so i finally did my first solo activation at a state forest about 45 minutes from my house, been doing POTA as a hunter for about 8 months and finally decided to just go for it and activate one myself. grabbed my FT-891, a 40m link dipole i threw together from some instructions i found online, and my little 7ah LiFePO4 battery and just drove out there saturday morning.

setup took way longer than i expected, probably 30 minutes just getting the antenna up in the trees with a line and a rock, and by the time i actually got on the air i was already kind of flustered. spotted myself on POTAspots and within maybe 2 minutes i had a small pileup going which i did NOT expect at all. ended up working 23 contacts in about 40 minutes on 40m SSB before the battery started showing lower voltage than i liked so i packed up.

the weird part was a few people calling me who seemed annoyed that i couldnt hear them well, i think my antenna wasnt great because i had to compromise on the angle. also one guy kept calling on my frequency when i was already working someone else which was kind of frustrating. anyway it counts as a valid activation which is cool. anyone else remember their first solo activation being kind of chaotic like this

oh man yes, my first activation was an absolute mess lol. i forgot my coax and had to use a random piece of RG-8X i had in the trunk that was way too long and just coiled it up on the ground. no idea how bad that was affecting things but i still got my 10 contacts so whatever. the pileup thing surprised me too, i remember being totally unprepared for people actually calling me. you kind of think you'll be out there struggling to get anyone and then suddenly everyone wants to talk to you at once and your brain just goes blank on the exchange. the guy calling on your frequency is just a thing that happens unfortunately, some hunters get pretty aggressive especially when a park is rare or needed for their challenges. 23 contacts for a first activation on a compromised antenna is honestly solid, dont sweat it too much. it gets way smoother after a few times out

congrats on the activation. one thing that helped me a lot when i started was just writing the exchange on a piece of paper and taping it to my radio so i wasnt fumbling around trying to remember what to say when the pile hit. sounds dumb but it works. also for the antenna angle thing, even a pretty ugly dipole will usually get the job done for POTA, most of the hunters are running decent stations and can pull you out even when your signal isnt perfect. what park reference was it if you dont mind me asking, always curious what states people are activating in