Park Bingo

Rules & FAQ

The game

Each season has one 5×5 card. The center square is FREE for everyone.
Squares are filled from your uploaded ADIF; no claim button. A square fills only when a file you upload proves it.
Each square is marked H hunter, A activator, or H·A either.
You keep two cards: a Hunter card (filled by your hunter logs) and an Activator card (filled by your activator logs). “Either” squares fill on whichever card your log belongs to.
A line is a full row, column, or diagonal on one card (FREE counts). Twelve lines are possible per card, but each card can only finish the lines that avoid the other job’s squares — doing both jobs is how you climb Combined.

Scoring and rank

Lines, most first.
Squares filled, most first.
Time reached: the UTC time of the upload that brought you to your current line count (with no lines: the time of your latest stamp). Earlier wins.

Three boards: Hunter, Activator, and Combined (hunter + activator lines, then squares; time reached is the later of the two). Badges: BINGO for one line, FULL CARD for every square a card can fill (Combined: all 24 squares across both cards). No prizes.

Uploading

Export ADIF (.adi) from any logger, max 2 MB, up to 20 uploads per 24 hours.
Activator log = the file’s QSOs carry MY_SIG, MY_SIG_INFO, or MY_POTA_REF. Otherwise it is a hunter log. You can pick the role on the form; picking Activator needs one of those fields. In an activator log, QSOs without your reference are skipped.
If STATION_CALLSIGN or OPERATOR is in the file, it must be your callsign (portable suffixes like /P are fine). QSOs logged by another station are skipped.
Only QSOs whose QSO_DATE + TIME_ON fall inside the season (UTC) count. Uploads stay open a few days after the season ends for late logs.
The same file twice is rejected. The same QSO (call, date, time, band, mode) in two files counts once.

This season’s squares — Park Bingo — November 2026

Square	Who	What your file must show
Phone QSO	H·A	Any QSO on PHONE.
Hunt a station sending a reference	H	A QSO where the other station sent a reference (SIG_INFO or POTA_REF).
Hunt 3 different references	H	3 different references worked (SIG_INFO or POTA_REF in your log).
2 m or 70 cm QSO	H·A	Any QSO on 2m or 70cm.
20 m QSO	H·A	Any QSO on 20m.
Work an activator who uploaded here	H	Work an activator who also uploads their log here, with your call in it, same UTC date.
CW QSO	H·A	Any QSO on CW.
Hunt a reference on phone	H	One QSO with mode PHONE, other station sent a reference.
40 m QSO	H·A	Any QSO on 40m.
Evening QSO 00–04 UTC	H·A	A QSO with TIME_ON from 00:00 to before 04:00 UTC.
Hunt 5 different references	H	5 different references worked (SIG_INFO or POTA_REF in your log).
Hunt a reference on CW or digital	H	One QSO with mode CW or DIGITAL, other station sent a reference.
Upload an activation log	A	Upload a log whose QSOs carry your own reference (MY_SIG_INFO or MY_POTA_REF).
10 different hunters	A	10 different hunters in your activator logs this season.
Daytime QSO 14–20 UTC	H·A	A QSO with TIME_ON from 14:00 to before 20:00 UTC.
5 different calls	H·A	5 different callsigns this season.
Two bands in one log	A	2 bands inside one uploaded file.
Digital QSO (FT8, FT4, PSK…)	H·A	Any QSO on DIGITAL.
Park-to-park: other station sent a ref	A	A QSO where the other station sent a reference (SIG_INFO or POTA_REF).
Phone and CW this month	H·A	Use both PHONE and CW this season.
10 different calls	H·A	10 different callsigns this season.
Two separate activations	A	2 separate activations (different reference or UTC date).
Activate on 10 m, 6 m, or VHF	A	Any QSO on 10m or 6m or 2m or 70cm.
10 m QSO	H·A	Any QSO on 10m.

FAQ

Why didn’t a square fill?: Almost always a missing field. Band squares need BAND (or FREQ). Mode squares need MODE (FT4 often arrives as MODE=MFSK, SUBMODE=FT4 — we read both). Out-of-state needs both STATE and MY_STATE. Reference squares need SIG_INFO or POTA_REF. Time squares use TIME_ON in UTC. Your upload history shows how many QSOs were skipped and why.
Which ADIF fields matter?: CALL, QSO_DATE, TIME_ON (required) · BAND/FREQ, MODE/SUBMODE · STATE, MY_STATE · SIG, SIG_INFO, POTA_REF (the other station’s reference) · MY_SIG, MY_SIG_INFO, MY_POTA_REF (your own) · STATION_CALLSIGN, OPERATOR.
How does “work an activator who uploaded here” fill?: Only when that activator uploads their own log to Park Bingo with your callsign in it on the same UTC date as your QSO. Their log is the proof. It can fill later, when they upload.
Do references have to be POTA parks?: No. Any reference your logger writes into SIG_INFO / POTA_REF counts as a reference. We don’t check reference lists, and we don’t do any program’s point math.
Is my callsign public?: No, not unless you opt in on My card. Otherwise you show as “Player #1234”.
Can an upload be removed?: Admins can void an upload (with a logged reason). Your card is then recalculated without it.

Independence

Park Bingo is an independent getontheair.app game. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or scored for Parks on the Air (POTA), SOTA, WWFF, ARRL, or any awards program. It uses no reference lists of its own and awards no credit in any of them. It is not a logger and has no live spots. Please keep on-air operating about amateur radio: there’s no need to mention this site on the air.