so i finally did my first WWFF activation last weekend, been wanting to try it for a while after watching some youtube videos of guys doing POTA and someone mentioned WWFF in the comments and i kind of fell down a rabbit hole from there

anyway i went out to a local nature reserve that's registered as a WWFF reference, set up my KX2 with a end fed wire up in a tree, and spent about 2 hours on 40m and 20m making contacts. got around 48 QSOs total which i thought was pretty decent for my first time out. logged everything in a paper log and then transferred it to ADIF when i got home

my question is mainly about the upload process — do i submit the log to the WWFF database directly through their site or is there some other way? i saw something about wwff.us but also the global wwff.world site and im not totally sure which one to use or if i need to do both. also does the reference number need to be in a specific field in the ADIF or does the website sort that out somehow

the whole thing was just a really nice experience honestly, way more relaxed than contesting, just sitting in the woods on a camp chair watching squirrels while working stations on SSB. might be my new favorite thing

congrats on the activation, 48 QSOs for a first time out is solid especially on a nature reserve that probably isnt super well known yet. sounds like you did everything right operationally

for the log upload — if you're in the US you'd typically go through wwff.us for the domestic side of things but the contacts still end up in the global wwff.world database either way so hunters worldwide can get credit. the ADIF needs to have the reference number in there, i usually put it in the MY_SIG_INFO field and set MY_SIG to WWFF, that's what the database expects. some logging software like Log4OM or HAMRS can handle this automatically if you set up an activity before you start logging in the field which saves a headache later

if you activated a reference that needed the minimum 44 QSOs to count as a valid activation you should be good. just double check the specific reference requirements on the wwff.world site cause some national programs have slightly different rules but 44 is the standard for most

oh man i remember being confused about exactly this same thing when i started doing activations last year, the wwff.us vs wwff.world thing trips everyone up at first. i ended up just uploading to wwff.world directly and it worked fine, my contacts showed up for the hunters and i got the activation credit no problem

also yeah sitting in the woods making contacts is just... i dont know its hard to explain to people who havent done it but its just a completely different vibe than operating from home. i did one activation at a wildlife refuge a few months ago and had a deer walk like 15 feet from me while i was mid-QSO, tried not to laugh into the mic