On his fine blog, QRP…Doing More with Less, Larry, W2LJ, laments that now that 2016 is over, he has to go cold turkey. He is, of course, referring to the extremely popular National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) operating event.
NPOTA was an extremely popular event. Thousands of amateurs both activated and chased our national parks. According to the ARRL, more than 1 million contacts were made.
My question is why do we have to go cold turkey? There are several state parks on the air programs that are already in operation or will begin operation shortly. There is, of course, also Summits on the Air (SOTA).
I’m very surprised that no one has picked up the NPOTA program and run with it. I do understand that the way that the ARRL has structured the program it’s a lot of work, but with some simplifications, it could be workable. SOTA is, after all, a worldwide thing, and they seem to be able to keep things working with a volunteer staff.
Am I missing something? Has someone already picked up the NPOTA ball and is running with it? If there are folks out there working on it and need someone with WordPress/PHP skills, I might be able to help out.
Jim Anderson says
Hi, Dan.
The closest thing to NPOTA that I’ve seen is run by the World Wide Flora and Fauna organization. They’ve christened it Parks On The Air (POTA) and it covers much more than just the national parks, monuments, and trails covered by NPOTA. Their web site at http://wwff-kff.com/ shows over 3300 entities available for activation, including all of the NPOTA sites.
73, Jim – K0RGI
Russ - AD0QH says
Have you heard of World Wide Flora and Fauna — http://wwff.co? I made contact with 2 US stations this weekend just spinning the dial.
John w7jkc says
Jason Johnston is picking up the ball with Parks on the Air. He’s the US coordinator for the WWFF program. There are several of the regular activators who started activating these parks, which include nature preserves and state parks. Check out wwff-Kff dot com.
Dan KB6NU says
Hmmmm. I’ve heard of WWFF, but it really needs a new name, don’t you think?
Dave New, N8SBE says
I don’t know. “Wuff” seems easier to pronounce than “eNPota”.
How do you pronounce “ppd”?