From Bob, AI7CS: We've managed to get a number of new POTA parks listed in Kittitas County, and it's now easy to do a 5 park rove within the county.

The newly added parks are actually units of the L.T. Murray State Wildlife areas, and also Helen McCabe State Park. The list includes:

• L.T. Murray State Wildlife Area, Watts Unit. Park info: US-12322.
• Yakima River State Wildlife Area. Park info: US-12326.
• Teanaway Valley State Wildlife Area. Park info: US-12324.
• Quilomene State Wildlife Area. Park info: US-12323.
• Whiskey Dick State Wildlife Area. Park info: US-12325.
• Helen McCabe State Park. Park info: US-12308.

Other parks in Kittitas County which are POTA parks:

• Olmstead Place State Park. Park info: US-3240.
• Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park. Park info: US-0120. This is a 2-fer with Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail. Park info: US-3424.
• Palouse to Cascades State Park State Trail. Park info: US-3203.
• Teanaway State Forest. Park info: US-5573.
• Naneum Ridge State Forest. Park info: US-11145.
• Colockum Wildlife Area. Park info: US-10630.
• Lake Easton State Park. Park info: US-3214.
• Pacific Crest Trail National Scenic Trail. Park info: US-4562.
• Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest . Park info: US-4531.

For complete details on Parks On The Air, go to the POTA main website, and read up on getting started with POTA. See you on the air!

Back in May, 2021, the FCC established rules for exposure to RF energy, and set limits for exposure. Those rules now include Amateur Radio. To read up on the rules, and find out more information, the ARRL has provided a RF Exposure webpage, leading to articles, calculators, and other resources.

Just to let you know that we actually have a 6m repeater in Kittitas County, thanks to Randy, K7RHT. It's been around for a while, but it's a well kept secret. Give it a try when you get a chance. Many of today's HF rigs can cover 6m, as well as supporting repeater offsets and PL tones. The repeater information is listed in the right column, under RACES repeaters.

The ARRL has published a good starting article on understanding three of the key factors for HF propagation. As we've seen in the past week or so, even with the increased activity of the sunspot cycle, propagation can be hit or miss. The Propagation image at the top of our home page shows many of the factors related to propagation, which can give you an indicator of whether you'll have a good day or not. For access to the ARRL article, go to Understanding Solar Indicies.

NOAA provides information at the Space Weather Prediction Center website, giving additional indicators for Radio Blackouts, Solar Radiation Storm impacts, and Geomagnetic Storms. Go to The SWPC Website.

For mor information on the Propagation Image, go to the N0NBH website.

Another good site for getting the latest space weather conditions is Spaceweather.com. One of the nice features about this site is the plain language explanation for the upcoming space weather forecasts and aurora alerts.

From Bob, AI7CS: Here's a quick primer on using the Parks On The Air (POTA) website.

POTA makes it easy for hunters (those who want to contact parks). Go to the POTA Spots Page, which lists all of the parks that are currently "activated" world wide. If you're not sure where you are on the website, there is a menu bar at the top, and two of the selections are SPOTS and ACTIVATIONS. SPOTS are parks curently on the air, and ACTIVATIONS are parks that are scheduled to be activated.

By default, for both SPOTS and ACTIVATIONS, you get a page that gives you a very nice and intuitive display of information for each park. Listed are the Activator Callsign, Park ID and name, Location, and most importantly, the frequency and mode of operation.

What makes this helpful is that if you're looking for a specific mode, or state, or park in another country, you can find that information in the tables.

The activators upload their logs to the POTA website, in what is now an automated process. Hunters don't upload their logs, but they do get credit for contacts from the activator's log.

You don't need to be a member of Parks On The Air in order to hunt parks. However, if you become a member you can get a listing of all the parks that you worked, or activated, and can use that information for awards like Worked All States. POTA keeps track of hunter and activator stats, and provides POTA awards for both.

For complete details on Parks On The Air, go to the POTA main website, and read up on getting started with POTA. See you on the air!

From the Smithsonian Magazine: According to author Larry Kahaner for the Smithsonian Magazine, Morse Code is making a comeback. According to statistics on a 2021 ham radio contest, Morse code participants were up by 10% over the previous year. To read the article and find out more, follow this link.

The ARRL has a podcast called Eclectic Tech. The podcast started in Feb, 2020, and drops new episodes every two weeks. The podcasts last about 15 to 20 minutes each, and are on a wide ranging group of topics. For example, in January, 2021, they had a practical discussion on QRM and magnetic fields, and how to them down. Later that month, they had an interesting take on fox hunting, aka "hidden transmitter hunts." Give The ARRL Eclectic Tech Podcast a try, you might find something that peaks your interest.

From Steve, W7JAA: Congressman Bill Johnson (OH-6) introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R.9670) on Thursday, December 22, 2022, to eliminate private land use restrictions that prohibit, restrict, or impair the ability of an Amateur Radio Operator from operating and installing amateur station antennas on property subject to the control of the Amateur Radio Operator.

More information.