First attempt at POTA

01/09/2026 | 2E0YRE - Tony Klinakis Radio Website

My first POTA attempt was very nearly a disaster. Wimpey Field Natural Reserve, or GB-6545, is near where I live, so after reading up on POTA on my lunch break and signing up to the website, I decided to take my Quangsheng and have a go.

I had all sorts of grandiose ideas about the kind of afternoon I was going to have while on my POTA mission. After preparing the camping bag with a hammock and a beer, I thought better of it, and settled for a radio and a flashlight.

Now I can blame the field for today’s failure. Oh, and I want to. There must be a reason, after all, that there are no activations at the time of writing this. You see, Wimpey is full of trees and sits on a bit of a plateau, which isn’t ideal for 2m propagation. Yes, I think I’ll blame the field, and not my lack of preparation, or the fact that I was quite late setting off (domestic stuff needed to be done) or the fact that I hadn’t advertised my activation on the social medias.

And yet I did get QRM’d on the frequency I had chosen, so propagation was obviously not an issue.

Anyway, I think that’s what one can expect from a last minute expedition like the one today. Overall I enjoyed.