The POTA tab shows live Parks on the Air activations. Spots are collected server-side and cached so you get fast, reliable data without hitting the POTA API directly from your browser.
QAS-log uses a demand-driven scraping model — the backend only collects POTA spots while someone is actively using the POTA tab.
If you leave the POTA tab, heartbeats stop, the window expires after 10 minutes, and scraping pauses until someone returns. This keeps server costs down while ensuring active users get fresh data.
When you first open the POTA tab after an idle period, you'll briefly see a "Scraper waking up... fresh spots in ~1 min" message while the backend fetches its first batch.
Each spot in the list shows:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Activator | Callsign of the operator (clickable — fills the logger form) |
| Country flag | Flag icon for the activator's program country |
| Park name & reference | Full park name with reference code (e.g., "Muir Woods (K-0001)") |
| Frequency | Operating frequency in MHz |
| Band badge | Color-coded band indicator (e.g., 20m) |
| Mode badge | Yellow badge showing the mode (e.g., SSB, CW) |
| Grid badge | 4-character grid square; hover to see the full 6-character grid |
| Spot count badge | Blue badge showing how many times this activator has been spotted |
| Location icon | Green (high accuracy) or blue (medium accuracy) coordinate indicator, shown when map is enabled |
| Time ago | Relative timestamp (e.g., "5m ago") |
| Comments | Spot comments, if any, shown after the frequency |
Worked spots: If you've already logged a contact with an activator today (matching call, reference, band, and mode), the spot row appears with strikethrough text and reduced opacity. On the map, worked spots show a blue checkmark instead of a colored circle.
Four filter dropdowns sit above the spot list. Program, band, and mode filters are applied client-side (instant). The time filter triggers a server re-fetch.
| Filter | Options | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Program | Dynamically populated from spots (e.g., K, VE, JA, VK) | All Programs |
| Band | Dynamically populated from spots (e.g., 40m, 20m, 15m) | All Bands |
| Mode | Dynamically populated from spots (e.g., SSB, CW, FT8) | All Modes |
| Time | Only show spots from the last N minutes | 10 minutes |
Filter options update each time new spots arrive, so you'll only see bands and modes that are actually active.
Between polls, spots can expire. Each spot carries an expire field (seconds remaining when it was cached). The app subtracts elapsed time since the cache was built and hides spots whose timer has run out. This prevents showing stale activations between refresh cycles.
Two sort options are available via dropdown:
| Sort | Description |
|---|---|
| By Time (default) | Newest spots first, sorted by spot timestamp |
| Most Spotted | Highest spot count first — activators reported by the most spotters appear at top |
The map plots spot locations with color-coded markers by program prefix:
| Program | Color |
|---|---|
| US (K) | Blue |
| Canada (VE) | Red |
| Japan (JA) | Orange |
| Australia (VK) | Teal |
| UK (G) | Pink |
| Europe (EU) | Purple |
| New Zealand (ZL) | Green |
| All others | Gray |
Click a marker to see a popup with the activator, park name, reference, frequency, band, mode, and time. The popup includes a Use button that fills the logger form — same as clicking the spot in the list.
Hover shows the activator callsign and park reference as a label.
The map respects your app theme (dark/light) and includes navigation and fullscreen controls.
If you prefer a full-width spot list, toggle the map off in the POTA settings modal. The spot list expands to fill the entire panel. The setting is stored in pota-map-disabled.
Click any spot (in the list or on the map) to populate the logger form:
The app switches to the logger tab, focuses the callsign field, and triggers an automatic QRZ lookup. You're ready to make the contact.
The default refresh interval is 120 seconds (2 minutes). You can adjust this in the POTA settings modal (gear icon on the POTA tab). Set to 0 to disable automatic polling entirely.
The setting is stored as pota-polling-interval in your browser's local storage.