so i finally did my first WWFF activation last weekend, been meaning to do one for ages and kept putting it off. picked a state forest about an hour from home, VKFF reference i think, well i mean it was a US park so KFF obviously, i always mix those up when typing. anyway loaded up the car with the KX3, a 40m end fed, and way too much food for a 4 hour trip honestly.

setup went fine, got the antenna up in a tree pretty easily, started calling on 14.244 and got a few contacts but it was really slow going. turns out i hadnt spotted myself on the WWFF network before i started operating and so nobody knew i was out there. spent like 45 minutes just calling CQ before a buddy texted me asking why i wasnt on the spotting page. classic rookie mistake i guess.

once i got spotted the pile up was actually pretty decent, made it past the 44 contact minimum with a bit of room to spare. the whole thing is just really fun, combining hiking and radio is kind of perfect for me. already looking at my next reference, theres a wildlife refuge nearby that i dont think has been activated many times. anyone else gotten into WWFF lately? feels like more people are doing it but maybe thats just my perception

haha the spotting thing gets everyone at least once. i did the same thing on my second activation, sat there confused why nobody was coming back to me. now i set up a macro on my phone to post to the WWFF spotting page and pota.app at the same time before i even key up the first time.

44 contacts is the threshold for a valid activation so you're good there. once you start chasing references yourself you get a feel for how much hunters appreciate a good spot with frequency and mode listed. the wildlife refuge sounds like a great next one, definitely check if its also a POTA reference because a lot of them overlap and you can log for both programs simultaneously which the hunters really like. good luck with the next one

welcome to the addiction lol. i got into WWFF about two years ago and now i basically plan every camping trip around whether theres an unactivated reference nearby. my wife thinks i have a problem. she's probably right. the wildlife refuge ones are often really good because theyre usually quiet areas with decent takeoff and you dont have to deal with crowds like you sometimes get at the popular state parks.