So I finally did my first parks on the air activation last weekend at a state park about 45 minutes from my house. Been wanting to do this for months and kept putting it off because I wasn't sure I had the right gear or whatever. Anyway I just went for it.

Set up my KX2 with a random wire antenna strung up between two trees, nothing fancy. Got on 40 meters around 2pm local and started calling CQ POTA. First like 20 minutes absolutely nothing and I was starting to think I was doing something wrong or maybe my signal was just garbage. Then all of a sudden I got a reply from a station in Ohio and after that it just kind of opened up a little. Ended up with 12 contacts over about an hour and a half which I know is enough to count as a valid activation technically but I was hoping for more.

I think part of my problem was I didn't spot myself on the POTA website before I started which I learned about after the fact. Also I had the wrong park reference number in my head the whole time, had to go back and look it up later when I was logging. Pretty sure I told at least two stations the wrong number which is embarrassing. Anyway still counts I think since I can correct it in the log? Anyone else mess up the reference on their first one?

yeah the spotting thing makes a huge difference, honestly night and day. once you put yourself on the map the hunters find you pretty fast. i usually spot myself before i even finish stringing up the antenna so by the time im ready to call CQ there are already people watching for me. parkspots app makes it pretty easy from your phone.

and dont stress about the park number, you can fix it in the log when you upload to the POTA website. happens to everyone at some point. ive seen guys running 50+ contacts and then realize they had the wrong reference the whole time, its not a big deal just correct it before you upload and youre good. 12 contacts is a solid first activation especially without spotting yourself, so you actually did pretty well all things considered.

I just did my third activation a couple weeks ago and still feel like im figuring it out honestly. the spotting thing tripped me up too at first. also something that helped me was looking at the POTA activator leaderboard or just browsing the recent activations to see what bands and times people were having luck on. 40m in the afternoon can be hit or miss depending on where you are and where the hunters are located.