Why I operate
Good parks.
Good people.
One more contact.
I’m Michael Sparks, WØMES. I received my Technician license as KFØLWN on March 14, 2023, was granted my WØMES vanity call on April 14, 2023, and upgraded to General on May 16, 2023.
As a snowbird, I spend mid-October through mid-May in New Port Richey, Florida—where the warmer weather makes year-round Parks on the Air operating especially enjoyable. POTA brings together the things I like most: radio, technology, travel, meeting good people, and time outdoors.
I enjoy both activating and hunting, from quick outings close to home to park stops on the road. My station ranges from the Yaesu FT-710 to a compact FT-891 portable setup, including low-power FT8 from an iPad and DigiRig.
Visit my QRZ pageMy POTA profile
WØMES
in the parks.
Michael Sparks · New Port Richey, Florida
Also operating as WØMES/VE3 and WØMES/VE9.
All-time POTA totals
Diamond ActivatorSapphire HunterWorked All StatesKiloPark to Park
Most recent activationUS-1928 · Werner-Boyce Salt SpringsSeptember 15, 2026 · 43 phone QSOs
View my live POTA profile
Loading current totals from POTA…
My activation trail
Parks I’ve put
on the air.
This interactive map uses my POTA CSV exports to show every verified activated park currently in my records, including parks across the United States and Canada. Select a marker for the park name, POTA reference, and number of activations.
51CSV-verified parks mapped
518 activations
518 activations
Map data comes from my POTA park exports. Each dot marks a unique activated park with verified coordinates.
CSV-verified activation parkUnited States + Canada
Park locations from the POTA public park directory. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Club
Kilo Award stickers
Celebrating 1,000 POTA QSOs from one park.
In the field
A practical portable station
Built for real activations: capable, compact, and ready to move.
Yaesu FT-710
A modern HF base for voice and digital operating.
Yaesu FT-891
A compact 100-watt HF/6m radio suited to portable work.
FT8 portable
Five-watt contacts from the field using an iPad and DigiRig.
My antenna lineup
Antennas I use
I choose the antenna to fit the park, available space, band conditions, and how quickly I need to get on the air.
POTA PERformer
A portable elevated resonant vertical that gives me multiband flexibility from a compact tripod-mounted system.
Elevated vertical · fast field setupSpooltenna
A lightweight wire antenna built around an easy-to-carry spool, making deployment and pack-up simple for portable operating.
Compact wire antenna · pack-friendlyHorizon UltraLite Shooting Star
A pre-tuned, center-fed portable vertical dipole that sets up quickly without radials, a tower, or control cables.
Vertical dipole · no radialsYaesu ATAS-120A
An active motorized tuning antenna that pairs with compatible Yaesu radios for a compact mobile and portable station.
Active tuning · wide coverageBest of the activations
Iowa & Florida highlights
Snapshots from memorable days at Big Creek, Werner-Boyce, and Starkey Wilderness.
August 2026 · verified from ADIF
37 activations.
One memorable month.
Every total below comes from the submitted WØMES logs. Contacts at the same park are combined by UTC date, and two-fer contacts are counted once in the unique-QSO total.
37successful
activations
activations
993 unique QSOs920 SSB73 FM0 CW
