So who says you cannot teach an old dog new tricks?? Over 30 years of hamming and often sticking to the old and outdated, I broke down and tried Ham2K Polo for my activation today. You were right! Loved it. Goodbye pen and paper! It was 95 degrees in the shade today and if I would have used paper it would have been soaked with sweat! I did a 3fer today and when I got home it took less than 5 minutes to upload my logs. Used to be at least an hour to get all my paper logs entered into ADIF Master. If you ever make it to SC, the steak dinner is on me 😀 Thanks for the video!
Ed! That makes me so happy haha. And kudos to you. One of the hardest things to do is change an old habit. Especially one that old! I couldn't agree more. I was so in the routine of paper and pencil the idea of switching logs was really hard to accept. But the second I did my first export of the ADIF file and import I knew that my life had changed forever. Not to mention the many other benefits like instantly verifying callsigns and QTH, the in-app map, etc etc etc. I'll definitely take you up on that steak dinner! But I'm buying ;)
Great video Forrest. I’ve been licensed 61 years and have only been into POTA for a little over a month. Do all the parks around Park City all CW. I’m old school with the paper logs and manual entries and just down loaded the Ham2K POLO app and am anxious to try it on my next activation. Thanks for sharing this info! See you on the bands with ground wave. W4LOO
@@procyclist9280 Thats great! And hats off for your willingness to try something new after decades of doing something a certain way. I’d love to hear how you experience the app. For me it’s a big time game changer! One of the next parks I’m planning to activate for the first time is Jordanelle. Maybe I’ll run into you out there! 73 de KI7QCF
I'm so happy it's available for Android, too! Thanks for the introduction to this app. Two weeks into my CW training. I did wonder how long it took you to log all of those manual entries.
I should’ve been doing this all along. It just doesn’t make sense to log manually. Too time consuming! If you have any questions about logging feel free to email me from my QRZ page I’m not an expert but happy to help!
Thank you for sharing this app, Forrest. I tried logging software before and shelved it, sticking with paper for the bulk of my activations. That being said....I am going to give this a try! Some of the parks I activate (usually wildlife management areas) do not have cell service. Will this application still work? At least to log even if the look-up function doesn't work?
I'm right there with you! Most of my activating is WMAs it's where I got my first Kilo! There are a ton of places that don't have service by me so I did fork out the cash for a Starlink now I have high speed internet everywhere I go it's a massive game changer haha. But prior to starlink I had a ton of experience using Polo outside of service areas and it works GREAT. For familiar QSOs (it keeps track of who you talk to!) it'll pull the look-up info right up. But I did have times even for new QSOs it'd still pull it up somehow I'm not sure how. But of course, even when it doesn't pull up the look-up info I can still log everything I just make sure to copy the QTH as well to cross-reference and confirm the callsign later if I feel I need to. I've had so many friends comment the same as you, then use the app, all have told me since that it's completely changed the logging game for them. Kind of cool too, if you have a large enough screen or an ipad/tablet you can import your log directly to the pota site right after your activation! I love it! Let me know how it goes for you! 73 de KI7QCF
Cool info. I have used this a couple of times at home testing it while hunting, and I do like it. Looking forward to using it during an activation. It will be a while though for CW. My ICR or decoding of call signs is not that great yet. I will probably go to a park and try to hunt 10 contacts for my first couple of activations and hopefully soon. TU es 72
I love that plan! And my honest opinion, don’t wait for your ICR to reach a specific level. If you can somewhat copy at 15 WPM or 17 WPM just head out to the field. If you need to send a few question-marks during each call sign that comes to you that’s ok. I did that, and still do that. It’s your activation and it’s at your pace! My confidence has increased only as I’ve made myself vulnerable activating parks. There’s highs and lows but it’s worth it. Thanks for watching!
Ha! I thought the same thing ( it was an antenna or some piece of equipment) when I saw it for the first time on the POTA spots. Good video and information. Not sure I'm ready to give up my old fashioned paper logging doing POTA, primarily because I'm the world's worst at "Fat fingering" but you have me thinking about it. 73, Ed KJ4R
So who says you cannot teach an old dog new tricks?? Over 30 years of hamming and often sticking to the old and outdated, I broke down and tried Ham2K Polo for my activation today. You were right! Loved it. Goodbye pen and paper! It was 95 degrees in the shade today and if I would have used paper it would have been soaked with sweat! I did a 3fer today and when I got home it took less than 5 minutes to upload my logs. Used to be at least an hour to get all my paper logs entered into ADIF Master. If you ever make it to SC, the steak dinner is on me 😀 Thanks for the video!
