The QRPer Board

During my POTA activation today, I had >20 QSO with stations from the US. Many of them have sent me their state. From Thomas(K4SWL) videos, I know that he confirms the state by sending it back and writes it down, so did I. But what I am doing with this information? There must be a purpose. And am I expected to send my German state in return, like "bw"?

Thanks a lot
73 de Thomas, DM1TBE, M0KEU

Thomas,

According to the POTA "Logging Made Easy" reference document: https://docs.pota.app/docs/activator_re ... a-pota-log

What is required in a POTA Log?

POTA has just Five required data fields that Must be in your log for it to be accepted and Five secondary fields for particular situations. The fields are labeled with “Tags” as they’re called.

The five required fields are: CALL (callsign you receive) QSO_DATE, TIME_ON, MODE and BAND. These are self-explanatory. No other fields are needed but may be in it without harm.

For a simple activation by one operator in a single park this set is enough to get your log processed without issue. You still only need these five data sets, just remember to change the date and put the correct UTC time when logging or transcribing from paper!

The state is basically a friendly way of letting the activator know how far his/her signal is getting out. It is not required in the activator logs that are uploaded to POTA. You can keep that information, or toss it out.

The only thing you are required to provide is your call sign and the park reference number. The hunters can look up your location, including your German state, by looking up the park reference number. We also like to exchange signal reports, but these are not required for the activator logs.

73, Howard
AC4FS

Many thanks, Howard! This makes sense. In Europe, the countries are much smaller, so we can use the callsign itself to have an indication, how far the signal is getting out. Thanks again

73
Thomas, DM1TBE

Ditto what Howard said. I also use the state as a quick check that I've copied the call correctly (it's not 100%, but sometimes it's a tip-off that I got a letter wrong). For example, some guy's call will show up in New York, but he'll send Florida. I just do a quick follow up to make sure he's actually a New Yorker escaping the snow. And then move on to the next guy.

73 Skip K4EAK