so i've been reading about WWFF for a while and finally got off my butt and drove out to a state wildlife management area near me that's listed as a KFF reference. brought the FT-891 and my homebrew EFHW, set up in the parking area near the trailhead because honestly the bugs were insane deeper in and i didnt feel like fighting that with a radio on my back.

the actual operating went fine once i got spotted on the WWFF spotter network, pile got pretty manageable and i ended up with like 47 QSOs over maybe 90 minutes which i think is enough for a valid activation. but a few things caught me off guard. first i had no idea how many people specifically ask for your reference number during the QSO, like almost everyone wanted the KFF number confirmed not just a signal report. i was not ready for that mentally, kept fumbling it at first.

second thing was how many hunters-in-the-field showed up wanting a park to park contact. that part was actually super cool, talked to a guy running from a nature reserve in finland which i did not expect on 20 meters at like 2pm local.

anyway just sharing the experience, definitely doing more of these. wondering if anyone else had a weird or surprising first activation story

haha the reference number thing gets everyone at first. i remeber my first activation i just wrote the KFF number on a piece of tape and stuck it on the side of the radio so i'd stop blanking on it mid-pileup. sounds dumb but it worked. after a few activations it just rolls off the tongue automatically.

the P2P contacts are honestly one of the best parts of the whole program imo. theres something weirdly satisfying about making contact with another person who's also standing in a field somewhere with a radio strapped to their back. i've had some really good ragchews come out of those after the pileup dies down. congrats on the first one, 47 QSOs is a solid outing especially if conditions werent great

nice one. yeah the spotting network is kind of essential, i tried doing an activation without getting spotted first and just called CQ into the void for like 20 minutes before i gave up and self spotted. lesson learned. also what EFHW design were you running? im trying to figure out what to bring for a hike-in activation next month, space and weight are a concern and im torn between the EFHW and just doing a vertical