Guest article by Josef | OE3FJS
Be honest: Have you ever climbed an observation tower, reached the top, enjoyed the stunning panoramic view – and thought: “Man, I really should call CQ from up here!”? No? Then you clearly don’t have enough amateur radio in your blood. But don’t worry, there’s now the perfect excuse: TOTA – Towers On The Air.
What is TOTA?
TOTA stands for “Towers On The Air” and is a new European outdoor programme for radio amateurs. The idea: combine the discovery of observation towers, lookout points, castle ruins and other elevated structures with amateur radio activations. If you collect mountain summits with SOTA, parks with POTA and nature reserves with WWFF – then with TOTA you collect towers. Makes sense, right?
The whole thing was launched in 2025 by Czech radio amateur OK2IH Ivan. What started as a project in the Czech Republic spread faster than a Sporadic-E opening in summer: first Slovakia joined, then Germany, and since 1 March 2026, Austria and Poland are also on board. Hungary and the Netherlands are already waiting in the wings.
Austria is in – big time!
Since 1 March 2026, Austria is officially part of TOTA. The TOTA database now lists around 400 lookout points across Austria with the reference prefix OER. Four hundred! That’s more towers than most of us have DXCC entities in our log. 😄
The Austrian references carry the prefix OER (for Austria) and are available at wwtota.com right now – often with many interesting details that aren’t just fascinating for radio amateurs. The site is also available in German and English.
How it works
The principle is beautifully simple:
- Activators: Go to a registered lookout tower, set up your equipment and call CQ TOTA. Each tower has its own reference number.
- Hunters: Chase the activators from home or on the go – just like SOTA or POTA.
- All bands, all modes: From CW through SSB to FT8 – everything is allowed. Only terrestrial repeater operation is excluded.
- Awards: There are separate activator and hunter awards for HF and VHF/UHF. Points are counted automatically.
Much of the data on wwtota.com is accessible without registration. Registered users additionally get a route planner to the tower (by car and on foot), a self-spotting cluster and an integrated logging programme. And if you use the Ham2K Portable Logger: it already supports TOTA references!
Double and triple scoring
Here’s the best part: many observation towers are located in nature reserves, parks, on mountain summits or at castles. This means with a single QSO you can score in multiple programmes at once – TOTA + WWFF + POTA + SOTA + GMA or COTA. Now that’s what I call efficiency!
The OE-TOTA Community
OE4GTU Gerhard and OE4FJM Fritz have set up a WhatsApp group where the Austrian TOTA community exchanges ideas. Want to join? Click here for the OE-TOTA WhatsApp group.
My conclusion
I’m thrilled. TOTA is exactly what we were missing – a programme that combines hiking, discovery and amateur radio in a fresh way. With nearly 400 towers in Austria alone, we won’t run out of targets anytime soon. And honestly: what could be better than climbing an observation tower on a sunny day, letting your gaze wander across the landscape, and then calling “CQ TOTA” into the ether?
So: pack your antenna, lace up your hiking boots, and head for the nearest tower!
All information and the complete tower database: wwtota.com
Credits: The TOTA programme was launched by OK2IH Ivan (Czech Republic). The Austrian TOTA community is driven by OE4GTU Gerhard and OE4FJM Fritz – thank you for your dedication!
73 de OE3FJS Josef
