so i finally did my first activation last weekend at a state park about 45 minutes from me, K-4857 if anyone knows it, and honestly it went way smoother than i thought it would. set up my end fed half wave in a tree, ran 25 watts on 40m and 20m, got my 10 contacts in maybe 35 minutes which i was pretty happy about for a first timer.

few things im still fuzzy on though. when i uploaded to the POTA website it asked about the park reference and i just put the K number but i wasnt sure if i was supposed to note anything else. also a couple of the hunters i worked asked me to QSY to 20m while i was on 40 and i wasnt really sure about the etiquette there — like do you generally try to accommodate that or just finish your run on the current band? i dont want to be rude but i also dont want to lose my frequency either. and one guy called me like 6 times in a row while i was working a pileup and it was kind of stressful lol. is that just normal hunting behavior or was he being a lid?

anyway really enjoyed it and already planning my next one, maybe try to do a two-fer if i can find overlapping park boundaries near me.

congrats on the first activation, 10 contacts in 35 minutes on a first go is solid. the park reference thing — yeah just the K number is all you need for domestic parks, if you were doing an international one it'd be a different prefix but you're good. for the QSY question, thats really just kind of a judgement call depending on how your pileup is going. a lot of activators will call out on their spotted frequency something like "QRV 20m after this" and then finish up their run before moving, that way you don't lose momentum but you're also letting the hunters know you're coming. the guy calling 6 times is unfortunately just kind of a thing that happens, some hunters get really into it and lose track of themselves a bit. once you've done a few activations you get pretty good at just acknowledging the partial calls and moving through the pile without it rattling you. two-fer planning is super fun by the way, there are a few good resources on the POTA subreddit where people share maps of overlapping boundaries if you haven't found those yet.

the repeat caller thing drives me nuts as a hunter too honestly, like we've all seen it. you just kind of learn which calls to recognize and skip lol. good job getting it done though, i've been putting off my first activation for like three months because i keep convincing myself my setup isn't ready enough which is dumb i know.