so i finally did my first WWFF activation last weekend at a state forest about 45 minutes from my house. been meaning to try this for months and just never got around to it. took the ft-891 and a linked dipole up a little trail and found a decent spot near a creek where i had a clear shot to the south for the most part.

managed 47 QSOs in about 2.5 hours which i was pretty happy with for a first attempt, got spotted on the WWFF cluster pretty early on which really helped the pile up. mostly 40m with a little bit of 20m toward the end when things slowed down.

my questions are about the logging side of things. i was using paper in the field and then typed it all into ADIF afterward. do i need to use a specific program to submit to the WWFF database or can i just upload the ADIF directly to their site? also i wasnt totally sure about the reference number, i looked up my area beforehand and it showed as KFF-XXXX but i want to double check i used the right one before i submit anything. is there a way to verify the boundary and make sure the spot i operated from actually counts?

overall really enjoyed it, way more relaxed than contesting honestly, people on the other end seemed genuinely happy to work a new reference

congrats on the first one, 47 QSOs is a solid debut especially if conditions were anything like they were here last weekend. for the ADIF submission you can go straight to the WWFF logbook portal and upload it directly, no special software needed as long as your ADIF has the right fields. the main thing you want in there is the WWFF reference in the MY_SIG_INFO field, or some logging programs handle it differently but the portal gives you a chance to review before it finalizes.

for verifying your reference number, wwff.net has a map interface you can use to check the boundary. just zoom into your area and it'll show the polygon for the reference. if you were inside the designated area you're fine. the tricky part sometimes is when the forest boundary isn't super obvious on the ground, but most state forests are pretty well mapped. and yeah it really is more relaxed than contesting, thats what i like about it. people actually say hello sometimes instead of just 599 73.

nice work. i did my second one a few months ago and the cluster really is the difference maker, without a spot you're just calling CQ into the void. do you use a phone or anything to self-spot? i was fumbling with the wwff spotter page on my phone with cold fingers and almost dropped it in the mud lol. been thinking about setting up RBN to at least get some auto spots going