The idea
Parks on the Air (POTA) invites you to operate from a park on its list. The activator is a licensed radio amateur who sets up in the park; the hunter is any other radio amateur who contacts him, from home or anywhere. A hunter who is in a park himself makes a « park to park » (P2P) and then follows the activator's rules. It isn't a contest.
An activation
- At least 10 QSOs from the same park, within a single UTC day; several outings the same UTC day add up. The day changes at midnight UTC: 1 a.m. in France in winter, 2 a.m. in summer.
- The activator and all the equipment inside the park's boundary and on public land. A car parked in the park, on public land, is fine; a private enclave isn't. POTA's maps are a guide: the boundaries that count are the manager's. A trail or river listed on its own: within 30.5 m (100 feet) of its edge. For a « two-fer », the whole station in the area where the parks overlap, one log per park.
- All bands and all modes, satellites included. No terrestrial repeater, no wholly automatic QSO, no contact relayed by a third party. No set exchange, and no power limit of POTA's own: your licence's, and the minimum needed.
- You can spot yourself on the spots page; anyone can spot the activator too. A spot disappears about 30 minutes after the last one, or as soon as it says « QRT ».
The log
An ADIF file: the station's (or operator's) callsign, the other station's, the date and time in UTC, the band written « 20M » (not « 20 »), the mode. You can add MY_SIG = POTA and the park reference in MY_SIG_INFO; the ADIF 3.1.6 standard also has POTA_REF and MY_POTA_REF. No deadline, no duplicates, and you can't contact yourself. Even without 10 QSOs, send the log: the hunters keep their contacts.
The references
An ISO 3166-2 prefix, then a number that can have 5 digits: FR-0001 (Avesnois regional nature park), FR-2439 (Écrins national park), FR-0590 (Calanques). The change from F- to FR- dates from 15 March 2024. One massif can carry several overlapping references, such as a national park and a Natura 2000 site. In November 2026 the public list had 103,382 references worldwide, 16,639 of them in France (figures that change).
Respect for the park, and safety
The code of conduct asks you to respect the rangers' and managers' guidance. Rules change from one park to another: read the park's rules, and ask at the visitor centre when in doubt. Many parks forbid tying wires to trees or driving in stakes: a free-standing mast settles that. Listen on headphones, flag the wires for walkers, and take everything home. You take part at your own risk: check the weather and tell someone where you're going.
A little history
In 2016 the ARRL ran NPOTA (National Parks on the Air) for the centenary of the National Park Service (the US national parks service). In 2017 Jason Johnston founded Parks on the Air. In October 2024 he stepped down: a board of seven took over, and the programme then had over 60,000 parks.
Licence Activating a park means transmitting: you need an amateur licence. Without one you can listen to activations, and it's a fine way to discover radio.
In the game The map's park, its quiet zone, the spots page and the callsigns are made up. The hunt's references are real parks. No logo: POTA is a registered trademark, we draw our own pictograms.