So i finally did my first activation last weekend at a state park about 45 minutes from my house. Been licensed for about 8 months and kept reading about POTA on here and elsewhere and finally just decided to stop overthinking it and go do it. Threw the KX2 in my bag with a 40m linked dipole and just went.

Honestly it was way more fun than i expected. Got my 10 contacts in maybe 35 minutes on 40m SSB, bunch of hunters came back pretty quick once i spotted myself on the POTA app. A couple guys even called me back a second time which i thought was cool, didnt realize people collected parks that way.

My question is about the park reference numbers. I activated K-2345 but there was a sign at the trailhead that mentioned the park is also part of some larger state forest complex. Do i need to look that up separately and log it as a second reference on the same activation? Or is that only if i physically move to a different area within it. Also how do you guys handle the log upload, the adif from my KX2 needs some tweaking i think before the POTA site will accept it.

congrats on the first one, thats always the hardest part just actually going and doing it. On the park reference question -- yes you can absolutely log both references if the location youre operating from is officially within both parks. A lot of places have overlapping boundaries especially state parks inside national forests. Just go to the POTA website and look up both references on the map, if your operating spot falls inside both polygons you can list both on the activation and get credit for activating two parks at once. Some people call these 2-fers or multi-park activations and hunters love them because they get credit for both parks in one QSO with you.

For the ADIF thing, are you using the POTA log template or just the raw log off the radio? The KX2 logs are generally fine but you need to make sure the POTA_REF field is in there or you add it manually. The POTA website has a help page about adif requirements, worth a look before you try to upload.

I just did my third activation two weeks ago and had the same exact confusion about overlapping parks. ended up just emailing the POTA help address and they got back to me pretty fast, super friendly. they basically said if youre unsure just submit with what you know and theyll sort it out, they dont penalize you for getting it slightly wrong.

also 35 minutes to get 10 contacts is really solid for a first time out, took me like two hours my first activation because i forgot to spot myself haha. the self-spotting thing makes such a huge difference