Hi all,
Is there any info for POTA refs for SOTA Summits, ?
I like to give a POTA number also if there is one.
Special for western Europe in my case.
I can’t find the borders of many Parcs.
Thanks in advance,
73 de Hans PA3FYG.
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Yes, around Hannover there some summits on Pota
DM/NS-122 DA/0210 Bröhn
DM/NS-135 DA/0212 Lauensteiner Kopf
DM/SA-053 DA/0213 Großer Fallstein
DM/NS-125 DA/0078 Bückeberg
DM/NS-117 DA/0078 Hainholz Lange Wand
and the 4 summits in the mountain Harz DA/0070
73 Chris
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Your best bet is to check the POTA website at https://pota.app
There is no cross-reference that I’m aware of. You have to reference maps to verify if your summit is within a park or rely on other activators for information.
In Georgia, the vast majority of summits are within the Chattahoochee National Forest, and some lie within an additional or two. For example, every summit along the Appalachian Trail lies with the above forest as well as the AT. Some also lie within a Wildlife Management Area, which counts as a third park.
Good luck in POTA!!
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I’ve started doing a few POTA sites recently and have also found the boundaries of the parks hard to identify even when you visit them. It helps if there is a fence but this is not always the case.
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The UK National Parks boundaries are all very well identified on UK 25K OS Maps. The AONBs boundaries are all accurately mapped on each areas own website. Others UK parks boundaries I’ve no idea.
73 Phil G4OBK (AONB Joint Advisory Committee Member)
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It’s the smaller sites where it gets difficult. For example, Wistman’s Wood on Dartmoor is a POTA site but I can’t find anything online to show its boundaries as the reserve is larger than the wood itself because the description includes mention of moorland. I plan to try and activate it and it would be nice to know the boundaries before I set out. Hopefully, there may be a fence to make it obvious. 
Here is the SSSI boundary for Wistmans Wood over the OS map
I suggest that if you have any queries regarding Pota sites then please use the the UK Pota Facebook page
73
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Very many thanks! I’ve come across a reference to “Magic” but had no idea what it was.
As an aside it looks like Wistman’s Wood is doable. A good part of the high ground of White Tor is within the boundary. This is what I’d hoped, but couldn’t confirm.
I’ll apply to join that FB group.
Finding an objective definition for an awards programme, then backing it up with independently verified sources, documentation, quality online resources etc - is extremely difficult!
The originators of SOTA (before my time on MT) did this incredibly well - I’m sure we can all agree. The current challenges faced by POTA in this regard remind me of similar issues faced by WFF - whatever happened to that?
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Thanks to M0WBG for the Magic Map link, that gives excellent park boundaries. For Scotland I ticked National Nature Reserves and Ramsar Sites.
Then I selected a summit to check in Sotlas, copied the coordinates and dropped into the Magic Map search bar and off we go.
I will try to POTA spot and alert an application next time I have an overlap. My objective is to get a massive pileup so I have to operate split, crank up the keyer up to 38wpm and feel like I am on Crozet for 30 minutes!
73 Gavin
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I did a SOTA/POTA reference for Texas. That is because I run Texas, and I do POTA as a secondary to SOTA, activating jointly when possible.
FWIW, I just returned from Activating the following SOTA/POTA combinations.
SOTA = POTA.
DM/BM-241 = DA-0038
DM/BM-366 = DA-0038
DM/HE-001 = DA-0161
DM/HE-003 = DA-0034
DM/SX-002 = DA-0040
DM/TH-012 = DA-0043
FL/VO-126 = F-1697
LX/LX-004 = LX-0023
ON/ON-001 = ON-0385
PA/PA-006 = PA=0007
That is most of what I have.
Vy73 – Mike – KD5KC.
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The sotamaps site also shows this quite well, if one chooses “PARKS” as custom map type:
Of course, since the sotamaps site is soon to be closed down, to be replaced by some kind of mapping in the SOTA site itself, this information is nice-to-know, but mostly redundant.
Rob
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Rob,
Thank you. For the UK the Magic website mentioned above has accurate mapping of nature reserves and other locations of interest to POTA. It is not easy to use but will be useful.
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Yes, that Magic site is very impressive!
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Just to clarify, this isn’t true, but a lot of the functionality will be integrated into other SOTA sites in the future.
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Why bother then to keep sotamaps at all? Let’s face it, it’s old technology, and nobody in the MT has the slightest interest in its’ upkeep, or to fix any errors in it. Sotamaps has had its’ day, and the sooner it can be replaced by something more in line with 2022 going on, the better.
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Probably because in the interim it still works and is very useful.
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Tom,
WWFF is alive and well in VK with it accounting for more QSOs per day than SOTA.
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There is a small group in the UK following WWFF. The number of activators is fairly limited but they are very committed.
I’ve tried a couple of WWFF sites, one in the UK and one in France but both times fell far short of the 44 QSOs needed for qualification of the site. Unlike POTA and SOTA you can collect QSOs over multiple visits until you get to 44 but I’m a bit impatient and the 4 and 10 requirement of SOTA and POTA are a bit more manageable. But I respect the WWFF activators who can collect over 200 QSOs in a single long session.
I’m not detracting anything from WWFF. I suggest check the summits you visit and if it’s in a WWFF location then consider submitting your logs. You may find one near you which is unactivated.
WWFF requirements are different to SOTA in that you also need to show proof you were at the location, a photo and a GPS/phone screenshot should be enough.
I have been trying to work a WWFF/POTA in VK on SSB for over a year with no luck. Other then lack of propagation from NY to Australia the biggest problem is that VK Op’s almost always utilize frequencies below 7178 and below 14225 where General class license holders in U.S.A. can not TX. Hope someday to work a VK WWFF/POTA station.I have worked a VK SOTA on 10m but that was about 10 years ago last cycle. Hope to do that again someday soon too.
Brian N2BTD
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