so i finally did my first solo activation last weekend at a state park about 45 minutes from home, K-4857 if anyone knows the area. ive been hunting parks for a few months now and figured it was time to just go do one myself. brought my KX2 and a linked dipole i threw together a few weeks ago, nothing fancy.

setup went fine, got the antenna up in a tree pretty quick, made my first contact around 10am local. but then the band just kind of died on me, 40 meters went totally flat and i hadnt thought to bring anything cut for 20. spent like 45 minutes calling CQ with basically nothing coming back. i was starting to panic a little honestly.

eventually i switched to 20 and just used the internal tuner even though the SWR was probably not great, and i started getting spots on the POTA app which helped a lot. ended up with 11 QSOs which i know is just barely over the minimum but it counts as a valid activation right? the whole thing felt kind of chaotic but also really fun in a weird way. already planning the next one.

11 QSOs absolutely counts, you activated the park fair and square. the minimum is 10 so youre good. honestly your first solo is always a little chaotic, thats just how it goes. i remember my first one i forgot to bring a pen and had to log everything on my phone which was a whole other mess.

one thing that helped me a lot was self-spotting as soon as i get set up, even before i start calling CQ. just throw yourself on the POTA app or pota.app right away and the hunters will find you pretty fast. 40 meters can be weird mid-morning depending on the season, a lot of guys do 20 in the morning and drop to 40 later in the afternoon when it opens back up. sounds like you figured that out on your own though. keep going, it gets way more comfortable after a few activations.

congrats on the activation. yeah 11 is totally valid dont stress about it. i had one last month where i only got 10 and it was a whole ordeal, pile of clouds came in and i thought the rain was gonna end it early. the POTA community is super chill about hunters helping you out when you self spot so lean on that, people literally sit there waiting for new spots to pop up.