so i finally did my first activation last weekend at a state park about 45 minutes from my house, K-2345 if anyone knows it, nice little place by a lake. ive been hunting for about 6 months and kept telling myself id do an activation eventually and i just finally did it.

set up my end fed half wave with a 9:1 unun strung up between two trees, ran about 30 feet off the ground on one end maybe 10 on the other, honestly just eyeballed it. had my KX2 on the picnic table and started calling CQ POTA on 40m around 10am local time.

it took maybe 15 minutes before i got my first contact and then it just kind of opened up, ended up with 24 qsos in a little under 2 hours which i know isnt blazing fast but it felt amazing. got spotted on the app after maybe my 5th or 6th contact and that definitely helped. someone told me to self-spot right away next time and not wait, is that actually the standard thing to do? i felt weird doing it like im announcing myself before ive done anything.

also wondering about operating two bands to count for more parks, i only had the one reference there but i saw something about if you operate enough you can log it as two separate activations? i dont think thats right but someone mentioned it at the club and now im not sure what theyre even talking about. maybe they meant something else entirely.

congrats on the first activation, 24 contacts is a solid start especially if conditions werent great. and yes absolutely self spot as soon as you set up and get on frequency, dont wait for someone else to do it. the whole point of the spotting system is to let hunters know youre out there, nobody thinks its weird, thats just how it works. i usually spot myself before i even make my first call just so hunters can start heading your way on the bandmap.

the two activation thing your club buddy mentioned, i think they might be talking about doing two separate parks in one outing which counts as two activations, not the same park twice. or maybe they were talking about the bonus parks program but im not sure thats a thing anymore. you cant double count the same reference on the same day as far as i know. the rule is 10 qsos minimum to qualify an activation and thats per park, not per band. anyway you clearly had a good time so just keep going out, it gets addictive fast

the self spotting thing tripped me up too when i started. i waited like 20 minutes on my first one hoping someone would spot me and almost gave up lol. just spot yourself, hunters are literally sitting there watching the app waiting for someone to show up. youre doing them a favor not the other way around