so i finally decided to just do it and signed up my first activation for this saturday at a state park about 45 minutes from me. ive done a handful of hunts from home and made maybe a dozen contacts with activators but never actually went out myself. running a yaesu ft-891 with a random wire antenna i set up on a telescoping fiberglass pole, been testing it in the backyard and it seems to work ok on 40m and 20m at least.

my main question is kind of dumb but - how early should i spot myself on pota.app before i actually start calling? like do i spot first and then start calling or do i get set up and already be transmitting when i spot? also not sure if i should try to stay on one frequency the whole time or move around. the park im going to has a decent cell signal so at least that wont be an issue for spotting. any advice from folks who have done a bunch of these would be great, im a little nervous honestly

dont be nervous at all, the hunters are very patient with new activators. i remember my first one i was fumbling with the log and talking too fast and a guy actually slowed me down nicely and said take your time, we're not going anywhere haha. the spotting thing - i usually get fully set up, do a quick test transmission to make sure everything is working, THEN spot myself. if you spot before youre ready youll have a pile calling you before your antenna is even up. once you post that spot expect calls within like 30 seconds sometimes, hunters watch the page constantly.

for frequency i usually stay put unless there's heavy QRM or someone asks me to QSY. 40m in the morning and then shift to 20m if you want more contacts or if local noise gets bad. you'll be fine, the hardest part is just pulling into the parking lot for the first time

i did my first activation like two months ago and the thing that helped me most was just having a simple paper log as backup even though i was using an app. my phone froze up at one point and i panicked for a second. also bring more water than you think you need if youre gonna be out there a few hours, sounds obvious but i forgot and it was not fun in the sun lol. good luck saturday hope you get your 10