So ive been a ham for about 8 months now (General class) and a buddy of mine keeps talking about POTA and finally convinced me to try an activation at a state park about 20 minutes from my house. I registered on the pota.app site and got the park reference sorted out, K-4823 for anyone curious, but im still fuzzy on a few things before i head out Saturday.

First question is about logging — do I need to log in real time or can I just write contacts down on paper and upload later? I have HAMRS on my phone but last time i tried it the GPS was acting weird and it kept putting me at the wrong coordinates. Second thing is, how many contacts do i actually need for it to count as an activation? I heard 10 but someone else told me it depends on the park. And honestly do people actually call CQ POTA or do you just call CQ and people find you on the spots?

Sorry for all the questions, just dont want to show up and fumble around for two hours with nothing to show for it. Planning to run my IC-705 with a random wire up in a tree if i can manage it.

hey welcome to POTA, you're gonna love it. okay so the 10 contacts thing is correct, thats the minimum for a valid activation regardless of which park you're at. paper logging is totally fine, most people do it that way and then upload a ADIF file later through the website. HAMRS exports ADIF and its pretty straightforward once you get used to it, the GPS weirdness probably doesnt matter as long as your park reference is right when you upload.

For calling, most folks just call CQ POTA on whatever frequency they land on — 40m is usually your best bet for daytime regional contacts, maybe 20m if you want a bit more reach. Definitely spot yourself on pota.app once you're set up, that's honestly the biggest thing. Hunters are constantly watching the map and you'll get a pileup pretty quick once your spot shows. I did my first activation last spring with just a vertical and a 10ah lifepo4 battery and had 10 contacts in like 15 minutes after spotting. The 705 and a wire in a tree is a solid setup, you'll be fine.

oh also dont stress too much about the operating side of it, honestly the hunters are really patient with newer activators. i completely blanked on my exchange the first time and just kind of stumbled through it and everyone was cool about it. just make sure you say the park reference number clearly when people ask, some hunters are going for specific parks and want to confirm they got the right one logged.

one thing i wish someone had told me — bring more battery than you think you need and maybe a backup antenna option. i snapped my wire trying to throw it over a branch and spent 45 minutes fixing it instead of operating lol. good luck Saturday