Activating local POTA parks and SOTA summits
There are a number of POTA, SOTA and /P operators within Sutton & Cheam Radio Society and we’d like to develop this further as a club with the emphasis on a quarterly event. The main aim being having fun in the great outdoors with something for everyone, encouraging newcomers to POTA or SOTA, sharing experiences, helping each other and developing skills.
If this is for you – and you can do as much or as little as you wish – please register your interest by email to potasota@scrs.org.uk. You will receive more information and an invite to join a WhatsApp group.
We would like to activate the parks or summits during the regular POTA activity weekends. There are 4 POTA activity weekends a year, the next being October 17–18 2026.
In our part of Surrey we are fortunate to have a good number of parks qualifying for the POTA scheme as well as some easy SOTA hills.
Some key takeaways
Flexibility
- You can operate on any mode, SSB, CW, Digimodes, FM and on any band HF or VHF.
- You can operate for as long as you like. To make the activation qualify for an award you need to make 4 contacts for SOTA and 10 for POTA
Easy operating
- Some of our parks are brilliantly set up with bench tables and seats.
- Most of the POTA and SOTA sites in our area are easily accessible, many are “drive-on” locations which minimises walking / carrying kit.
- Many of the SOTA summits are also in a POTA park so you can get callers chasing you from both programs.
- Alerts posted before an activation increase the probability of getting calls, particularly on HF.
Teamwork
- It’s great fun and even more so when you do the activation with others, maybe one operating whilst the other does the logging.
- Consider teaming up and help someone who wouldn’t do an activation on their own.
- If there’s enough of us, we would like to activate different parks or summits at the same time. Park to Park (P2P) or Summit to Summit (S2S) contacts would be particularly good to do.
Upcoming Activity Weekend Dates for your diary
- Autumn 2026: October 17–18, 2026
- Winter 2027: January 16–17, 2027
- Spring 2027: April 17–18, 2027
- Summer 2027: July 17-18, 2027
We’re hoping this will be popular with SCRS members so please let us know if you’re interested in joining in and send that email to potasota@scrs.org.uk
Many local parks have recently been included in the POTA database which now includes Surrey Hills National Landscape, Box Hill Country Park, Nonsuch Park, Warren Farm Park, Priest Hill Nature Reserve, Hogsmill Nature Reserve, Epsom Downs, Langley Vale Wood, Banstead Woods SSSI, Oaks Park, Roundshaw Downs, Headley Heath and lots more too.
Once you’ve sent us an email either Julian G4VHJ or I will get back to you.
For more information on POTA see Parks on the Air ® and SOTA Summits on the Air
This POTA interactive map is particularly useful – many park boundaries are mapped. POTAMAP – Interactive Mapping, For SOTA mapping this is a great website Map – SOTLAS