so i finally did my first WWFF activation last weekend at a state forest about 45 minutes from my house - KFF-1847 i think, had to double check the reference on the wwff.us database beforehand. anyway i had been meaning to do this for months and kept putting it off because i wasnt sure i had the right setup or enough experience or whatever excuse i kept making

packed up the KX3 and my buddipole, had a couple bottles of water and snacks, found a nice spot near a creek where i could get the antenna up in a tree with a bit of paracord. conditions werent amazing on 40m but i worked maybe 18 stations before the rain started rolling in, which i did not plan for at all. scrambled to pack everything into drybags pretty fast. got 10 on 20m in the morning before it clouded over so at least that counted

question though - do you need a minimum number of QSOs for the activation to count in the WWFF system? i saw something about 44 being the magic number but wasnt sure if that was POTA im thinking of, or if WWFF has its own threshold. i submitted the log to worldwideflora but i honestly dont know what to expect

yeah the 44 QSO minimum is a POTA thing, WWFF uses the same number actually - you need 44 unique contacts for the activation to qualify. so if you only got 28 total it probably wont count as a full activation unfortunately. but dont get discouraged, the contacts still go into the database and hunters can get credit for working the reference even if your activation didnt make the threshold. its worth going back and finishing it off if you can, most references that are already in the system are easier the second time because some hunters will already have spotted you

also for rain - i started throwing a cheap silnylon tarp in the pack after my second soaking. takes up almost no space and buys you like 30 more minutes before you have to bail

oh man i did the exact same thing on my first one, packed everything wrong and didnt check the weather close enough. the creek spots are great for antenna placement though, sounds like you picked well. im still figuring out the spotting side of things, do you use the WWFF spotter page or just go through pota.app? i keep confusing myself on which programs overlap and which dont