First POTA Activation
My First POTA Activation: Booker T. Washington State Park (US-2933 / US-3791)
Hey folks,
I’ve been thinking about getting into Parks on the Air (POTA) for a while, and on April 16, 2025, I finally took the plunge. I headed over to Booker T. Washington State Park right here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. What made it even better is that it’s a two-fer — you can activate the state park as US-2933 and the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail that runs through it as US-3791.
I set up right at the water’s edge on a picnic table near the fishing pier. It was a beautiful spot with the lake right there — perfect for a relaxed afternoon of radio. For gear, I ran my Icom IC-705 barefoot at just 10 watts into a Chameleon F-loop 2.0 antenna with 1" diameter aluminum radiator. I had the Mac laptop fired up with SDR-Control software, and I got on 20 meters FT8.
For my very first activation, I was pretty happy with the results. I made 26 contacts across quite a few states:
- California (CA)
- Colorado (CO)
- Florida (FL) – 5
- Iowa (IA)
- Illinois (IL)
- Louisiana (LA)
- Maryland (MD)
- Michigan (MI)
- North Carolina (NC)
- New York (NY) – 4
- Pennsylvania (PA) – 3
- Texas (TX)
- Virginia (VA) – 2
- Wisconsin (WI) – 3
While I was sitting there working the pile, two other hams — N9QEO and KC9IIC — walked up after spotting my rig and the loop antenna. We ended up having a great chat about ham radio and POTA. It was a nice reminder of how friendly this hobby is and how one little setup can bring people together.
All in all, it was a fantastic first activation. There’s something really exciting about reaching stations hundreds or even thousands of miles away with only 10 watts and a little aluminum loop. It definitely hooked me on POTA and got me looking forward to the next one.
If you’re in the Chattanooga area, Booker T. Washington State Park is a great place to visit — whether you’re fishing, hiking the trail, or chasing some contacts. I highly recommend it.
73, Rick / W4IO
