Many of you are familiar with POTA (Parks on the Air), SOTA (Summits on the Air), IOTA (Islands on the Air), JOTA (Jamboree on the Air)...
A new method of event promotion was just launched by Chris KF4DBX: FOTA - Fairs on the Air. http://www.FOTA.earth is the site for FOTA. Chris, in association with his Club JCARA (Jennings County Amateur Radio Association) recently tested this at the Jennings County Fair and used that as a test bed to get this off the ground. FOTA connects amateur radio with State / County / City fairs, festivals and other community events. This is a free service and app, and allows individual accounts, as well as recognition of area clubs by simply registering the club you may be a part of. The FOTA site allows for spotting, logging, and event event awards for activities worldwide. The site allows for ADIF log uploads, real time spotting, club affiliation pages, and allows users to upload info for your area fairs and other events. Each event automatically provides an event number to aid in spotting, collecting, and chasing FOTA stations.
I've linked it to the upcoming NC State Fair event (US-NC-SF) hosted by Travis Russell KN4WJL, where individual hams from the area, as well as hams from area clubs, will come together for a amateur radio presence at the fair. On a related note, Travis is still looking for hams to assist with this effort, and all are welcome to come help with talking to the public, as well as operating on the air as much as possible. You can sign up for this event on the Ham Radio Exhibit site at https://hamradioexhibit.org
Please take a moment to check it out. If you register for a free account, it'll help with testing the system. If you're in a ham radio club, take a moment to upload something about it so it can be linked to possible Fairs or community events that you or your club might participate in. There's lots to check out, so have fun playing with it, and please register your fairs or community events to help spread the info to others worldwide.
