so i finally stopped making excuses and just drove out to the state park last saturday with my KX2 and a random wire up in a tree. figured id do maybe an hour and see how it went. ended up staying almost 4 hours and made like 34 contacts, which i know isnt huge but for my first time doing this i was pretty stoked. ran 10 watts the whole time and still got a couple guys from out west which surprised me. the hardest part honestly was getting the antenna high enough, i brought a throw line but the trees near the picnic table were kind of scraggly and i had to walk around for a while before i found something decent. anyway if anyone else has been on the fence about trying POTA i say just go do it, its way more fun than sitting in the shack

34 contacts first activation is solid, dont let anyone tell you otherwise. my first time out i barely got 10 before i started having coax issues and just called it. the throw line struggle is real by the way, ive started carrying a heavier weight on mine and it made a huge difference for getting into the higher branches. what band were you working mostly?

yeah POTA totally got me back into the hobby after like a 3 year break. theres something about operating outside that just feels different, idk its hard to explain. i do a lot of SOTA too now and that ones more work obiously with the hiking but the views make up for it lol. nice work on the activation