Here’s what’s happening - in 2021, two operators ( N5HA, Kenneth Bailey & W9AV, Clint Sprott ) managed to work at least 1 park every UTC day. My goal for 2022 is to do the same, and to try and write a short post about the day’s first contact. If you want to play along, feel free - I’ll be sharing updates about it during the monthly POTA updates that I prepare for the various ham radio media outlets.
now that you’re in the know about the Baily-Sprott Challenge, here’s the scoop for today:
Bailey-Sprott Challenge Update
Today was a fun first in the park-a-day effort for me - my first QSO today was a DX station! Dean, M7CBI was activating G-0003 in England, and I managed to snag him, right after hearing K3MTO make a P2P with him from a park in Florida.
POTA DX is an interesting thing when you really think about it. What I would refer to as the ‘hardcore DX’ community, is generally pictured as big towers, big amplifiers, etc. and yet here are two folx, both using most likely 100 watts max, on portable antennas temporarily strung or propped up, making QSOs across the atlantic. When my hometown president James Buchanan was sending his first hard-line telegraph message across the Atlantic, I doubt he considered that at some point we would be casually contacting each other across the same expanse, with out any actual wires between us.