[bars] Bars group POTA Parks on the Air
Christopher Lennon
kwaj.speedo at gmail.com
Fri Oct 10 18:00:40 CDT 2025
Funny, the only place I have run in to an actual ranger is at Walden. I
was setting up in a grassy area near the main building and a ranger came
along. I told him what I was doing and asked if it was okay to set up in
the grassy area. He said "Oh yeah. The radio stuff is cool. Most of you
set set up elsewhere, but you're fine there."
So Walden not always bad. It probably helped that it was December and the
place was a ghost town!
Chris
W2BPL
Sent from my phone.
On Fri, Oct 10, 2025, 6:09 PM Adam Smith <asmith at netspace.org> wrote:
> Thanks for sharing Chris! I don't think it changes a lot about most
> activations, but it is good to be clear and once again I am impressed by
> the responsiveness and diligence of the POTA volunteers.
>
> I will say informally that I have had good experiences from the bulk of
> rangers/staff at (for example) Great Brook and Minute Man. A particular
> national park ranger at MM has indicated that there is awareness of (and
> even support for) POTA in their professional community. On another hand,
> several folks have told me that they had less positive experiences at
> Walden Pond - which is perhaps understandable given the physical layout and
> the traffic levels there. Caveat Activator?
>
> While I am at it, since I mentioned MinuteMan park - I have heard from a
> couple folks that due to the government shutdown the parking areas along
> the Battle Road are closed (and other park amenities). I don't know about
> the North Bridge visitor center parking. There may be places where you can
> access the park area, but be prepared to be turned away etc if you try in
> the current circumstance. :(
>
> 73,
> Adam / AA1N
>
> "Be well, do good work, and keep in touch." -Garrison Keillor
>
> On Fri, Oct 10, 2025, 09:52 Christopher Lennon <kwaj.speedo at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hey Adam,
>>
>> Wanting to get the "I assume" out of my statement, and curious about how
>> a park becomes a POTA park I contacted Pete Knapp KN8PPY. He is the Map
>> Representative for Massachusetts. Nice guy and he got right back to me and
>> answered the question. I have pasted his full response below. Key is that
>> my assumption was wrong. The POTA organization does not contact any state
>> or federal officials. They verify that the parks meet certain criteria and
>> then put it on the list.
>>
>> I am a little surprised, I always thought that at some level the local
>> officials knew about POTA. For heavily activated parks I am sure they
>> do, but it might be a surprise at the more lightly traveled parks.
>>
>> If you are interested in adding a state or federal park to the list then
>> in MA Pete is the person you would contact.
>>
>> Chris
>> W2BPL
>>
>> Pete's reply follows....
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> Hi Chris,
>>
>> Thanks for reaching out, it is a very common question, however according
>> to the Rules https://docs.pota.app/docs/rules.html only State and
>> Federal entities are eligible for POTA.
>> Qualification of Parks, Trails, and Rivers for Addition to Parks on the
>> Air
>>
>> 1. All new parks must be owned and operated by a State/Provincial or
>> Federal/National agency. We do not include parks that have part/shared
>> ownership, sponsorship, or are operated by private organizations or local
>> governments
>> 2. To be considered for inclusion, the park must meet the above
>> requirements and offer an informational website detailing current boundary
>> maps.
>> 3. POTA does not create sub-parks within existing parks if both parks
>> are owned and operated by the same State/Provincial or Federal/National
>> agency.
>> 4. To request a park addition or edit, please refer to Park Additions
>> and Edits
>>
>> If you happen to identify a potential park that meets these criteria, you
>> reach out to the State Mapping Representative with as much information as
>> you can so we can evaluate it and potentially add it to the database. An
>> easy qualifier is whether the park has a .gov website or not. We don't
>> interact with state or federal officials as they don't grant approval to
>> POTA as a non-profit volunteer organization.
>>
>> Keep having fun with POTA, and we'll see you down the log!
>>
>> 73, Pete
>> KN8ppY
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 9, 2025 at 10:08 PM Adam Smith <asmith at netspace.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Chris - re: your statement, "I assume that this means that they
>>> interact with state and federal officials to get a certain level of
>>> permission for parks in that state" - I'm also not a POTA organizer, but I
>>> have never seen anything that suggests the POTA program has an official
>>> interaction with any National or State governing authority. They clearly
>>> state in the rules that access to the parks must be available to the
>>> public, that the activator is responsible for validating the park
>>> boundaries and governance, and that you should comply with published
>>> policies and any direction from rangers/staff.
>>>
>>> So my understanding is that POTA Activators are just park users, like
>>> anyone else. The program hasn't arranged any permission on our behalf.
>>> Like many activities, it's on the honor system when we submit our
>>> activations - but when you do so you're asked to verify each time that
>>> you've followed the program rules.
