Field pack — hard lessons / grab-and-go

New field ops forget the non-radio half of the bag. The radio works. The outing fails because the park number was only on the phone, the map needed data, the water was still on the kitchen counter, or there was no knife when a line had to come down in a hurry.

This page is the short grab-and-go card that sits next to the Field Sheet tool. Print the sheet for this park. Run this checklist in the driveway before you leave cell. It is independent. Not affiliated with Parks on the Air, SOTA, WWFF, or any awards body. Confirm program rules on the official sites.

Community signal (not rules): Andrew Woodward — unsuccessful AU-7738 (first-aid + knife when a dog cut forced a messy tear-down; no cell to spot; check bands before you drive) · Reddit go-bag threads for new POTA activators (paper park lists, offline maps, multitool, water, spare battery). We do not invent award rules from anecdotes.

Radio kit detail (4WAVE / EFHW / power): keep using field-pack-list.txt. This page is the hard-lessons layer those lists often skim.

Prop check before you leave cell

Do this at the kitchen table or in the driveway with bars still showing. The trailhead is too late.

• Paper park ref — official reference + park name written in ink on the Field Sheet (and a second scrap in the log book). Phones die; cached apps lie.
• Offline maps downloaded for the drive and the park (Organic Maps, Gaia, or similar). Paper road map if the area is new to you. Longer card: Planning · cell dies mid-sitting: Dead cell / rover QRT.
• Water for the whole sitting + walk-out. More than “one bottle for the radio.”
• First-aid in the pack, not only in the trunk. Bandages, gloves, personal meds. Pets in the AZ count as part of the outing.
• Knife / multitool with a real cutting edge (serrated helps on cordage). Tear-downs are not always tidy.
• Spare battery — radio pack and a phone / logger bank. One dead device should not end the day.
• UTC clocks — watch, phone, Polo / logger, paper log all on the same Zulu second before the first CQ. Planning — clocks are UTC.
• Bailout filled on the Field Sheet: hospital / ranger, weather turn-around, “roads gate at dusk.”
• QRT plan written: last-call on air; who updates the spot if you cannot; human “I’m OK / running late” text. Recipes when data is gone: Dead cell / rover QRT.
• France (FR-) Active check the morning you leave — confirm Active on pota.app. Do not trust a stale CSV or a rumor percentage. POTA France — reference freshness.
• Alert / spot while you still have data — frequency, mode, ETA in UTC on pota.app / SOTAwatch. Band conditions checked. Rushing past this is how you sit alone under a quiet sky.
• Radio kit — run field-pack-list.txt (rig, power, antenna, paper log, Field Sheet).

First park day on VHF after a new Technician grant: First POTA activation. Opening sequence once you are inside the AZ: Activate. Printed sheet + paper log crib: Parking-lot Field Sheet pack.

Why these items (hard lessons)

Woodward’s AU-7738 write-up is the clearest public reminder in one sitting: no cell to self-spot, a dog injury that needed the first-aid kit, and a tear-down where a proper knife would have saved hours of cordage untangling. Pack for the day you hope not to have.

Grab-and-go order (two minutes)

1. Print / refresh Field Sheet for this reference.
2. Tick the prop-check list above.
3. Tick field-pack-list.txt for RF hardware.
4. Post the alert in UTC while you still have bars.
5. Drive. If cell dies later: Dead cell / rover QRT.

Related

• Field Sheet tool — print the park card
• field-pack-list.txt — 4WAVE / POTA radio kit
• Planning — maps, UTC, France Active
• Activate — opening sequence
• Dead cell / rover QRT — offline spotting recipes
• First POTA activation — new Tech VHF path
• Ethics — leave no trace, ambassador habits