Parks On the Air (POTA) is one of the more popular amateur radio activities enjoyed by operators around the world. Many set up a simple station and use portable antennas such as an end-fed half-wave or loop antenna. But what if you wanted to make it more interesting and challenging?

Two hams in eastern Pennsylvania decided to make a POTA attempt using Earth-moon-Earth (EME) communication to try and contact other stations doing the same thing. Jim Huebotter, KC3BVL, and Louis Yadevia, WA3EBS, met in Louis’ backyard to see if it was possible. They gathered a portable 1296 MHz EME station consisting of an Icom IC-9700 and two 33 element Yagi antennas.

With their station pushing out 50 W, they were able to make contact with Stephen Plock, K0PRT, and his 60-foot dish in Colorado during ARRL’s EME Contest on October 19 and 20. They proved that it could be done with a portable station and low power. Their next adventure will be to take this on the road and see if a POTA EME contact is possible.

Source: ARRL