POTA / SOTA / WWFF / WWBOTA
See every active park, summit, nature reserve, and bunker activator in the world â live on the map and in the panel â updated every 60 seconds.
The Activation Programmes
These four programmes share a common idea: an amateur radio operator travels to a designated location â a national park, a mountain summit, a nature reserve, or a historical military bunker â sets up a portable or mobile station, and makes contacts with other operators. The "hunter" side (that is where you come in, watching OpenHamClock) tries to contact as many activators as possible to earn awards and points.
| Programme | Locations | Scale | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| POTA Parks on the Air |
National parks, forests, wildlife refuges, monuments | 80,000+ parks in 100+ countries | pota.app |
| SOTA Summits on the Air |
Mountain summits above a qualifying altitude | 160,000+ summits in 100+ associations | sota.org.uk |
| WWFF World Wide Flora & Fauna |
Nature reserves, protected areas, flora & fauna parks | 100,000+ references worldwide | wwff.co |
| WWBOTA World Wide Bunkers on the Air |
Historical military bunkers, fortifications, shelters | Growing programme across Europe and beyond | wwbota.org |
The vast majority of operators using these panels are hunters â they stay home at their fixed station and call the portable activators. You need only a normal amateur licence and a radio. OpenHamClock shows you who is active, where they are, and what frequency they are on.
The Activation Panels
OpenHamClock has individual panels for each programme (POTA, SOTA, WWFF, WWBOTA), all following the same layout. Each panel shows a live list of active activators â operators who are on the air right now at a qualifying location. The list is sorted by most recently spotted, with the freshest activity at the top.
Reading an activator row
US-0001 for Acadia NP, W4C/CM-001 for a SOTA summit). Links to the programme's website for that location.Map Markers
Every active activator gets a marker on the world map, positioned at the coordinates of their park, summit, or reserve. Marker icons are distinct per programme so you can tell them apart at a glance:
Click any marker on the map to open a popup showing the activator's callsign, reference, name, frequency, and a Tune button (if Rig Bridge is connected).
Working an Activator â Step by Step
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Spot an activator in the panel or on the map
The panel refreshes every 60 seconds. New spots appear at the top with a brief highlight animation. Green flags on the map tell you which parks are currently active at a glance.
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Click the activator row or map marker
This opens the details popup and draws the great-circle path from your QTH to the park on the world map. The DX Location panel updates with the bearing, distance, and the activator's sunrise/sunset times (useful if they are in a very different time zone).
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Click the frequency or Tune button
If Rig Bridge is connected, your radio tunes to the exact spotted frequency in the correct mode automatically. If not, note the frequency and tune manually.
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Call the activator
Most activators work simplex. Listen first â activators are usually in a short pile-up. When you hear a gap, give your callsign once, clearly. Exchange a signal report and the park reference. You are done â that is a valid hunt!
Many POTA activators work FT8, especially for longer paths. If the panel shows a frequency like 14.090 MHz with mode FT8, switch WSJT-X to that frequency â the activator will appear in your decode list. In FT8 you can work DX parks that would otherwise be beyond SSB range with a modest station.
Configuration
Each programme panel can be shown or hidden independently from Settings â Panels. Additional options under Settings â POTA (and equivalent for each programme):