so i finally did my first park activation last weekend at a state forest about 45 minutes from my house. been a licensed ham for about 3 years but just never got around to trying POTA until my buddy kept bugging me about it. set up my KX2 with a random wire thrown up in a tree, nothing fancy, and honestly it went way smoother than i expected once i figured out the spotting thing.

managed 12 QSOs in about an hour and a half which i know isnt a lot but felt like a win for a first time. mostly 40m with a few on 20m when 40 got crowded. i did self-spot on the POTA website but it took me like 10 minutes to figure out the interface on my phone while trying to hold the radio and log at the same time, definitely need a better system for that.

anyway my main question is about the 10 QSO minimum -- i saw somewhere that you need 10 to count as a valid activation but do contacts with other POTA activators count the same as hunters? and also does the park reference have to be a specific one from the list or can you just be in any state park? there are a couple smaller county parks near me that im not sure about

congrats on the first one, it kind of hooks you doesnt it. to answer your questions: yes QSOs with other activators count the same as hunters for your 10 contact minimum, no difference there. and yeah the park HAS to be in the POTA reference database, you cant just activate any green space. the list is on the POTA website under the references section and they do add new parks periodically so its worth checking. county parks can definitely be in there but some smaller ones arent. if the park youre thinking of isnt listed there used to be a way to request additions but i think the process changed, you'd have to look at the current guidelines on the site.

also for the phone spotting situation -- a lot of activators use a small tablet or just a dedicated old smartphone that stays on the spots page. some guys set up the spot before they even start calling CQ so they dont have to fumble with it mid-operation. once you get a few under your belt it all gets easier, the first one is always a bit chaotic

nice work on 12 contacts for a first activation, thats solid. i remember my first one i was so flustered i almost forgot to log half of them lol. one thing that really helped me was downloading the HAMRS app for logging, it syncs up with POTA pretty cleanly and you can self-spot right from within it i think, or at least it makes the whole logging part way less painful than trying to do it in a notebook while operating portable.