So i finally did my first WWFF activation last weekend at a state forest near me, been sitting on the idea for months and just never got around to it. I wasnt sure what to expect honestly, ive done a handful of SOTA activations before so i kind of knew the general drill but WWFF felt different somehow — like more relaxed? nobody was racing to a summit or anything, i just set up my little linked dipole between two trees and started calling on 40m.

Got 44 contacts in about two hours which i think is enough to qualify the reference, had a few folks who specifically said they were hunting WWFF which was cool. One guy called in from somewhere in Europe which i was not expecting at all on a random Saturday afternoon with a 100w setup. The park itself was gorgeous too which i guess is kind of the whole point of the program.

Anyone else doing these? feels like theres not as many activators as SOTA but the pile ups when they do happen seem really enthusiastic. thinking about doing a few more this summer at some wildlife refuges near me.

congrats on the first one! yeah 44 QSOs is plenty to qualify, the minimum is 44 for most programs that use the WWFF rules so you hit it right on the nose. the wildlife refuges are great choices, a lot of them arent activated very often so hunters will really go after them. i keep a list of unactivated references in my state and try to hit one every few months. 40m is usually the go-to but if you havent tried 20m for WWFF it can be really productive, especially if you spot yourself on the WWFF cluster — thats where a lot of the european hunters are watching.

I've been doing WWFF activations for about three years now and honestly it's one of my favorite things in the hobby. The community around it is really friendly and the hunters are super patient compared to some other pile ups ive been in lol. The nature reference system is cool too once you start looking into it — national parks, state forests, wildlife refuges, botanical gardens, all kinds of places count depending on your country's program. For the US its KFF references. Sounds like you're already hooked, welcome to it