so i finally did my first WWFF activation last weekend at a local state forest, KFF reference and everything. been meaning to do it for ages and just never got around to it. set up my KX2 with a random wire thrown up in a tree and managed to get 32 contacts in about 2 hours which i think qualifies the reference? i was on 40m mostly but dipped onto 20m for a bit when 40 started acting weird in the afternoon.

anyway a few things i wasnt sure about — do i need to submit the log anywhere specific or does it all just go through ADIF upload to the WWFF database? i looked at the website and it was a bit confusing honestly. also is there a standard way to announce activations beforehand or do most people just spot themselves on the POTA/WWFF spotting network when they're out there. i know POTA and WWFF overlap a lot and i was logging for both at the same time which worked fine.

also ran into a couple guys who were specifically hunting WWFF references which i didnt even know was a thing, they were really enthusiastic about it. good fun overall, definitely doing more of these.

congrats on the first one, 32 contacts is solid especially on a random wire. yeah the WWFF log submission is through the main wwff.to portal, you upload your ADIF and it processes after a little while. just make sure your reference number is in there correctly and your callsign matches your registration. took me a few tries to figure out the format the first time.

for spotting, most people use either the WWFF spotter or just post to POTA spots since so many hunters watch both. i usually post to the WWFF facebook group the morning of an activation too, theres quite a few regular hunters who appreciate the heads up, especially for rarer references that dont get activated much. sounds like you had a great first time out, the hunters you ran into are probably regulars — there's a small but really dedicated community chasing these references worldwide.

oh nice, which state forest if you dont mind me asking? i've been trying to find references near me that havent been activated in forever, some of them you can tell nobody's touched in years by the activity count on the database. the dual logging for POTA and WWFF is totally fine btw, lots of people do it, just double check the reference numbers are right for each program since they dont always match up even for the same physical location.