Program comparison & operating rules

Wrong program rules invalidate an activation. Read this before you leave the driveway, then confirm on the official site — associations change details.

Official rule books: docs.pota.app · sota.org.uk · wwff.co

Islands, lighthouses, bunkers, lakes, grid tiles, counties and yearly events beyond these four: Program atlas.

Spots, map, account, and My Log Uploads live on pota.app. General program marketing is on parksontheair.com. Do not use pota.us for spots.

Only references on the official map/list count. A city park, private preserve, or pretty picnic area is not in POTA just because it is a park — look it up.

POTA — France references under review

August 2026: POTA Board — ZNIEFF designation alone does not satisfy POTA eligibility; ineligible French references will be deactivated after review; pre-deactivation QSOs remain credited. Confirm Active status before activating in France. Details and links: Location scouting — POTA France freshness. Official: rules · park qualification · Board statement.

This is POTA database eligibility, not a claim that French nature sites closed, and not a WWFF action.

References you will type into a logger

• POTA: US-1356 style (entity prefix + number). Older materials used K-xxxx; current US references are US-xxxx.
• SOTA: Association / region / summit, e.g. W3/SV-001.
• WWFF: Often KFF-xxxx in the US. A POTA park and a WWFF park can share a fence line and not share a number. Look it up; do not guess.

Those strings become MY_SIG_INFO / MY_POTA_REF / MY_SOTA_REF in ADIF. How: ADIF fields.

Dual-credit (2-fer)

POTA does allow 2-fers and 3-fers. Old 2020 wording that said “pick one park” is stale. You must sit in the overlap of every claimed unit — a fence line between two parks is inside neither. A SOTA summit inside a POTA unit can also be two programs in one sitting if you meet each program’s rules at the same time (QSO count, power, vehicle, AZ).

Logging: one physical QSO per hunter, duplicated in ADIF once per park. ADIF Doctor explodes comma lists.

• Polo: two POTA activities on one operation → two POTA export files (plus Full ADIF).
• AC Log: comma list in MY_POTA_REF / MY_SIG_INFO only after you have tested an export.
• SOTA-inside-POTA: the hitch mount stays in the lot. The summit station walks.

See Planning and the Saturday planner.

Activator vs hunter (same bands, different homework)

POTA hunter stats come from activator logs. Hunters do not upload to pota.app. Repeaters do not count toward activation credit; simplex VHF/UHF does.

Hunters: Search & pounce. Activators: Activate. New callsign: Get on the air.

Modes hunters and activators share

All programs listed allow CW, SSB, and digital modes on HF/VHF simplex — no terrestrial repeaters for activation credit. Common additions:

• FT8/FT4: WSJT-X — busy on POTA; less common on SOTA summits
• PSK31 / RTTY: FLdigi suite
• SSTV / satellites: valid amateur contacts when exchanged properly, though rarely the fastest way to reach the minimum. POTA and global WWFF rules both accept satellite QSOs (below). See SSTV and Satellites

Each distinct mode on the same band can count as a separate QSO toward POTA minimums (same hunter, same UTC day). Confirm annually on docs.pota.app.

UTC day, dupes, and what a QSO is

A POTA activation is one UTC day (0000Z–2359Z), not your local Saturday. Ten QSOs that straddle midnight are two sittings. Near 0000Z, hunters often work you again — that is a new UTC day, not a dupe.

Dupe (same hunter, same band, same mode, same park, same UTC day) does not add another QSO toward the POTA 10. Different band or different mode does. SOTA’s four for points must be four different stations — working the same chaser twice does not make four.

A valid QSO is two-way: callsigns and a report. You cannot work yourself. Club / 1×1 on the air is STATION_CALLSIGN; the human at the mic is OPERATOR — N3FJP.

Repeaters, simplex, satellites

All three programs: no terrestrial repeaters for activation credit. Simplex VHF/UHF is fine. EchoLink / analog hotspot / DMR talkgroup is a repeater by another name.

Satellites (rules checked 2026-10-08):

• POTA: the current rules (v1.3, dated Aug 18, 2026) say "Satellite repeaters are allowed" and that satellite contacts are permitted. The POTA glossary defines a satellite repeater as a repeater on an object above the Kármán line. A repeater on anything below that line, such as a mountaintop machine, a balloon or a drone, is a land repeater, and land-repeater QSOs do not count. A satellite QSO therefore counts toward your 10 like any other contact. Source: POTA rules and POTA glossary.
• WWFF: global rules v5.10 (3 Sept 2025), §3.10, say "Communication via Satellite like QO-100 is accepted," while repeaters, IRLP and EchoLink do not count. Older KFF FAQ wording treated satellites as repeating devices, so check your national programme's current FAQ before relying on a pass. Source: WWFF Global Rules v5.10 (PDF) and WWFF rules & FAQ.
• SOTA: check the current SOTA General Rules on sota.org.uk before you count a satellite pass toward the four.

Parking-lot satellite workflow: Satellites.

Relays and automation (POTA)

Two POTA rules that are easy to break without meaning to (rules checked 2026-10-08):

• No relays. Both stations have to hear each other well enough to log the callsigns themselves. If a third station passes along a callsign, report or park number, the QSO is invalid, because the relaying station is acting as a land repeater. POTA added this rule in v1.1 (Dec 10, 2022). Relaying is for emergencies, not park QSOs. If you can't complete the contact directly, it isn't a contact.
• No fully automated QSOs. Both operators must take direct action in every contact. FT8 is fine when you are at the keyboard starting each QSO. An unattended auto-sequencing robot is not.

Global WWFF rules say much the same: §3.10 rejects automated contacts and remote stations. Source: POTA rules.

P2P / S2S matching (habit, then confirm)

Park-to-park is one physical QSO that both activators log with each other’s reference in SIG_INFO (yours stays in MY_SIG_INFO). POTA’s matcher has used a ~15 minute time window — if Polo and the other station’s clock differ by twenty minutes, the P2P never pairs. Set every clock to UTC before CQ. Hunter 2-fers: duplicate the row once per their park (Doctor explodes comma lists). Confirm current matching rules on docs.pota.app — Park to Park.

Where the log actually goes

Hunters do not upload to pota.app or WWFF Logsearch. Their credit is your file. Still keep a hunter log for LoTW/QRZ.

Habits / gotchas / checklist

• Reference is on the official map/list (US-####, not a pretty city park and not a stale K-xxxx PDF).
• You sit in the overlap for every 2-fer you will claim — fence-line photos are not overlap.
• Trail / linear POTA: confirm this year’s activation zone on docs.pota.app. Do not invent a parking-lot exception.
• SOTA: operator, radio, and the far radial inside the 25 m AZ; no hitch mount; no generator.
• WWFF 44 may accumulate across visits — still submit a short log so hunters get credit.
• Paper log in the kit. Digital close-out: ADIF Doctor → Recap from Full.