I’m out early (say before 9 am), I begin operations on 40 meters. This lets me work close-in stations before the D-layer gets too hot for ionospheric propagation. I’ve also noticed that ground wave propagation can be good on 40 meters early in the day.
When it seems as though I’ve worked all the hunters on 40 meters, or when propagation begins changing, I’ll go to 20 meters. You don’t want to wait too long to to this, but you don’t want to be too quick, either.
Being a CW guy, I mostly operate CW. The last couple of activations, though, I’ve given phone a try. With only 15 W from my KX-3, I’m certainly not the strongest signal on the band, but I have made contacts, and phone is a nice change of pace. Who knows? I might even give digital a whack one of these days.
18 or 19 wpm seems to be the optimum speed at which to call CQ POTA. Calling at higher speeds could put off slower hunters. Calling at slower speeds is a bit aggravating for me.
Listen for the weak signals. Because you’re not asking for a long contact, QRP stations will call you for a contact. Other park activators will also have weaker signals on average. I don’t actually do this myself, but I’d say that always using headphones will help you hear the weaker stations. I really should because it’s kind of comical seeing me lean in to hear a weak one on the less-than-great KX3 speaker.
In general, there seem to be a higher percentage of women operating POTA. It’s not an incredibly higher percentage, but it is something that I’ve noticed.
My 9 Ahr battery is good for at least 4 activations. I could have gotten away with a much smaller battery, but it’s nice not having to recharge after every activation.
Activations can be more fun with a second operator, even if you’re working CW. A ham friend stopped by the park this morning, just as I was wrapping up. We shared some observations, and when I was done, he set up his station. Next time, I’ll bring my 40-meter contest filter so that we can both operate at the same time without interfering with one another.

Now, here are a couple of observations directed at hunters:

If an activator doesn’t repsond to your first call, don’t get discouraged. Be patient, especially if you’re running low power. If you hang in there, the activator will eventually get to you.
Hunters don’t need to repeat exchange, unless asked to do so. If you’re giving an activator a 559 report from Michigan, simply send “559 MI”, not “559 559 MI MI.”

Having said all that, I’d love to hear some of your observations. Please leave a comment below or email me directly.

ICQPodcast Episode 487 – A Taste of Ham Radio Friedrichshafen

July 12, 2026 By Dan KB6NU 2 Comments

In this episode, I joined Martin Butler M1MRB, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss:

Germany Likely to Get Full 4 Metres Band Back. The Brits on the podcast seem to love the 4-meter band. Unfortunately, I doubt that we’ll ever get access to it here in the U.S.
Eyeball-to-Eyeball Off-the-Air QSO Party. The Eyeball QSO Party is a weekly Zoom meeting that got started during the pandemic that continues to this day. Hams from different countries attend every week to share their opinions and activities.
Canada Reviewing Policy on Antennas, Towers. Although this effort isn’t specifically meant for radio amateurs, the Radio Amateurs of Canada thinks that the proposals will give hams much more latitude when it comes to putting up antenna structures.
Researchers Create Space ‘Wall’ to Weaken Solar Storms. Researchers believe they have developed an effective line of defence against geomagnetic storms that would protect radio communications, GPS systems, electrical grids and satellites from disruption. This is, however, all theoretical at this point, and the panel was dubious that this would work in practice.
YOTA Camp Region 1 – Austria July 2026. A highlight of this year’s YOTA Summer Camp is that every attendee will go home with a QMX+ they built, with the help of Hans Summers G0UPL of QRP Labs. Hans is also donating endfed antennas, power banks, microphones, and Morse keys. I want to be like G0UPL when I grow up.

This episode’s feature is a Taste of Ham Radio Friedrichshafen.

Today’s POTA activation: A nice change of pace

July 11, 2026 By Dan KB6NU 1 Comment

This summer, I have been activating the Iron Belle Trail, US-13184, a lot. This is a newly-added POTA entity and it runs through Bandemer Park, which is less than a mile from my house as the crow flies, and less than a mile and a half by car. I can be on the air in 20 minutes or less from the time I leave my house.

I popped over to the park this morning for a quick activation. I got all set up and made some CW contacts on 40 meters, but the action was kind of slow. I QSYed up to 20 meters, only to discover that there was some kind of contest going on. :( I made a contact or two there, then switched to 30 meters. I made a couple of contacts on 30 by hunting, but that still wasn’t all that satisfying.

