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Parks on the Air (POTA)

Parks on the Air brings the outdoors and ham radio together. In Hamtrax, you can browse a catalog of 15,000+ parks, see who's activating right now, and log contacts -- all from the Activity tab.

[SCREENSHOT: POTA activity mode showing park pins on the 2D map with an activation detail popup]

Activating vs. Hunting​

If you're new to POTA, here's the key distinction:

  • Activator -- You travel to a qualifying park and operate your radio from there. You need at least 10 QSOs to count as a valid activation.
  • Hunter -- You contact activators from home (or anywhere). Every confirmed contact with an activator earns you hunter credit.

Both sides contribute to the program. Hamtrax supports both workflows.

Browsing Parks on the Map​

  1. Open the Activity tab. The Hunting view is centered on POTA by default.
  2. Live spots appear as highlighted pins on the map; surrounding park locations from the POTA catalog show as smaller pins so you can scout the area.
  3. Zoom into a region to see individual parks.
  4. Tap any park pin to open the Park Detail modal.

The Park Detail modal shows:

  • Park reference (e.g., K-0001) and park name
  • The park's entity name and park type as small badges next to the name
  • Location image (when available)
  • Distance and bearing from your location, local time at the park, and coordinates as trailing reference
  • Stats: total activations, attempts, and QSOs at that park
  • Your activation count at the park (if any)
  • Recent activation history — or, for parks no one has activated yet, a "Never activated — be the first on the air from here" prompt
  • Activate Here button to start an activation at that park
  • Images link (Google Images) to see photos of the park
tip

Use the search bar to find a specific park by its reference code or name. Typing K-0001 or Pottawatomie will match the right park.

Finding Live Activations​

Live spots appear as highlighted pins on the map. Each spot shows:

  • Activator callsign and their frequency
  • Band and mode (e.g., 20m, CW)
  • Park reference and park name
  • Time since the spot was posted (e.g., 5m ago)

On a hover device, tapping a spot opens the activation detail modal directly. On touch devices, tapping a marker raises a popup with a see details link — read the label first, then expand into the full modal. Either way, the activation detail modal shows:

  • Park header at the top: park name, an Images link (Google Images), and the park reference followed by region codes. When a park spans multiple regions (e.g. US-IA, US-IL, US-NE), the list collapses to US-IA… — tap to expand the full set
  • Hero image of the park, displayed as a thumbnail beside the station card
  • Per-activator station card for each station currently activating the park: frequency · mode on the first row, callsign + operator name (looked up in the background) on the next
  • Spotter map showing where stations that spotted this activator are located. The map draws arcs from the activator's park out to every spotter so the listener spread is obvious at a glance. Toggle between list and map view using the List / Map buttons; the list shows each spotter's state, country, and spot comments
  • Contacted button (green) to log a QSO in one tap
  • Tried button (orange) to mark an attempted contact you couldn't complete
  • Try Later button (purple) to flag the activator for follow-up so you can come back to them later

In the activity list, each spot row also shows these three action buttons so you can mark status without opening the detail modal. Whether a hunter spot is also posted to POTA.app when you tap Contacted is governed by the Auto-spot toggle in the Hunting from sidebar panel (on by default).

After tapping Contacted, Tried, or Try Later, the action buttons are replaced by a status badge showing the current state. A small undo button on the badge lets you revert the action if you change your mind.

Filtering POTA Spots​

Use the inline Band and Mode dropdowns in the spot list panel to narrow the feed:

  • Band -- Show only activations on specific bands (e.g., 40m, 20m)
  • Mode -- Filter by CW, SSB, FT8, or other modes
info

POTA spots refresh every few minutes. If an activator just posted a spot and you don't see it yet, give it a moment.

Starting an Activation​

Ready to go portable? Hamtrax walks you through setup and handles the bookkeeping while you operate.

  1. Open the Activate tab, or tap Activate Here from any park's detail modal in the Activity tab.
  2. GPS auto-detect -- Hamtrax requests your device location and suggests the nearest park automatically. You can accept the suggestion or search for a different park.
  3. You can also tap any park pin on the map to select it -- park pins remain interactive during setup and open the Park Detail modal with an Activate Here button.
  4. Enter the Freq (MHz), mode, power, and equipment profile (radio and antenna from your Rig Manager profiles), then tap Start. The Start button stays disabled until you've picked a park and entered a frequency.

If You Can't Find Your Park​

Most of the time GPS auto-detect or a quick search by name or reference (e.g. K-0001 or Pottawatomie) lands on the right park -- the catalog covers 15,000+ parks, so a missing match is usually a typo. Double-check the reference, and try searching by name instead of code, before assuming the park isn't listed.

Hamtrax does let you type a custom park -- a free-text name or a reference that isn't in the catalog. When you do, Hamtrax has nothing to look the entry up against, so it can't fill in the park's details and instead asks you to enter a grid square or coordinates by hand.

warning

Entering a custom park is not recommended. Because Hamtrax can't fetch information for a park that isn't in the catalog, the activation record is left incomplete -- no park name, no coordinates, no region, and no link to the park's activation history or stats. The reference also won't line up with POTA's official catalog, which muddies both your logbook and your ADIF export. Search by name or reference first, and only fall back to a custom park if you're certain the park genuinely isn't listed.

