This presentation is an invited discussion for VU HAMs organised by VU2AZK.

A version of this talk was presented at BARC on 2026-07-19.

Who am I? ¹

• License in October, 2024, a novice and recent HAM
• Interested in home-brewing & experimentation
• I’m in no hurry to complete milestones

Why accidental?

• Stay in a concrete jungle
• Not possible to deploy antenna at my QTH
• Travel for work is unpredictable
• Work related travel is often in flights
• POTA locations are accessible by flights²

My first POTA

• My first activation was at Tadoba National Park (IN-0067), operating from the buffer zone.
• It was an accident to say the least!

We made it!

• Rig: zBitx, EFHW, a tonne of 18650s
• Deployment: Hoisted a QRP EFHW over a tree using a filled plastic water bottle.
• Operations: Made 36 QSOs entirely on FT8 across 15m, 20m, and 40m.

Learnings

The field test exposed several quirks with my initial setup:

• Power: My 18650 LiFePo4 cells drained rapidly, dropping from 7.4V to below 6V, ending my activation prematurely.
• Thermals: The zBitx gets terribly hot during FT8 operations.
• Logging: Exporting ADI files from PoLo and using a browser workaround on my iPhone to upload to pota.app was highly cumbersome.
• Fail-safe: Backup mics/rigs to help with continuous operation in the field
• Regulatory: Carry WPC notices and licenses.³

Enjoy the park!

Making the zBitx field-worthy

To make the zBitx truly “field-worthy”, I implemented several hardware upgrades over the Labour Day weekend:

1. Cooling: 3D-printed a new case with more vents to address the FT8 heating issues.
2. Power Delivery: Switched to a 20,000 mAh flight-safe power bank capable of PD 3.0. I paired this with a 9V USB-C PD trigger board to provide stable power without the rapid voltage drops of the 18650 cells.

Preparing a go-bag

During an unplanned trip to a tea estate in MK81fm, I attempted to deploy my home-brewed vertical coil as a backup antenna.

• Radios: QMX, zBitx
• Antennas: EFHW, SA2CLC vertical coil
• Misc. equipment!
• Complete details with the links at blog.
• I have listed the items, their source and approximate prices and weights.
• Possible 2-fer or 3-fer since I was in the middle of three parks, but I wasn’t prepared well enough.

Compromised antenna deployment

• Wx makes travel to the park impossible
• We are down to no Tx at all from field site!

Learnings

• Too heavy at 5.5 kgs if I want to back-pack!
• Fibreglass and Carbon Fibre for RF
• Vertical needs some work.
• QRPickle needs additional modification

Community engagement

• Due to location challenges, hoisting antenna became a community project
• Everyone got excited despite the failed attempt

• Involve them in all operations!
  • Right from setting up the antenna to the radio signals
• Give them something to remember the event and the day

Preparing V2 of the bag

I refined my gear into a sub-20L, flight-safe modular back-pack weighing just over 1.5kg (or up to 5.5kg fully loaded).

• Radios: QMX and zBitx v1.
• Antennas: QRP EFHW and a home-brewed 40-10m vertical coil.
• Tools & Power: NanoVNA, QRPickle, Anker N20 power bank, and a 5L dry bag to protect against the weather.

Next POTA and ARSI QRP Day

• Unplanned trip to the Western Ghats, I attempted to activate Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary (IN-0189).
• This coincided with the ARSI QRP-DAY Contest.
• Despite the incessant rain and thick cloud cover, my 2W-5W FT8 signals reached Japan, Australia, South Africa, Poland, and England using the modified go-bag setup.
• Absolutely, horrible conditions for SSB and QRP.

Activated

Learnings

• As you can see, I have no photos of the deployment or the surroundings
• Absolutely hard conditions to deploy the antenna
• Create check-lists to prepare better for the next trip
• The joy of community participation is often more fun than just making QSOs
  • The kids enjoyed getting the antenna up!
  • Explaining RF propagation, radios, antennas to adults is hard too!

Check-lists anyone?

The full details are available on my post about the same topic.

Status of POTA in India

Complete details are available on the post titled Status of POTA in India

Hypotheses for Low Activity

• Regulatory Friction for:
  • Park Operations
  • Transit and Travel
• Equipment Accessibility
• Cultural Operational Preferences
• Ageing Operator Demographic
• Lack of Post-Event Youth Mentorship
• Park Accessibility

Approaches for POTA

• Group or Solo: Please see https://youtu.be/MZzqekrGJtI?si=36zFxp8Xths6k-sK and https://www.facebook.com/VU2UUU (Last accessed: 15 Jul 2026).
• QRP or QRO: Please check https://www.youtube.com/@Harisriramaiah/videos (Last accessed: 15 Jul 2026) for detailed POTA activations with an elaborate station setup by VU2UCR.
• Wilderness or Quick-mode: Please see https://youtu.be/-dt-KXlIckg?si=OttEdbJtdviN4Efy for challenging conditions as well as engagement activities by VU3KOX (Last accessed: 15 Jul 2026).
• Activation or Achieve targets or Experimentation

Photos from the presentation

Since I don’t have too many photos from the trip, here are some photos from the presentations :-)

Presentation at BARC monthly meeting

Online meet for VU HAMs