Then, I thought, why not give phone a try? I QSYed to 40 meter phone, found a guy operating a special event station and worked him. He gave me a pretty decent signal report, so I decided to try calling CQ POTA. I made seven contacts calling CQ. As I was getting close to the hour that I allotted myself to operate this morning, I decided to try hunt a few more.

The first activator that I came across had three operators in North Carolina. Tuning down the band a little, I found another multi-operator activation that wasn’t even listed on the spots page. There were five ops there in Georgia. So, out of a total 29 contacts, 16 were SSB contacts, which I made in the last 23 minutes. Not too shabby for only running 15 W and a nice change of pace! My average report was 5-7.

A nice surprise

By the way, I had a nice surprise yesterday when I arrived at the park. The picnic table I’ve been operating from at Bandemer was in pretty bad shape. The wood had warped and gotten quite soft, and one of the benches even had a hole in it. I reported this to the city on the SeeClickFix website on Monday, and when I arrived at the park on Friday, the rotting wood had all been replaced.

Picnic table at Bandemer Park. — The newly restored picnic table that I operate from at Bandemer Park. You can see the Iron Belle Trail, US-13184, in the background.

I don’t know if this had anything to do with their prompt reply, but when I reported the issue, I noted that the hole in the bench could be a safety issue! At any rate, it’s even more of a pleasure to operate at Bandemer Park.

ICQPodcast Episode 485 – World Cup Special Event Station

June 15, 2026 By Dan KB6NU 2 Comments

In this episode, I join Martin Butler M1MRB, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT, Edmund Spicer M0MNG and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Here are this episode’s topics:

Number of Amateur Radio Operators in Japan Continues Declining. The decline is actually pretty dramatic. We consider how this might affect the abilty and desire of the Japanes manufactures to continue developing new amateur radio equipment.
Find the Right Rig: New Comparison Tool for ARRL Members. On the surface, this looks like a nice tools for ARRL members, but some of the presenters find it lacking.
PRESENTER OPINION : Button, button. Who’s got the button? This is a discussion of my “NO MINSTER” buttons, and if they will be able to affect how the ARRL is being run.
Sale Keeps Two More Ham Brands Alive. MFJ is selling the Ameritron and Mirage amplifier lines to ITU, the company that recently purchased the HyGain and Cushcraft antenna products.
HAMSCI asks Canada to Reconsider Shortwave Shutdown. While a valiant effort, the presenters doubt whether HamSCI’s request will sway the Canadian government to keep CHU operating.
Amateur Radio Has The Power Of Awareness. This is a discussion of the World Giraffe Day special event station, W3G, on June 21, 2026. I stuck my neck out and opined that I liked this effort.

This episode’s feature is a discussion of the World Cup 2026 special event stations.

Dayton Hamvention 2026: Day 2, Thursday, May 14

May 20, 2026 By Dan KB6NU 1 Comment

Four Days in May is an activity of QRP-ARCI.

Day 2 started out pretty early. The Four Days in May (FDIM) seminar starts at 8 am!

After a short drive from my hotel, I arrived at the DoubleTree Hotel a little after 7:30 am, expecting to sail in and claim a seat. I was, however, was surprised to see a line snaking down one of the hallways. Apparently, they weren’t letting people in yet.

As I walked down the hallway to take my place at the end of the line, I came across my friend Tom, W8TJB, who graciously let me take cuts. As it turned out, there were plenty of seats, though, so that was not a big deal. Here’s a short description of the talks I heard:

A Homebrewer’s Journey: How I got to where I am. Harold Smith, KE6TI, gave the first presentation of the day. He detailed his journey, from his high school days in the early 1960s to today. Harold’s talk included a lot of useful tips, but my big takeaway was, “When you’re homebrewing, you’re building for yourself.” With that in mind, Harold advised to not worry so much about how a project looks, or even how well it works. Focus on the enjoyment you had building something and what you learned from working on it.
Life is NOT Too Short for QRP if You Know a Few Tricks. Anthony Luscre, K8ZT, was responsible for this talk. He provided many, many tips for successfully operating QRP including how to select equipment, what antenna to use, what bands top operate, what modes to operate, and what times to operate. He also gave quite a few tips on operating technique. One tip that I plan to follow up on is his tip to use the 4X4XM Propagation Tools to better understand propagation.
The CFT1: the design philosophy and lessons in good user interface. Jonathan Kayne, KM4CFT, a young ham who recently graduated from Virginia Tech, told us the story of how he came to design the CFT1, a five-band, QRP transceiver. In this very interesting talk, he detailed his reason for designing the radio (a very noisy QTH which drove him to operate portable) and the entire design process. I enjoyed this talk so much that I thought that I might even buy one of his radios, but the kit cost $320, and since I still haven’t finished building my QMX, I decided not to.
Post-Hurricane Helene: The Role of Practical Preparedness and Community in Emergency Communications. Well-known QRPer, Thomas Witherspoon, K4SWL, lives in the mountains in western North Carolina, right in the path of Hurricane Helene. He spoke about how the hurricane affected him and his family, but perhaps more importantly, how the people of his community bonded to get through the crisis. As he was talking to an audence made up of hams, he talked quite a bit about the importance of communications in keeping that community together. “In a disaster,” he said, “communications is not just about passing information. It’s about holding a community together when everything else falls apart.”
Learn CW Like a Boss. In this talk, Jerry Weisskohl, AC4BT, gave us some tips on how to improve our ability to send and receive Morse code. He strongly recommended the use of Morse Runner and detailed how he used the program to get better at receiving.
Vibe (AI) Coding for Radio Amateurs. AI is all the rage these days, and Dr. Stewart Bryant, G3YSX, showed us how we might use it for developing software for amateur radio projects. After introducing some of the concepts behind the current AI chatbots, he gave some examples of its use, including coding a VFO using an AD9851 and developing a GNU Radio script to display the spectrum of an audio input. Bryant is very big on the technology and urged us all to try it. I may just do that.

I say this every year, but FDIM really inspires me to be more of a builder/homebrewer/hacker. Maybe if I get more serious about it, I could even give a talk next year.

Let’s hit the park!

After sitting through these six talks, I was getting a little antsy, and seeing that the last two talks didn’t really interest me all that much, I decided to escape and activate a park. The park that looked the most promising was the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park (US-0732). At first I was a bit confused about the actual location of the park. The park actually consists of a couple of different locations, including the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center and the Huffman Prairie Flying Field. The POTA map shows the location of the Huffman Prairie Flying Field, which is out near Fairborn. Fortunately, I chose to go to the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center, which is in the Germantown section of Dayton. There is a nice, little park there next to the museum, which is perfect for POTA.

Man sitting in front of a radio on a picnic table. — It was a beautiful day for a POTA activation at the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park.

As I pulled into the small parking lot, I noticed a ham (whose call I don’t remember, unfortunately) there already. I got out of the car and walked over. He was trying to make some contacts with an Elecraft KH1 and and AX-1 antenna. He said that he wasn’t having much success but encouraged me to set up and give it a try, so I went back to my car and got my stuff. We chatted a bit more while I was setting up, and he seemed interested in my doublet antenna. After I got on the air and made a couple of contacts, he left.

Not long after, a group of four hams—N3AIR, N3VQH, K3MET, and KC3RMC—exited the museum and walked over. They had driven in from Pennsylvania and were taking in the sights. They were a fun bunch. We did the HT thing, and I got a park-to-park QSO with all of them on both 2 meters and 70 cm. Then, one of them took the picture above. I wish I’d gotten a selfie with them all.

We were joined by another ham—a W6—and they chatted while I operated. Like the first fellow, I didn’t have a whole lot of luck on 20 meters, but when I switched to 40 meters, I started making quite a few contacts. That’s one advantage of having a full-size antenna like my doublet.

After the Pennsylvania contingent took off, I operated a while longer by myself. All in all, I managed to make 45 contacts in about an hour and a half. Not a bad afternoon’s work.

Meeting the CWops

Two older men and a woman smiling at the camera. — At the CWops Dinner, I met, Howard, W1HRB, and his wife, Barbara.

My next stop was the CWops dinner. I met a lot of great operators there, many of whom I’ve worked on the air and/or swapped email with. Just before dinner was served, I found a seat between Steve, KJ5T, and Howard, W1HRB. Howard, and his wife, Barbara are shown in the photo above.

Howard, as it turns out, lives not very far from me, and I tried to recruit him to operate at one of our Field Day stations. He was unsure of his availability for Field Day, but said that he’d try to come to one of our club meetings. I think he’d make a great ARROW member, so I really do hope he comes to a meeting.

