A real solution to electrical noise in your neighborhood!
Perhaps the best reason to activate POTA is to get away from electrical noise at home! When I'm in a park I can hear weak signals that would be completely nonexistent on the radio in my shack.
So how do I hunt from home? WebSDR to the rescue!
If you see a station spotted but you can't hear them give it a try. Start at >WEBSDR.ORG<
I usually select North America in the "region" drop-down option list. You can also filter by band to eliminate receivers you don't need.
Choose a location most likely to work for the band you're on. In other words, for 40m you want a receive station that's not on the other side of the country from the park you're trying to hear. If you're on 20m you'll want a station that's far enough for skywave propagation to work.
Some RX systems are better than others. Some even have multiple receivers and you'll have to choose the one for the band of interest. It might take a few tries with different systems before you can hear the station of interest. Be sure you're on the correct mode and click "Start Audio" if necessary for your browser. I use headphones on my PC to separate the audio from that coming from my radio.
Don't be surprised if the best signal comes from the opposite side of the country. Once I was trying to hear my POTA buddy Mike K8MRD on 20m in Texas, and the WebSDR signal I used was in San Francisco! I'm in Connecticut and by some miracle Mike heard me fine. I could even hear myself coming back from the WebSDR in California! |
