A point I felt worth mentioning is that many of the contest things are pretty hard core. Serious effort, serious equipment, fairly intense. (to give a kind of extreme example: https://youtu.be/2Rh3-K8V4_o?t=266 )
POTA is very laid back. Only the party in the park even needs to log.
> But yeah, in the end it's basically Pokemon Go that requires custom hardware and uses national/state parks in lieu of defining their own map of pokespots.
parks are also at least little interesting, I've learned about a lot of parks that I never would have known about just due to looking them up when I see stations operating out of them.
Also POTA (and other such contact collecting activities) provide an opportunity to practice your radio skills and use your equipment without the risk of getting involved in conversations you're not interested in or don't have time for. It's not rude to not get into a conversation, 'cause you're trying to rack up contacts and there are people waiting!
One of the top reasons against amateur radio I hear from non-hams is that they don't have anything to talk to other hams about. Turns out there is plenty to do without having a conversation on the radio.
(Of course, for people who want to converse there are plenty of opportunities to do that-- opportunities that are enhanced by contact collecting activities that do a lot to explore what locations are reachable.)
POTA is very laid back. Only the party in the park even needs to log.
> But yeah, in the end it's basically Pokemon Go that requires custom hardware and uses national/state parks in lieu of defining their own map of pokespots.
parks are also at least little interesting, I've learned about a lot of parks that I never would have known about just due to looking them up when I see stations operating out of them.
Also POTA (and other such contact collecting activities) provide an opportunity to practice your radio skills and use your equipment without the risk of getting involved in conversations you're not interested in or don't have time for. It's not rude to not get into a conversation, 'cause you're trying to rack up contacts and there are people waiting!
One of the top reasons against amateur radio I hear from non-hams is that they don't have anything to talk to other hams about. Turns out there is plenty to do without having a conversation on the radio.
(Of course, for people who want to converse there are plenty of opportunities to do that-- opportunities that are enhanced by contact collecting activities that do a lot to explore what locations are reachable.)