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Logging a POTA activation

A start-to-finish walkthrough of a Parks on the Air activation with VoiceQSO. The same flow works for SOTA; just swap the category and think summit instead of park.

Before you leave home

  • Check your QSO balance in the Profile tab. A good activation can be 40+ contacts, and you don't want the sync to stall afterwards. See Plans & pricing.
  • Open the app while you're in coverage. The park database used by the nearby lookup is cached on your phone and refreshed when you're online.
  • Charge the phone. That's the whole packing list.

At the park: set up the session

  1. Open the Sessions tab, tap +.
  2. Name the session (the park name or reference works well), enter the callsign you're activating with, and pick the POTA category.
  3. In the reference field, enter the park reference (like US-0014) or tap Find nearby park; this works even with no signal, using the cached database and your phone's GPS. The park name appears under the field so you can confirm it's the right one.
  4. Tap Create Session (or Create Session (Offline) if you have no signal; everything still works, see Working offline).

The park reference is carried onto every contact you log in the session, and lands in your ADIF as MY_POTA_REF, so hunters' logs will match yours.

Work the pileup

  1. Leave the mode on CQ; you're the one calling CQ, which is exactly where the extraction works best.
  2. If you have usable signal, keep the audio toggle on Live to watch contacts appear as you work them. No signal? It doesn't matter; the audio is stored on the phone.
  3. Tap the microphone button, set the phone down next to the radio, and run the activation like you always would. Say both callsigns clearly, and close each contact with "QRZ" or your next "CQ".
  4. Stop the recording when you take a break or wrap up. You can start again any time; it all lands in the same session.

Back in coverage

If any of the activation was recorded offline, an amber card shows "N recordings waiting to sync"; tap Sync Now and watch the QSOs roll in. Then give the log a quick pass: tap anything with an amber or red confidence chip and fix what's off. Contacts the app missed entirely can be added with Add QSO for free.

Submit your activation

  1. Open the session's ⋮ menu and choose Export ADIF.
  2. Upload the file to pota.app the way you normally submit an activation.

If you sync to QRZ.com or Wavelog, the contacts are already there too.

Want friends and chasers to follow along during the activation? Turn on your public status page and share the link before you head out. It updates live while you record (signal permitting, of course).