so i finally did my first activation last weekend at a state park about 45 minutes from my house, been putting it off forever because i kept telling myself i wasnt ready or didnt have the right setup. finally just threw the KX2 and a random wire in the car and went for it.

got there and immediately realized i hadnt thought about where to actually set up. spent like 20 minutes wandering around looking for a good tree to throw my end fed over before i found a spot that worked. also forgot a chair so i was basically crouching next to my car the whole time which was not ideal for a two hour session lol.

anyway once i got on the air it went pretty smoothly, ran 20m mostly and picked up a few contacts on 40 when 20 started getting spotty in the afternoon. made it to 10 contacts which i know is the minimum but honestly i was just happy to get there. spotted myself on the POTA app and the hunters came pretty quick which was cool, never really had a pileup before even a small one.

for anyone else who keeps putting off their first activation just go do it, the hunters are super patient and helpful, had a couple guys give me signal reports and one guy reminded me to log the park reference in my exchange which i had totally forgotten to do for the first few contacts. gonna upload the log tonight. anybody have tips for setting up faster, like a checklist or something you use?

congrats on getting out there, that first one is always a bit chaotic. i think everyone forgets something on their first activation, i left my coax home my first time and had to drive back lol.

for a checklist i just keep a small bag packed all the time now with the essentials, coax, connectors, a few bungees, paper log as backup, that kind of thing. the POTA website actually has some resources but honestly after a couple activations you just know what you need for your setup. the chair thing is real though, get a cheap camp chair and leave it in the trunk permanently, your back will thank you.

also for spotting yourself, some people pre-spot before they even get set up so hunters are ready when you get on. makes the first 15 minutes go a lot faster if you dont want to sit there calling CQ for a while waiting for the spot to propagate.

yeah the hunters really are patient, i was nervous about that too before my first one. i hunt a lot more than i activate and honestly when someones struggling a little we just slow down and work with them, its part of the fun. the park reference in the exchange is easy to forget when youre nervous, dont sweat it.

what park was it if you dont mind sharing? always curious what references people are activating in my region