POTA and SOTA

POTA - Parks on the Air

Parks on the Air (POTA) is an activity program that encourages licensed hams to visit designated parks or public lands and set up portable radio operations from there. The POTA website suggest that this portable operation promotes emergency awareness and communications. POTA allows driving to your site and operating from your vehicle, which SOTA does not.

In POTA, the “activator” is the ham who goes to a park in the official list and sets up a station, then makes contacts. The “hunter” (called a chaser in SOTA) is the ham who contacts the activator from any location. Both activator and hunter can earn awards based on contacts, parks activated/hunted, bands used, etc. In POTA, the hunter does not have to upload logs to receive credit. When the activator uploads his/her logs, the hunter automatically receives credit. POTA requires 10 contacts to have a “successful” activation.

SOTA - Summits on the AIR

Summits on the Air (SOTA) is an activity for amateur radio operators where you set up and operate your station from a mountain summit. The summits are assigned points based on elevation and there are scoring systems for both activators and chasers. The “activator” is the operator who goes up the summit and makes contacts. The “chaser” (called a “hunter” in POTA) is another operator at home, or elsewhere, who tries to contact the activator. Both activators and chasers can earn points/awards. Unlike POTA, SOTA, hasers must upload their own logs to get credit. Since SOTA operation, by definition occurs from relatively high locations, using 2-meter and 440 (VHF and UHF) handy talkies is a viable alternative. Thus, this is a greate activity for hams with a Technician class license. SOTA requires 4 contacts to have a successful activation.