SPARC’s first SOTA-POTA Fest was a chance for club members to gain experience operating in the great outdoors. Jeff W2JCL activated Flint Peak for SOTA. Five miles to the southwest, the POTA team of Savi W1SAV, Steve KN6ZOO, Colleen KN6DOQ, and John KK6ZVQ activated Rio de Los Angeles State Park. After a little bit of effort, we successfully made a summit-to-park contact.
Savi, W1SAV with his operating set upColleen, KN6DOQ making contacts.MFJ-1898 HF antennaThe sBITX transceiver being field testedSteve, KN6ZOO demonstrates how he learned to wrap cables during his days as an audio engineer.
Savi enjoyed communicating with fellow members of the Long Island CW Club. On VHF, we heard from John AC6VV, Jason KM6WJQ, and Vince KF6FLJ.
W1SAV’s video and after-action report is available on his blog.
At our August 2024 meeting, SPARC members enjoyed presentations on SOTA (Summits on the Air) and POTA (Parks on the Air). Walter “Savi” Savinovich, W1SAV led with his talk on the joys and challenges of operating from parks. A video of Savi’s presentation is embedded below and is available on his YouTube Channel. Next, David Hodge, N6AN explained how he tackles SOTA activations and showed off photos from local peaks. David is a past president of the Pasadena Radio Club and a well-known competitive DXer.
Walter Savinovich, W1SAV
David Hodge, N6AN
We concluded the evening with a door prize drawing. Two attendees went home with multi-purpose Teraoka tape donated by Carol KE6SRN. And in honor of David N6AN, our third prize was Contact Sport, a book about the 2014 World Radiosport Team Championship, in which David participated. (There’s a picture of him on page 45.)
On August 17, SPARC will hold its very own SOTA POTA Fest. We’ll be activating Flint Peak for SOTA and Rio de Los Angeles Park for POTA. If you’d like to participate, join our Groups.io mailing list.
