so i finally did my first activation last weekend at a state park about 45 minutes from my house. been putting it off for months because honestly i was nervous about the whole thing, setting up in public, people walking by asking what you're doing, all that. but man it was actually really fun.

i ran about 87 QSOs in just under 3 hours on 40m SSB with my KX2 and a random wire up in a tree. the pile wasn't crazy but there were definitely moments where people were calling over each other and i had to slow down and work them one at a time. first time i've ever had anyone actually want to talk to me on radio lol.

couple things i'm not sure about though. when i log, do i need to put the park reference in every single log entry or just somewhere in the header? i was using HAMRS on my phone and i think it does it automatically but i want to make sure the upload to the POTA website is right. also is there a standard way to announce your park reference on air? i was just saying the park number after my callsign each time but i heard another activator doing it differently.

also one random thing — a guy came up to me while i was operating and asked if i was a spy. so that was fun.

congrats on the first one, that's always the hardest part just getting yourself out there. HAMRS handles the park reference automatically when you set up the activation at the start, it embeds it in the ADIF file so when you upload to pota.app it reads it correctly. you dont need to manually add it to each contact as long as you started the log properly with the park selected. just double check before you upload that the park reference shows in the file header, you can open the ADIF in any text editor and look for the MY_SIG_INFO field, should have your K- number in there.

as for announcing on air, most activators i hear just say something like "this is W1XYZ, activating K-1234, Parks on the Air" at the start of each CQ. some people drop the full explanation after the first few contacts and just say the park number. doesnt really matter much as long as hunters can hear the reference. the main thing is saying it clearly enough that people logging you can get it right.

and yeah the spy thing happens more than you'd think, i usually just say i'm talking to people around the world and that either impresses them or they walk away faster

87 contacts on your first activation is really solid, i only got like 14 on mine and spent half of it untangling wire from a pine branch. what length random wire were you running? i've been trying to figure out a good portable antenna setup and keep going back and forth between a linked dipole and just doing the random wire thing with a tuner.