First, a leg update...
Still healing, I can weight bear on it now, to a point.. so its an improvement! need another operation yet to remove 2 of the screws, then the battle to fitness begins proper! so still no SOTA sadly....
And that NICELY leads me to POTA! Originally an American activation scheme, and the name is exactly what it is! operating in National park areas.... For more info, www.parksontheair.com is where you need to start.
Now unlike SOTA, POTA can be operated from the car, perfect if you have smashed your leg to bits like me, so once i was registered on the site, and realising this weekend was a special event weekend I decided to have a go. I live on the doorstep of the Peak District National Park (G-0048) so a short drive was perfect to a spot just over the border into West Yorkshire.my usual "car radio" is out of action, so I decided to take a chance on the trusty FT4X handheld connected to the car antenna, turns out this was a good decision! Now, POTA can be hard work, you need 10 contacts to qualify a park, so 2M was a gamble.. but its what I had so off we went!
I got parked up, and slowly, slowly over the next hour I made 13 Contacts! Leeds, Bradford, Merseyside and North wales INCLUDING a SOTA chase was all managed. with my puny 5w handheld! and to top it off, I got 2 Awards!
1 for activating, and 1 for hunting due to a Park to Park! happy with that like :)
Anyhow, parks on the air, great programme especially if you unable to SOTA or HEMA... also nice to run alongside SOTA and HEMA, as many of the summits are within various park areas.. so its win win! I will be doing some more hopefully over the next few weeks, so we'll see if i get anywhere!
Till next time 73.... Alan
