so i finally did my first Parks on the Air activation last weekend at a state park about 45 minutes from my house. been meaning to do this for months and kept putting it off because i wasnt sure i had the right setup or whatever. anyway i threw my KX2 and a random wire into a backpack along with my SOTAbeams linked dipole and drove out there saturday morning.

got there and realized i totally forgot to self-spot on the POTA app before i left home so nobody knew i was even out there. took me probably 20 minutes just to get the antenna up because there were way fewer trees than i expected and the ones that were there had weird low branches. eventually got on 40m and just started calling CQ POTA and honestly expected crickets but people actually came back to me. ended up with 22 QSOs in about 90 minutes which i guess is enough to count as a valid activation.

one thing i wasnt ready for was how many people called at once once i did finally spot myself through the app. went from nothing to like a small pileup and i kind of panicked a little. also my logging was a mess, i was using paper because i couldnt get hamrs to behave on my phone with the glare. anyone have tips for getting better organized next time, especially for spotting and logging in the field?

22 QSOs on your first activation is honestly pretty solid, dont be too hard on yourself. the spotting thing trips everybody up at least once. what i do now is set a reminder on my phone the night before to pre-spot on the POTA website and then re-spot when i actually get on the air since the pre-spot kind of acts like an alert for hunters who are watching the schedule.

for logging in the sun i switched to just carrying a small clipboard with pre-printed log sheets, old school but it works and i can read it no matter how bright it is. then i upload it to the POTA site later using ADIF from HAMRS when im back home in the shade. once you get a few activations under your belt the pileup thing gets way more manageable, you sort of develop a rhythm for working them. the main thing is just slow down and dont be afraid to say QRZ when you lose a callsign.

yeah the antenna situation is always the wild card isnt it. ive shown up to parks that looked great on google maps and then in real life the trees are like 15 feet tall. i started carrying a cheap fiberglass mast just for those situations, its not glamorous but it gets the wire up. congrats on getting it done though, most people talk about doing POTA forever and never actually go.