We often read that POTA is the “fastest-growing activity in U.S. amateur radio.” I’ve said it, too. Several times. I think satellite operations are a distant second growth activity. But do we actually know much about POTA activity growth through empirical data? My impressions are based on guesstimates from data on Canada where I analyzed a national survey of hams conducted originally by RAC. In 2001, some 37% of those Canadian hams said they engaged in portable operations, including POTA, SOTA and the like. It ranked 9th among 37 common ham activities in the survey. They reported to the tune of 15.7% participating in satellite operations. Alas, we do not have parallel data on U.S. hams so these are inferences made from comparative data. But data nonetheless.

Listeners to the ICQ Podcast where I appear monthly as a Presenter probably heard me say that I was successfully treated for a highly aggressive prostate cancer (adenocarcinoma, Gleason 8) almost two years ago at the Mayo Clinic. While in Rochester for two weeks, I had a lot of time in bed recovering from the surgery before being released for home back in Mississippi. For me, I tried to keep my mind on things besides the cancer treatment as I had the top prostate cancer hospital in the U.S. treating me and the top robotic surgeon, Dr. Igor Frank, at the helm. So what does a ham think about in this circumstance? Let me tell you…