Once running, all contacts you log are saved to an auto-created folder named after the standard ADIF/POTA convention callsign@reference-YYYYMMDD (e.g., "KA8H@K-1515-20201127"). The Logbook displays the park name in place of the raw folder name when available. You don't need to create or manage this folder -- it happens automatically.

tip

The Auto-spot toggle (enabled by default) posts a spot to POTA.app as soon as your activation begins, so hunters can find you right away. Both auto-spots and manual self-spots use the same comment format: your Hamtrax profile link, radio, and power — e.g., hamtrax.com/KF0NYG | Xiegu 6100 10W.

Logging Contacts During an Activation​

Once your activation is running, the QSO log form appears on the map panel. For each contact, enter:

  • Callsign -- Auto-looked up against POTA spots and callsign databases
  • Frequency and mode -- Pre-filled from your activation settings; mode auto-updates when you change frequency
  • Signal reports (sent and received) -- Picker defaults to 599
  • Equipment -- Radio and antenna selection (from your Rig Manager profiles)
  • Notes -- Optional, toggled with a checkbox

Park-to-Park Detection​

When you enter a callsign, Hamtrax checks cached POTA spots from the last 30 minutes. If the other station is also at a park, the P2P (Park to Park) indicator appears automatically and their park reference fills in. This data is included in the ADIF export.

Respot on Frequency Change​

If you change frequency during your activation, a Respot checkbox appears on the next QSO you log. Checking it updates your POTA.app spot with your new frequency.

Operating With Weak or No Signal​

Activations often happen where cell coverage is poor or absent. Hamtrax is built for this, but it's important to know that logging contacts and self-spotting behave differently when you're offline.

  • Logging contacts always works offline. Every QSO is saved to your device the instant you log it, and uploads to the cloud automatically once you're back in range. You can run an entire activation with no signal and lose nothing -- log normally and let it sync later.
  • Callsign lookups defer until you reconnect. If you're offline when you log a contact, Hamtrax flags it and fills in the operator's name, grid, and location automatically once connectivity returns.
  • Park-to-park detection still works offline. P2P matching reads from POTA spots already cached on your device (the last 30 minutes), so it doesn't need a live connection.
  • Self-spotting needs a live connection. Auto-spot and manual self-spots post to POTA.app in real time. They are not queued -- if you're offline or your signal drops, the spot simply doesn't go out, and Hamtrax doesn't retry it for you.
tip

On spotty signal, if a self-spot doesn't seem to land, tap the spot button again once you have a bar or two. Your contacts are never at risk -- only the live spot needs the connection, and re-spotting is safe to repeat.

Logging a Hunt Contact​

When you tap an active spot in the list or on the map, the activation detail modal opens with a Contacted button. Tapping it creates a QSO record with the activator's callsign, frequency, band, mode, and park reference pre-filled -- no separate form needed.

If the Auto-spot toggle in the Hunting from sidebar panel is on (default), a hunter spot is also submitted to POTA.app confirming you worked the activator.

If you attempted a contact but couldn't complete it, tap Tried to record the attempt, or tap Try Later to flag the activator to come back to later. Once you tap any action, the modal shows a status badge -- tap the undo button on the badge to revert.

Photos​

After logging contacts, you can attach photos directly to your activation folder using the inline gallery strip on the Logbook page. Tap the + button to upload photos from your device. Photos appear in a scrollable strip and are visible on your public showcase. See Folders & Labels for full details on folder media.

Editing Activation Contacts​

After an activation, you can edit or delete individual contacts from the Logbook page just like any other contact. However, because activation contacts are tied to your POTA submission, Hamtrax shows a warning dialog before you edit one. The warning reminds you that edits made in Hamtrax are not automatically synced to the POTA website -- you must also update your log on pota.app manually to keep both records in sync.

If you prefer not to see this warning every time, check "Hide this message in the future" in the dialog.

Two fields stay fixed when you edit an activation contact: the park and the date. Since every contact in an activation folder belongs to the same park and the same day, the edit form shows both as read-only with a banner explaining each lock (for example, "Park is locked to US-2325 for this activation."). Every other field is editable. See Locked fields in auto-folders for the full picture.

Resuming an Activation​

If you close the app or navigate away before ending your activation, the session remains open. To get back to it, open the Log tab and find the activation folder in the Activations tree. The folder displays a green Active badge in the folder list. Select it and tap the Resume Activation button at the top of the folder detail to jump directly back into your active logging session.

Ending an Activation​

When you're done operating, tap End Activation. Hamtrax finalizes the activation record and you can download an ADIF file of all logged contacts, formatted for upload to POTA.app or any logging software.

Importing a Past Activation​

If you have ADIF files from activations you did before using Hamtrax (POTA, SOTA, IOTA, WWFF, GMA, NPOTA, or other), you can import them as complete activation records. In the Logbook tab, expand the Activations category and click the Import button. Hamtrax parses the ADIF file, auto-detects the activity type, location reference, callsign, and date range, and creates the activation folder and every QSO in one step.

The importer drops obviously-bad records (invalid dates, impossible times, oversized fields, garbled callsigns), collapses duplicates, and warns you up front when QSOs in the file reference a different park or program than the one you're importing — so the resulting activation is clean. See Importing a Past Activation for the full validation rules.