Award Levels

• Bronze- Work (and/or activate) 12 SMP entities including at least 8 Metro Parks

• Silver- Work (and/or activate) 24 SMP entities including at least 10 Metro Parks

• Gold- Work (and/or activate) all current SMP entities

Valid Contacts

Contacts can be made on any Amateur Radio band or mode, but all contacts must be direct (simplex) contacts with no repeater or relays. You can get credit for an entity by either working a station located there or activating and making at least one contact from the entity. All contacts must be made after March 12, 2021. Spotting assistance is allowed to let stations know about SMPOTA operations. In addition to casual operations, CFARC club activities including the FM Simplex contest will encourage club activations. Require information for all contacts includes:

• Date

• Time in UTC

• Frequency

• Callsign of station worked

• SMP Entity (see list below)

Spotting Assistance

Please feel free to post all park operations to usual spotting sites such as DX Clusters but due to the local nature of most contact, especially on VHF/UHF, please also feel free to announce your operations via the Cuyahoga Falls ARC Club repeater (147.27+ pl 110.9), on the Cuyahoga Falls ARC Facebook page, via the SMPOTA groups.io mailing list below and/or Twitter @smpota1.

Suggested Frequencies

Operations on all VHF/UHF bands are available to all license classes. On HF bands it is suggested that selected frequencies be within the General (or where applicable Technician) portion of the band to encourage the greatest number of operators. For VHF/UHF FM, it is suggested that you use standard recognized frequencies (see charts).

Application Process

Operators will enter all contact information into an online form once they have met the requirements for any level of the award. There is no charge for the awards. A printable PDF of your award certificate will be emailed to you after approval. Recipients of the Gold Level Award will also receive a suitable physical award.

Additional Information

Operators must follow all park rules, for a detailed list see this link. Some general rules include, but are not limited to:

• Not making unreasonable noise or disturbing other park visitors

• Staying on designed vehicle and foot traffic areas.

• Be careful not to damage park property including but not limited to any tree, flower, shrub, rock, building, sign, equipment or any other property found therein

• Do not use ropes to attach antennas to trees

Maps:

• Summit County Map: All Metro Park Locations

• Bike & Hike Trail

• Freedom Trail

• Towpath Trail