Portable operating has become one of the biggest growth areas in the hobby. You take a small radio, a battery and a wire to a park or a mountain, and the contacts come to you.
In depth: Parks on the Air · Summits on the Air · other on-the-air programs
The two big programs
POTA — thousands of registered parks in the US. Operate from one and you are an activator; work someone who is, and you are a hunter. Ten contacts makes a valid activation.
SOTA — the same idea with an elevation and self-powered-ascent requirement: no vehicle power, gear carried in, points scaled by summit height. Physically harder, and the VHF/UHF and QRP results from a summit are remarkable.
A workable portable kit
- QRP or 20 W transceiver (5–20 watts is plenty)
- LiFePO4 battery, 3–6 Ah
- A wire antenna: end-fed half-wave, linked dipole, or a
- A fibreglass mast or a throw line for a tree
- Paper log and pencil — they never run out of battery
- Coax, adapters, and a spare of whatever failed last time
vertical with a few radials
Operating notes
- Announce ("spot") yourself so hunters find you.
- Keep exchanges short when a pileup builds; long ragchews can wait for the quiet part of the
- Check whether the site needs a permit, and never leave anything in a tree.
activation.
Why it is good for new operators
It removes the two biggest barriers at home — antenna restrictions and noise. A $200 station in a park regularly outperforms a $3,000 station in a townhouse.