1st Annual Robert Rampolla W3RAR SK Memorial POTA Activation

It's been a year since we lost Bob W3RAR, who was an active amateur radio operator in Maryland and in the Parks On The Air @ParksOnTheAir program. I met Bob at the end of August 2021 at a group activation in Delaware. We activated K-7648 Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Conservation Area @delawarednrec. He was a blast to talk to. We had many email conversations and chats over the phone or via texting. He had a passion for amateur radio and loved to talk about that and equipment. I was shocked to hear about his passing. As a fitting tribute to Bob, Hayden KB4GRG spearheaded a memorial activation in honor of Bob. This activation was the First Annual Robert Rampolla W3RAR, SK Memorial POTA Activation and Maryland Meetup. The event took place in Saturday, April 29, 2023 at K-1577 Gunpowder Falls State Park @MarylandDNR in Chase, Maryland, which was Bob's home park. This short video is a sample to what happened that day and I look forward to the next year's activation. We miss you Bob. https://bit.ly/39zCfMM Group Parks On The Air Activation Along The Canal - https://youtu.be/p1LHBruUmy4 Thank you to the all of the hunters and fellow activators for the contacts! New POTA-themed QSL cards are IN! QSL info can be found on my QRZ page. ALL amateur radio operators world-wide need to know the DX CODE OF CONDUCT. It was meant for DX contacts, but it really applies to ALL aspects of amateur radio (DXing, contesting, POTA, SOTA, Field Day, special events, etc...). DON'T BE AN ALPHA HOTEL! http://dx-code.com. -- 💚 Support the Channel 💚 Please like 👍 & subscribe ✅ and click the bell 🔔 for notifications of new videos! Don't forget to leave a comment 📜 also to tell me what you thought of this video & activation! ☕️ Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/K3JRZ 🅿️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/K3JRZ -- Parks On The Air: https://parksontheair.com Parks On The Air Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/parksontheair/ Parks On The Air Slack group: https://parksontheair.slack.com Parks On The Air spotting/stats/awards/and more site: https://pota.app LOCATION INFO: What3Words.com - ///teaches.grandson.downswing https://w3w.co/teaches.grandson.downswing Gunpowder Falls State Park @ Maryland Department of Natural Resources - https://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/pages/central/gunpowder.aspx Gunpowder Falls State Park Hammerman area @ MD DNR - https://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/Pages/central/GunpowderFalls/Hammerman-Area.aspx Gunpowder Falls State Park @ Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Falls_State_Park -- MUSIC COPYRIGHT 1992 - 1997 BY GANGSTER PUMP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. -- CONTACTS: K9AEE K8NIV W8DKC KC4BB K4ABX x2 K4HYJ AD4JX KB9JQU W8YNY KO4FHS KN4SWS K0DDS N5ORM W1RCP - P2P KO4NLL - P2P W9GFZ KE8PZN - P2P x2 AA0Z VE3LBI AD2CD K8GQ KE8UKX K0AXL K1TTW - P2P N2DXT - P2P NC4XL WV1W KW4FM K1CWB W4KCK KE4GTQ AB8LL KI4YGV VA3GHB KD2HJW K2DW NB2R - P2P WZ3J - P2P KC3MSE - P2P KB3WAV - P2P KE4WMF - P2P K5XAR - P2P KB0RFC - P2P -- I am not affiliated administratively with the Parks On The Air organization, but a happy participant in the POTA program. Q: What is Parks On The Air? A: Parks On The Air (or POTA) for international portable amateur radio (ham radio) operations that promote emergency awareness and communications from national/federal and state/provincial level parks. There are activators and there are hunters. Activators go into POTA approved parks, set up their amateur radio equipment and call CQ (CQ is an invitation for any amateur radio operators listening on that frequency to respond and make contact). Hunters will contact the activators and upon a successful contact, the activator puts the hunter into their logs that will be uploaded to calling area representatives who will then upload those logs to the POTA system. Hunters do not need to upload any logs. Q: What are the Parks On The Air rules? A: The rules for Parks On The Air can be found at https://docs.pota.app . Q: What are the Parks On The Air frequencies? A: Any frequency that an amateur radio operator has permission to legally use in their country based upon their level of license. Repeaters cannot be used. --