so i finally did my first activation last weekend at a state park about 45 minutes from me, K-4859 if anyone knows it, and honestly it was kind of a mess but i think it still counts? i was running my KX2 with a 40m end fed and i got there way later than planned because of traffic so i only had maybe an hour and a half before the sun started going down and i wasnt super comfortable packing up in the dark on an unfamiliar trail.

anyway i made 12 contacts on 40m SSB and a few on 20m, so i cleared the 10 contact minimum no problem which was a relief. but heres what threw me off — i had a hard time finding a clear frequency. like i would call CQ POTA and either nobody answered or i got stomped on almost immediately. do people usually spot themselves on the POTA website before calling? i didnt do that and im wondering if thats why hunters werent finding me. also my logging was kind of a disaster, i was using a paper log and my handwriting in the cold is apparently terrible.

overall though it was really fun and i want to do more. just want to figure out what i did wrong so the next one goes smoother.

congrats on the first one, 12 contacts on your debut is solid especially if you werent spotted. yeah spotting yourself on the POTA website or the app is kind of the key to getting a pileup going, most hunters have the map open and they're watching for new spots to pop up. once you post a spot you'll usually start getting replies within a minute or two, sometimes less if the band is decent. there's also the POTA Spots app which a lot of hunters run on their phone so they get notified automatically.

the frequency thing is just part of it honestly, 40m can be a zoo especially on weekends. some activators have luck dropping down to the lower end of the phone portion, like around 7.200 or so, others go up higher. just takes a feel for it. and dont worry too much about the paper log chaos, most people either use an app like HAMRS or just a voice recorder and transcribe later. you validated the activation though so it counts 100 percent, messy handwriting and all.

oh man i remember my first activation being kind of a scramble too, i forgot my antenna stakes and had to rig everything to a picnic table with electrical tape lol. but yeah it counts, thats the thing with POTA — they're pretty forgiving as long as you hit the 10. upload the log on the website and youre good.

the spotting thing is huge though, seriously makes a night and day difference. i went from barely scraping 10 contacts to sometimes getting 50+ just by spotting myself early. some people even pre-spot before they arrive so hunters know youre coming, though you have to actually show up and activate within a reasonable window or people get annoyed.