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POTA - Parks on the Air

Parks On The Air Awards and Certificates
Posted By: Harvey D Hopper KM6YFD
Posted On: 2026-08-20T23:17:00Z

POTA Awards/Certificates


Certificates for hunting contacts 

Bronze Hunter 10 contacts

Silver Hunter 20

Gold Hunter 30

Platinum Hunter 40

Diamond Hunter 50

Diamond Hunter 50

Sapphire Hunter 75

Arizona Agave 100

There are other hunting certificates based on your counts and the numbers needed for the next level increase as you climb the ladder


Certificates for Activations

Bonze Activations 10

Silver Activations 20

Gold Activations 30

There are other activation certificates but the numbers needed for the next levels tend to get greater as as you climb the ladder.

You can get a Worked All States for Activations but that require activating from each state and is difficult.

Radar Rhino Activation – 3 parks in 24 hours (rove)

Park to Parks (P2P) currently at 725 

Kilo – 1000 activation contacts from a single park

Multiple Activations contacts with a single park - Fox Den Hunter 40 times

                                            Bear Cave Hunter 60 times

New Years Activations and hunting contacts

Support Your Park weekend – activating contacts or hunting contacts 


Certificates and Statistics


Late Shift Activations and Hunting

Early Shift Activations and Hunting

DX Hunting

Repeat Offenders Hunting and Activations

Six Pack Hunting and activations – at least 6 contacts with 6 different parks on 6M

N1CC Hunting and Activations - contacts with 10 different parks on 10 different bands

Worked All States Hunting – at least one hunting contact in each state in the US.

Worked All States Activating – at least one contact while activating each state


Fun things to try


Multiple contacts to the same park and operator on the same day on different bands

Multiple contacts to the same operator on the same day while they are in different parks

Contacts to unique parks like Alcatraz (next one is Dec 4th with N6LY)

Route 66 points along the road

Battle ship activations

Pony Express

Contacting the same park in different state like the Butterfield Overland Natl Hist Trail. This starts in Arkansas and ends in Oregon. This trail passes through Visalia and Firebaugh


Trails that intersect POTA parks Like Butterfield or the California Natl Historic Trail. These go through several POTA parks and would qualify as a 2-fer (a 2-fer is an activation of 2 parks at the same time. There are some 3-fer, 4-fers, and a few fabled 5-fers.


Famous people or hams – I have made contacts with a couple of well known YouTube content creators.


Group activations with multiple operators.


Multiple contacts with the same operator over a period of time.


If you are the first person to activate a park, your name and call sign will on the Park info sheet for ever as the first activator. This makes being the first activator of a new park exciting. The San Joaquin Parkway is going to be a new state park at some point in the near future. Go to the Park List on the main menu, list the country and/or state and look at the activation counts. If you find one nearby or maybe near where you might be traveling by, check it out. You can download the park list to excel and make your search easier.


If you are going for a KILO award (1000 contacts from a single park) as an activator, I would suggest that you find a frequency and post up on that frequency.


If you are trying for a Worked All States (as a hunter), then focus on the spotting page and keep an eye on their locations.


These are only some of the awards/certificates you can "earn" in Parks On The Air.


Good Luck!

Harvvey

KM6YFD


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