Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions
Activating during the “late shift” offers several unique opportunities for POTA. As the day ends propagation often increases, sometimes dramatically. More operators are home from work and available to get on the air than during the day. If you live in a hot climate, the evening is usually one of the more comfortable times of the day to be outdoors without air conditioning. Finally, with the UTC day ending at 8PM locally, you can actually squeeze in 2 days of activations in just a couple hours.
Challenges, however are numerous but not insurmountable with some planning. The first is park availability. Here in CT, all state parks are officially open from sunrise to sunset. Even if a sign isn’t posted, parks officially go offline to POTA activations when they are legally closed.
There are some solutions. One is to register as a camper and set up on a site. This allows you to stay in a park overnight. It doesn’t mean you have to sleep there unless you want to, and this option is only available in parks that permit camping. Pack headphones so you don't bother neighbors during quiet hours.
Another solution is to activate at a POTA site that isn’t in a state park. These include numerous recognized trails and even some rivers. As long as you aren’t on private property and within 100 feet of the trail or river you’re fine to POTA during the late shift.
Almost one fifth of the state of NY is inside Adirondack State Park, and there are many public locations to activate in K-2001. Perhaps you have a similar situation to take advantage of in your area.
Another challenge is darkness. I often comment when going out with a flashlight that there may be only a 10% chance of rain, but there’s a 100% chance of darkness!
To meet this challenge, I recommend arriving well before it gets dark so you can set up with the benefit of natural light. This is especially true if you will be deploying a wire antenna using a tree for support. It also helps if you need to tune a vertical antenna like a WRC with an adjustable coil. It isn’t quite as important if you will be using a mobile antenna like a hamstick. I park my car so I can use the headlights to see during teardown.
It helps if antenna ropes are bright colors or reflective so you don't get tripped by one in the dark. Fortunately, yellow and orange paracord is easy to find at your local Walmart. If you deploy radials it helps to see them if they are insulated with white or yellow instead of black. (Try my FREE extension cord radials!)
When I activate inside the car, I hang a tactical flashlight over my logging laptop by capturing the lanyard (attached to the endcap) with the sliding sunroof cover. If you plan to set up on a picnic table, be sure to pack a lantern.
Bugs and critters can be another issue at night, so come prepared to fend them off with repellant or by operating inside your vehicle. A skunk would make a nasty POTA companion, and I've had bears get pretty close in a several local parks.
The most significant challenge might be handling pileups! With so many hunters available in the evening, pileups are common and can test the on-air skills of even the best operators. Practice activating during less crazy times to learn how to handle the process of sorting things out.
I recommend having a system, like taking a short list of 5 or 6 call signs and then calling each hunter back one at a time in order. Another system is to ask for hunters by call districts. Be sure to occasionally call for Park-to-Park and QRP/mobile stations as they will have the hardest time breaking through to you. You should try to be courteous while attempting to control chaos.
TIP: If you operate during the transition from one day to the next at 2400Z you do not need to start a separate log. The system is smart enough to handle multiple activation days as long you were in the same park. Whenever you change parks a new log will be required. |
