The Portable Operating Group
Who We Are
The Portable Operating Group is a Special Interest Group of the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society.
Created on February 15, 2022, for the purposes of
demonstrating amateur radio in public and preparing radio amateurs to operate beyond the conveniences of their home stations, our goals include
- Practicing the rapid deployment, assessment, and troubleshooting of equipment in the field
- Providing opportunities for Technician and General class license holders to operate on HF bands
in order to gain experience with General and Extra class license exam topics
- Providing operating opportunities to hams without a home station
- Practicing for handling pile-ups by activating POTA entities
- Introducing the public to the amateur radio hobby in a positive way
What We Do
To fulfill our goals, the Portable Operating Group ventures into the field each month (more or less) with portable amateur radio equipment
to operate for a few hours in public places.
Often our activities will include activating a Parks on the Air (POTA) entity.
We supply all the equipment needed to get on the air - radios, antennas, cables, and power sources.
Participants are also welcome to bring their own portable stations to demonstrate to other attendees, if they would like.
Our events are open to everyone. You do not need to be a member of RARS or any other club to attend.
In fact, you don't even need to be a licensed amateur radio operator!
Our events are ideal for newly licensed hams and for people who just want to find out what amateur radio is.
We have experienced operators who will help you if you want to "Get on the Air."
Although we try to get out at least once a month, we don't operate on a fixed schedule. You will find a partial list of events below.
We also announce events on the RARS homepage,
on Brantley West's QRZed page,
and on various email reflectors for local amateur radio operators.
Since we often operate in large parks or other public spaces, we typically provide a "talk-in" on 146.52 MHz (the national two-meter simplex calling frequency)
or the RARS W4DW 146.64 MHz repeater (-0.6 MHz offset, no tone) to help guide you to our actual location.
When and Where We Do It
This schedule was last revised on
April 9, 2024.
We will update it with changes to scheduled events and as new events are confirmed, so check back frequently!
For more information, please
contact Brantley West.
When | What | Where |
Upcoming Events |
Future Events to be Announced! |
Past Events (So You Can See the Kinds of Things We Do!) |
March 30, 2024 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm |
Parks on the Air Activation |
Clemmons Educational State Forest |
February 4, 2024 11:00 am |
Radio orienteering with the Backwoods Orienteering Klub |
Eno River State Park, Fews Ford Access, 6101 Cole Mill Rd, Durham, NC 27705 |
January 20, 2024 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm |
POTA Support Your Parks weekend |
Falls Lake Beaver Dam Day Use Area |
October 28, 2023 3:00 -5:00 pm |
POTA Activation |
Jordan Lake Seaforth Day-Use Area
Shelter #9 |
September 9, 2023 3:00-5:00 pm |
NC POTA Party |
Clemmons Educational State Forest |
August 12, 2023 11:30 am-1:30 pm |
Satellite Demo |
Lake Crabtree County Park |
July 15, 2023 3:00-5:00 pm |
POTA Support Your Parks weekend + Get on the Air! |
Umstead State Park, Reedy Creek/I-40 Entrance |
June 24/25, 2023 |
Get on the Air at RARS ARRL Field Day |
Raleigh Police Club, Knightdale |
May 21, 2023 Noon |
Amateur Radio Direction Finding with the Backwoods Orienteering Klub |
Eno River State Park, 6101 Cole Mill Road, Durham, NC |
April 8, 2023 |
RARSfest Get On the Air (GOTA) Station |
NC State Fairgrounds, Jim Graham Building |
March 18, 2023 2:00 pm |
POTA and QRP CW vs. 100W SSB showdown with the Knightlites |
Jordan Lake State Education Forest |
March 4, 2023 |
AB4OZ Hamfest |
Behind the Golden Corral at 3551 Grenelle Street, Raleigh, NC 27603 |
February 25, 2023 3:00 pm |
Mock public service event, APRS demo |
Umstead State Park, US-70 entrance |
January 28, 2023 3:00 pm |
Winter Field Day and HF Demo |
Crowder Park, Apex |