The dinner broke up about 9:30, and I head back to the hotel to get some rest for Hamvention the following day.

Dayton Hamvention 2026: Day 1, Wednesday, May 13

May 18, 2026 By Dan KB6NU 133 Comments

Last Wednesday, I began my annual trek to the Dayton Hamvention. I live pretty close (three and a half hours driving), but I like to attend QRP-ARCI‘s Four Days in May on Thursday, so I head down early. I used to actually leave verrrry early on Thursday morning to get there by 8 am (and not have to pay for a night in a hotel), but I gave that up several years ago.

A couple of years ago, I started doing Parks on the Air (POTA), so I take the opportunity to stop at a couple of parks on the way. My first stop is Van Buren State Park, which is just north of Findlay. It’s right off the freeway (I-75) and very accessible. I arrived about 11:30 am.

I set up in the picnic shelter (shown above) that’s near the entrance to the park. This was my third activation, and there’s never been anyone else using the shelter when I’ve operated from there. I set up my 66-ft. doublet at the far end of the shelter, by the trees.

That was my first mistake. I was in a bit of a hurry, since I wanted to get set up quickly, so that I could eat lunch while i was operating. In my haste, however, I didn’t anchor the mast very well, and it was very windy that morning. So, of course, the antenna blew over. Not only that, one leg of the antenna got caught in one of the trees that you can see in the picture. This particular tree sported some big thorns, which made disentangling the wire a bit of a challenge.

I did manage to get the antenna back in the air—and eat my lunch—but it was very chilly with the wind and all. I squeezed out 12 contacts in about 45 minutes, then decided to tear down and hit the road.

In 2024 and 2025, my next stop was Grand Lake St. Mary’s State Park near Celina, Ohio. It’s a lovely park, which oddly enough, has a small lighthouse on it. It’s more than 20 miles east of I-75, though, so I thought I’d try a different park this year for my second activation. That honor fell to Kiser Lake State Park.

Beautiful view of a lake. — It was kind of cloudy at Kiser Lake State Park when I got there.

Getting there was a bit of an adventure. Like many people, I use Google Maps for navigation. After leaving Van Buren State Park, I got back on I-75 for about 20 miles, at which point Google decided to direct me to the back roads. The closer I got to Kiser Lake State Park, the narrower the roads became. At one point, the road was so narrow that there wasn’t even a center line. The directions were true, though, and I arrived in good time.

It was still windy and chilly, though. I set up in a picnic shelter near the park entrance, making sure this time to securely anchor the mast. I was able to make 14 contacts in about 45 minutes, and then decided to call it quits.

The nice thing about operating from Kiser Lake State Park is that the route from there to Fairborn, where I was staying is short and takes the back roads, avoiding I-75. I got to the hotel in about 45 minutes. I headed over to the FDIM hotel, picked up my badge and then headed out to dinner. Overall, this was a great start to my Dayton 2026 adventure.

Amateur radio in the news: Students learn how to use ham radio, Saline resident reaches remote island, ham radio open house a success

May 1, 2026 By Dan KB6NU Leave a Comment

Saline Resident Reaches One of Earth’s Most Remote Islands

For most travelers, a trip halfway around the world is enough of an adventure. For Saline resident Dennis Ward, it was just the beginning. Ward recently returned from a rare expedition to Bouvet Island, a remote, glacier-covered outpost in the South Atlantic Ocean, where he joined a small international team of amateur radio operators seeking to connect with the world from one of its most isolated places.

read more…

I like this story for a couple of reasons. First, it was a collaboration of three different clubs. Second, the Great Bend Radio Group is about more than just amateur radio. Judging by their banner, they welcome anyone involved with any of the personal radio services. Unfortunately, the reporter got some of the details wrong…..Dan

Ham Radio Open House a big success

PARKERSBURG – Members of three regional amateur radio clubs contacted ham radio operators worldwide for World Amateur Radio Day (WARD) Saturday at Fort Boreman Park in Parkersburg. WARD, also known as the Ham Radio Open House (sic), was a collaboration of Great Bend Radio Group of Meigs County, Ohio, the Parkersburg Amateur Radio Klub and Wood County Emergency Communications. The three clubs working together on this project fulfills this year’s American Radio League (sic) emphasis on “Year of the Club.”