Several of my cartoon QSL commissions have involved mobile or portable operations, even backpacking and hiking — but this is the first one designed especially for Parks on the Air (POTA) contacts.
Don, WA4FL, is a retiree who spends part of his time in Florida (hence, the cool call sign). He enjoys combining QSOs with camping, so he wanted a card that showed him doing just that, with POTA acknowledged and a park animal “causing mischief.” Done and done. Besides, what would a Hamtoons QSL be without a cute animal wearing headphones? That’s why I went all-out and gave him four squirrels, two with headsets, one playing with his pipe, and one at the wheel of his Ram van (probably looking for a headset of his own). What can I say? Drawing cute animals wearing headphones makes me happy.
I also suggested modifying one of my standard report forms for POTA information, and this is what we came up with. Don liked it. I hope his fellow hams who receive one of these QSLs like it too.
Here’s another illustration that was commissioned but didn’t see print for one reason or another. It’s a shame, too — I put a lot of work into it and was looking forward to sharing it with the world. A detail of the illustration headlines the post; the full illustration is below.