Ed! That makes me so happy haha. And kudos to you. One of the hardest things to do is change an old habit. Especially one that old! I couldn't agree more. I was so in the routine of paper and pencil the idea of switching logs was really hard to accept. But the second I did my first export of the ADIF file and import I knew that my life had changed forever. Not to mention the many other benefits like instantly verifying callsigns and QTH, the in-app map, etc etc etc.
I'll definitely take you up on that steak dinner! But I'm buying ;)
Great video Forrest. I’ve been licensed 61 years and have only been into POTA for a little over a month. Do all the parks around Park City all CW. I’m old school with the paper logs and manual entries and just down loaded the Ham2K POLO app and am anxious to try it on my next activation. Thanks for sharing this info! See you on the bands with ground wave.
W4LOO
@@procyclist9280 Thats great! And hats off for your willingness to try something new after decades of doing something a certain way. I’d love to hear how you experience the app. For me it’s a big time game changer!
One of the next parks I’m planning to activate for the first time is Jordanelle. Maybe I’ll run into you out there! 73 de KI7QCF
I'm so happy it's available for Android, too! Thanks for the introduction to this app. Two weeks into my CW training. I did wonder how long it took you to log all of those manual entries.
I should’ve been doing this all along. It just doesn’t make sense to log manually. Too time consuming!
If you have any questions about logging feel free to email me from my QRZ page I’m not an expert but happy to help!
The wilson ball on the shelf is staring into my soul
One of my all time favorite movies. And, I hope you can sleep tonight 😂
Thank you for sharing this app, Forrest. I tried logging software before and shelved it, sticking with paper for the bulk of my activations. That being said....I am going to give this a try! Some of the parks I activate (usually wildlife management areas) do not have cell service. Will this application still work? At least to log even if the look-up function doesn't work?
I'm right there with you! Most of my activating is WMAs it's where I got my first Kilo!
There are a ton of places that don't have service by me so I did fork out the cash for a Starlink now I have high speed internet everywhere I go it's a massive game changer haha. But prior to starlink I had a ton of experience using Polo outside of service areas and it works GREAT. For familiar QSOs (it keeps track of who you talk to!) it'll pull the look-up info right up. But I did have times even for new QSOs it'd still pull it up somehow I'm not sure how. But of course, even when it doesn't pull up the look-up info I can still log everything I just make sure to copy the QTH as well to cross-reference and confirm the callsign later if I feel I need to.
I've had so many friends comment the same as you, then use the app, all have told me since that it's completely changed the logging game for them. Kind of cool too, if you have a large enough screen or an ipad/tablet you can import your log directly to the pota site right after your activation! I love it!
Let me know how it goes for you!
73 de KI7QCF
Sorry, Was hard to hear because of the QRM.
I love those burgundy paddles on your Kent key! Gorgeous.
Thanks for watching
Cool info. I have used this a couple of times at home testing it while hunting, and I do like it. Looking forward to using it during an activation. It will be a while though for CW. My ICR or decoding of call signs is not that great yet. I will probably go to a park and try to hunt 10 contacts for my first couple of activations and hopefully soon. TU es 72
I love that plan! And my honest opinion, don’t wait for your ICR to reach a specific level. If you can somewhat copy at 15 WPM or 17 WPM just head out to the field. If you need to send a few question-marks during each call sign that comes to you that’s ok. I did that, and still do that. It’s your activation and it’s at your pace! My confidence has increased only as I’ve made myself vulnerable activating parks. There’s highs and lows but it’s worth it. Thanks for watching!
Ha! I thought the same thing ( it was an antenna or some piece of equipment) when I saw it for the first time on the POTA spots. Good video and information. Not sure I'm ready to give up my old fashioned paper logging doing POTA, primarily because I'm the world's worst at "Fat fingering" but you have me thinking about it. 73, Ed KJ4R
I had that same problem but with reading my own handwriting when I’d get home! My bet is if you try this app once you won’t be able to go back haha!
Nice walkthrough 👍🏻