so i finally did my first activation last weekend at a state park about 45 minutes from my house, K-4577 if anyone knows it, and honestly it went way better than i thought it would. got my 10 contacts in about 35 minutes on 40m SSB which i know isnt super impressive but for a first time out im pretty happy with it.

i had my KX2 and a random wire antenna i just threw up in a tree, probably 30 feet of wire and a 9:1 unun, nothing fancy. signals were decent, had a few hunters calling in from pretty far away which was cool to see.

my question is about the spotting thing -- i spotted myself on the POTA app before i started and i got a pile up almost immediately which i wasnt ready for at all, kind of fumbled through it. is that normal? does everyone self spot or do some people just call CQ without spotting and wait to get picked up by a reverse beacon or something? also i noticed some activators put their frequency in the spot and some dont, whats the convention there?

anyway i already have three more parks scoped out nearby so i think im hooked, just want to make sure im doing things right before i go out again

congrats on the first one, that feeling of getting your 10 and knowing you qualified the park is pretty great isnt it. 35 minutes on a first activation with a wire in a tree is honestly solid, dont undersell it.

on the spotting question -- yeah most activators self spot, its kind of expected now that the app is so easy to use. the pile up thing is totally normal, especially if you spotted on a busy band during decent conditions. some people do rely on RBN or POTA spots from hunters who hear you calling CQ, but that can take a while and you might sit there calling for 20 minutes before anyone finds you, self spotting is just way more efficient especially when youre trying to get your 10 and get out.

putting your frequency in the spot is a good habit if youre on a non-standard frequency or if youre doing something like running FT8 or CW, for SSB on 40 most hunters will just look at the spot and tune around a little anyway. i usually include it just to save people the trouble. one thing i will say -- if you move frequency for whatever reason, re-spot yourself, nothing more frustrating as a hunter than going to a spot and finding nobody there.

oh man the first pile up is always a surprise haha. i totally froze my first time too, just kept saying "uh, go ahead" to everyone at once which helped nobody.

what helped me was watching some activation videos on youtube before i went out again, there are a few operators who record their whole activation and you can really hear how they manage the pile, like calling for specific call sign endings or geographic areas when it gets busy. K-state and W-state type stuff. takes a little practice but it clicks pretty quick.