The Daily Ham

Combine POTA With State QSO Parties for Double the Fun Spring is here, which means State QSO Party season is in full swing. If you�re already a POTA activator, you�re sitting on an opportunity most hams overlook: running your park activation during a State QSO Party and banking contacts toward both programs at the same time. I did this three times last month and ended up with my highest single-day contact totals of the year. Here�s how the combo works, why it�s so effective, and what tripped me up along the way. Why State QSO Parties Are Perfect for POTA Unlike big-gun contests like Sweepstakes or CQ WW, State QSO Parties are relaxed. Multipliers are counties, which means operators are actively hunting stations in uncommon locations. That�s you, sitting in a park in some rural county nobody else is transmitting from. The dynamics line up naturally. QSO Party participants want to find you because you�re a county multiplier. POTA hunters want to find you because you�re an act...

World Amateur Radio Day just wrapped up yesterday, and if your weekend looked anything like mine, you spent it on the air. Between the WARD celebration and the Texas State Parks On The Air contest running through today, April has turned into one of those months where every ham with a portable rig is out in a park somewhere. And that's great. Spring POTA season with Solar Cycle 25 still delivering SFI values around 150 is about as good as it gets. But here's the thing I keep running into: making contacts in the field is the easy part. It's what happens after you pack up the antenna that gets messy. The In-Field Problem Is Solved Let's give credit where it's due. The portable logging scene in 2026 is solid. Ham2K PoLo won the Amateur Radio Software Award for good reason — it's fast, clean, and handles park references without any fuss. HAMRS has been the go-to for years and still works well for straightforward POTA logging. Even QSL Buddy running as a PWA in ...

World Amateur Radio Day 2026: Get on the Air April 18 Every April 18, hams around the world fire up their rigs for World Amateur Radio Day � and this year might be the best one yet. Solar Cycle 25 is still cooperating, the bands are alive, and the ARRL's second annual Ham Radio Open House means there's never been a better excuse to set up somewhere public and make some noise. Whether you've been doing this for decades or just passed your Technician exam last month, here's how to make the most of April 18. What Is World Amateur Radio Day? WARD goes back to 1925, when the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) was founded in Paris. Every year on April 18, hams celebrate by getting on the air and making contacts. It's not a contest � there's no score, no pressure. Just a global celebration of the hobby. This year, the ARRL is pairing it with their Ham Radio Open House initiative. The idea is simple: clubs set up in public spaces, invite curious neighbor...

Right now � literally this week � the International Space Station is transmitting slow-scan TV images on amateur radio frequencies. You can receive them with a handheld radio, a free phone app, and about ten minutes of setup. No license required to listen. If you’ve ever wanted a reason to dust off that Baofeng or justify buying one, this is it. What’s Happening ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) runs periodic SSTV events where the ISS transmits commemorative images on VHF and UHF frequencies. This April, there are two overlapping events: Series 31 — April 10–14 on 437.550 MHz , Robot 36 mode PD120 event — April 11–16 on 145.800 MHz FM , PD120 mode, callsign RS0ISS The transmission cycle is roughly two minutes on, two minutes off. During a good overhead pass, you can catch one or two complete images. What You Actually Need The barrier to entry here is almost embarrassingly low: A VHF/UHF radio. Any dual-band handheld works. A ...

America250 WAS: Finish Your Worked All States Award in 2026 There's a running joke among WAS chasers: you'll work 45 states in six months, and then spend three years hunting the last five. Ask anyone who's finished the ARRL Worked All States award and they'll nod. The first 45 come from just showing up. The last 5 come from patience, planning, and a little luck. 2026 is a good year to finish. ARRL's America250 WAS event is running all year as part of their Year of the Club celebration, giving you extra ways to grab those stubborn states through W1AW/portable operations and affiliated club call signs. If WAS has been sitting in your "someday" pile, this is the year to close it out. Why WAS Is Still the Most Popular Ham Radio Award WAS is almost always a ham's first real award chase. It's simple on paper: work all 50 US states, get them confirmed, send the application to ARRL. There's no DX, no oceans, no exotic entities. Just 50 boxes to check....

I Tried Every POTA Logging App So You Don't Have To Spring is here, the bands are cooperating, and every park within a hundred miles is calling your name. But before you toss a radio and a wire antenna into your go-bag, you need to answer a question that somehow generates more debate than "which HF rig is best" � what are you going to log with? I've been activating parks for the better part of three years now, and I've burned through more logging setups than I care to admit. Paper logs that got rained on. Apps that crashed mid-pileup. Desktop software that required a PhD in configuration. So I figured it was time to lay out what I've actually used, what worked, and what didn't. The Old Guard: N3FJP and Log4OM N3FJP ACLog has been around forever, and POTA actually worked with the developer to create an official POTA template. It's straightforward, reliable, and if you're already running it as your main station log, the POTA workflow is pret...