Dean Wood N6DE is a contester asking a provocative question: Can a Parks on the Air activation be competitive in a serious contest?

In this conversation, Dean shares the results of a months-long experiment testing whether a carefully chosen park—combined with smart antenna strategy—can rival traditional home stations. His target site was Fremont Peak State Park in California, selected for two key competitive advantages: a dramatically lower noise floor than most suburban stations and terrain that slopes toward Europe and Asia, creating a naturally low takeoff angle for DX. Dean operated two contests from the park—NAQP CW and ARRL DX CW—bringing portable antennas, battery power, and a willingness to adapt on the fly.

The results were eye-opening. During ARRL DX CW, Dean discovered that antenna orientation mattered far more than expected: after installing a second wire aimed toward Japan, signals jumped roughly two S-units compared with his original European-focused inverted V. That kind of real-time experimentation is exactly what portable contesting demands—and rewards. Over the two contests he logged more than 1,200 QSOs, including 565 DX contacts on 15 meters alone, ultimately “kilo-ing” the park with over 1,000 contacts.

But the bigger story is philosophical. Dean argues that portable operating—through Parks on the Air, SOTA, and similar programs—may be the most promising gateway for the next generation of contesters. With creative contest overlays, outreach from station owners, and collaboration between contest clubs and the POTA community, he believes the hobby can evolve beyond the traditional big-tower model and bring new operators into radiosport.

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Special thanks to DX Engineering for supporting operators everywhere—from portable POTA activators to serious contesters chasing DX. Their continued commitment helps keep radiosport thriving across parks, peaks, and stations around the world.