Location scouting, mapping & pre-flight

The award is lost at the kitchen table more often than on the air: wrong reference, out of the AZ, no grid in the log, alert in local time.

Mapping & reference identification

POTA — pota.app map

• Designators look like US-1412 (ISO-style country prefix + number). Older PDFs saying K-0039 / K-xxxx are stale for US parks.
• Overlay trap: a state park inside a national forest is a 2-fer only if you sit in the overlap of both boundaries for the whole sitting. Adjacent fences do not count. Log both references. Polo: two POTA activities, two POTA export files. Doctor explodes comma parks.
• Only units on the official map/list count. City parks are not automatic.
• Print the field sheet for that park so the name, grid, and bailout still exist when cell dies.

Trails and linear references

Confirm the current activation zone on docs.pota.app (rules + activator guide) before you claim a trail or river that is its own POTA entity. Do not treat the yellow map pin as the trailhead. Linear rail-trails often have tiny lots — stay on public property, do not block the path, and do not invent a parking-lot exception the rules do not give you.

Difficulty and “take no”

Scout like GIS, not like a travel brochure. Large forests need a real boundary check (PAD-US / park GIS / the managing agency), not a pin in the visitor-center lot. If a ranger or land manager says no antennas, no, you leave. Difficulty is access + rules + RF, not a badge.

SOTA — sotamaps.org

• Query by Association and Region, e.g. W3/SV-001.
• Use contours to prove the 25-metre Activation Zone. Plan the mast and wire so the entire station stays in the AZ — operator, radio, and the far radial.
• “The parking lot is close enough” is how activations get rejected. Hitch-mount 4WAVE on the truck in that lot is POTA, not SOTA.

WWFF — wwff.co/directory

• Cross-check POTA vs WWFF. They are different catalogues that sometimes share a fence.
• Activator credit is typically 44 QSOs, which may accumulate across visits. Confirm your national programme.

Grid before you leave the driveway

You need this sitting’s Maidenhead, 6 characters (FN00aa), written in ink on the field sheet.

1. Drop a pin on the picnic area you will actually sit (not the visitor center 0.4 mi away).
2. Convert with qthlocator.com, QRZ, or a ham app.
3. That string is Polo GPS / AC Log Settings → Setup / Recap MY_GRIDSQUARE.
4. Do not reuse the home grid. LoTW Station Location must match this pin too.

Deep dive: ADIF fields & gridsquare.

Clocks are UTC or the log is fiction

POTA’s UTC day, P2P matching, LoTW, and WSJT-X all assume the same second. Local phone time with auto-zone is not enough if Polo is Zulu and the laptop is Eastern.

1. Pick one UTC source (phone set to UTC for the outing, or a GPS time app, or NTP when you have data).
2. Polo, N3FJP, WSJT-X, the wristwatch, and the paper log all agree before the first CQ.
3. Photograph the phone clock next to the first paper line if you are transcribing later.
4. Near 0000Z, you are starting a new POTA sitting. Ten QSOs that cross midnight are two files.

FT8 dies first when the clock is wrong. Phone hunting dies second. P2P pairing dies third (~15 minute window — programs).

Pre-activation logistics

• Access & permits: Hours, trail status, parking pass, drone/antenna rules, “no lines in heritage trees.”
• Mount vs wire: Hitch in the lot → 4WAVE. Trees / AZ / no vehicle → EFHW. Boardwalk / snow → not a radial vertical.
• Contests: check contestcalendar.com (WA7BNM). On WARC bands you avoid contest QRM; on contest weekends, pick a park or a time that will not fight a pile you cannot control.
• Propagation: K-index, SFI, space weather. Pick two bands you will actually run, not seven.
• Offline maps: Gaia, Organic Maps, or similar downloaded. Satellite messenger if you are off cell.
• Alerts: pota.app and SOTAwatch with frequency, mode, and ETA in UTC. Local clock time is how hunters miss you.
• Logger: Polo activity set to the park before CQ. AC Log Other titles already named at home.
• Paper log: Notebook + two pens. Phones die; the award does not care.
• Kit: field-pack-list.txt

Day-of, in order

1. Photograph the park sign / boundary if the map was ambiguous.
2. Antenna up, low power SWR, then operating power.
3. Confirm GPS grid in Polo matches the field sheet.
4. Self-spot or wait to be spotted. Frequency on the spot = frequency on the VFO.
5. Ten QSOs (POTA) / four (SOTA) / forty-four (WWFF) — then keep going if the pile is real.
6. Export the right files before you lose the parking-lot Wi-Fi. See Polo exports.

If you are chasing unworked parks rather than a pretty hike, start with the Saturday planner.

Hunt planning (when you are not activating)

You do not need a park pin for hunter credit, but planning still saves frustration:

• Spots page: pota.app home — filter by band/mode you can actually run from your shack or portable kit.
• Alerts: some ops use GridTracker POTA layer or phone notifications for needed references.
• Mode check: confirm spot mode before you drive to the radio — CW and FT8 spots look like SSB until you read them.
• Time zones: activator alerts and spots use UTC. A spot at 21:00 UTC is not “9 PM local” unless you do the math.
• LoTW: if you chase confirmations, preconfigure TQSL and logging before the weekend pileup.

Hunter operating: Search & pounce.

Station context (same trip, different constraints)

Regional quirks vary by state and agency — always check first for no-go parks, seasonal closures, and permit rules before you drive. Build your own short list of local “always verify” sites (heritage trees, no antenna lines, drone bans, parking-pass requirements) and keep it with the field sheet. When in doubt, call the park office the day before.

Habits / gotchas / checklist

• Official reference on the current map (US-####, SOTA W3/SV-001, WWFF KFF-####) — not a 2020 PDF and not a city park that “looks like it should count.”
• 2-fer: you will sit in the overlap for the whole sitting. Adjacent fences are two different activations, not one.
• Trail / linear: confirm current AZ on docs.pota.app. The yellow pin is not the trailhead.
• Six-character Maidenhead for this picnic table, written in ink. LoTW Station Location (or TQSL override from MY_GRIDSQUARE) matches that string — Awards.
• Alert in UTC. Frequency and mode you will actually run.
• Logger activity / Other titles set at home. Paper notebook + two pens in the bag.
• Offline map downloaded. Contest calendar checked. Two bands planned, not seven.
• Pack list printed. Close-out plan: Polo/N3FJP export → Doctor → Recap from Full.