>>>
>>> That said, as you mentioned, there are a wide variety of POTA locations
>>> in our area (certainly more so than SOTA, for example). The rules may be
>>> arbitrary, but they're what creates the "game". Go have fun and I hope to
>>> meet you (or work you) in a park soon!
>>>
>>> 73,
>>> Adam / AA1N
>>>
>>> PS - there is a very active POTA Discord server which has a lot of
>>> knowledgeable activators as well as some of the volunteers involved in the
>>> program, if you want to go to the horse's mouth for validation. I have
>>> also had very fast and helpful responses to a "support ticket" email when I
>>> made a mistake regarding a submitted log.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Oct 8, 2025 at 12:11 PM Christopher Lennon via bars <
>>> bars at w1hh.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Not being one of the PoTA organizers I can not definitively answer your
>>>> question. I do have a suspicion. There are people in the PoTA
>>>> organization that are state coordinators. I assume that this means that
>>>> they interact with state and federal officials to get a certain level of
>>>> permission for parks in that state. There is something to this because not
>>>> all state or federal parks in a state are on the PoTA list. As an
>>>> activator it is somewhat comforting because a park being on the list
>>>> implies some of level of permission. Being just state and federal parks
>>>> vastly limits the number of officials these coordinators need to interact
>>>> with. So, I suspect that is simply a matter of work load for VOLUNTEER
>>>> coordinators.
>>>>
>>>> In Mass it is hardly a problem. There are lots of available parks.
>>>> Check the map.
>>>>
>>>> Chris
>>>> W2BPL
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my phone.
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Oct 8, 2025, 11:36 AM Juan Jiménez <k1cpr at bd5.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Why are local parks not allowed for activations? Seems like a severely
>>>>> shortsighted rule, considering all the great parks that are owned and run
>>>>> by local authorities and are always looking for more ways to engage with
>>>>> residents.
>>>>>
>>>>> 73,
>>>>> K1CPR
>>>>> Juan
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, Oct 8, 2025 at 11:20 AM Christopher Lennon <
>>>>> kwaj.speedo at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Sadly, local parks are not PoTA parks. You can go there and operate,
>>>>>> but you don't get credit for an activation in the PoTA universe. PoTA
>>>>>> parks in the US are either state or federal. Not all state and federal
>>>>>> parks are on the PoTA list.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://pota.app/#/map
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Will take you to the map of PoTA sites
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Chris
>>>>>> W2BPL
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sent from my phone.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Wed, Oct 8, 2025, 10:26 AM Leandra MacLennan via bars <
>>>>>> bars at w1hh.org> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Unfortunately only state and national parks are eligible to be
>>>>>>> “POTA” parks. The official POTA parks are shown on the map on the POTA
>>>>>>> website.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A gathering at Simonds could be a good dry run for an activation of
>>>>>>> a POTA park on another day.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -Leandra AF1R
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Oct 8, 2025, at 9:57 AM, Juan Jiménez via bars <bars at w1hh.org>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I just asked Brendan Egan at Burlington.org, head of Parks and
>>>>>>> Recreation, to see if they would allow us to activate Simonds Park.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 73,
>>>>>>> K1CPR
>>>>>>> Juan
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Mon, Oct 6, 2025 at 10:31 PM ham operator via bars <bars at w1hh.org>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> hello Bars
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> time to start group POTAS
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> for all pota info www.parksontheair.com
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> lets make a few plans:
>>>>>>>> where is the closest parks to the meeting location:
>>>>>>>> US-4742. - warren manning state forest
>>>>>>>> US-2435 - great brook farm state park
>>>>>>>> US-4735. - carisle state forest
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> is anyone available to do potas on a weekday
>>>>>>>> is 10 am good on weekday or weekend
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> the link above will help you understand what you need to bring to
>>>>>>>> the pota site
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> i am going to go check out warren manning
>>>>>>>> and i will schedule a time and day
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>> 73 Niece
>>>>>>>> Please listen for my 10m CW beacon 28.2235
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 20m 14.045 SLOW CW NET
>>>>>>>> SUNDAY NIGHT AT 4PM EST or 20:00 utc
>>>>>>>> we use netlogger.org
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> when hear YL on FREQ: they take precedence! Take YL QSO first
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> check out: KA1ULN.BLOGSPOT.COM
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>>> bars at w1hh.org
>>>>>>>> http://mail.w1hh.org/mailman/listinfo/bars_w1hh.org
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> bars mailing list
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>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> bars mailing list
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>>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> bars mailing list
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>>>> http://mail.w1hh.org/mailman/listinfo/bars_w1hh.org
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> "Be well, do good work, and keep in touch." -Garrison Keillor
>>>
>>
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