So i finally pulled the trigger and signed up to activate K-4835 tomorrow morning, its a state forest about 20 min from my house. Ive done a bunch of hunting from home but never actually gone out to activate a park myself. Got my KX2 and a random wire antenna im planning to throw up in a tree, maybe 30 feet if i can find a good branch. Planning to be on 40m mostly since the park is kinda wooded and i figure 20m might not be as good from there, not sure if thats right actually.

Anyway my main worry is just not getting enough contacts. I know you need 10 to count as a valid activation and im a little nervous about that. Do i need to self-spot on the POTA website or does someone else usually do that? And is there a specific way to call CQ for POTA or do people just do normal CQ calls? Sorry if these are dumb questions, just want to make sure i dont show up and stand in the woods for 3 hours with zero contacts lol.

You're gonna do great, honestly 10 contacts is not hard at all once you get spotted. Yes you should self-spot on the pota.app website as soon as you start operating, just put in your callsign, the park reference, your frequency and mode. Hunters check that page constantly and you'll usually start getting pile-up pretty fast, sometimes within a minute or two of spotting yourself.

For calling CQ just say something like "CQ POTA CQ POTA this is [your call] activating K-4835" and people will find you. 40m is a solid choice for a wooded area, though honestly 20m works fine too so maybe jump up there if 40 gets quiet. The random wire should be totally fine, i activated a park last month with a piece of wire zip-tied to a fishing pole and worked 47 contacts. Dont stress about it, the hunters really want you to succeed and theyre very patient with activators.

oh also bring more battery than you think you need, i forgot to charge mine fully my first time out and was rationing power by the end which was stressful. and maybe download the POTA app on your phone before you go so you can log in the field, way easier than paper logging if your hands are cold or whatever