so i finally did my first WWFF activation last weekend at a state forest about 45 minutes from my house. ive been eyeing it on the map for a while after reading about other peoples activations on here and figured id give it a shot. been doing POTA for about a year so i had a rough idea of what to expect but WWFF feels a bit different somehow, like more emphasis on the actual nature reference and logging it properly with the KFF or WWFF reference number.

anyway i set up my end fed halfwave in a pine tree and ran about 40w on 40m and got 32 contacts in about two hours which im pretty happy with for a first attempt. the pileup wasnt crazy or anything but steady enough to keep me busy. my question is about the log submission — do i submit to both the WWFF global database AND the national program separately or is it one or the other? ive been reading the website and i swear it says different things in different places. also is there a minimum contact requirement for an activation to count or is any number fine

congrats on the first activation, 32 contacts on your first go is pretty solid honestly. for the log submission — the way it works in most countries is you submit to your national WWFF program and they handle pushing the data up to the global database, so you dont usually need to do both separately. in the US that would go through KFF (K Flora Fauna) and they sync with the global WWFF database. if your operating from a US reference you should be good just going through the KFF portal. double check the reference number format though because KFF and WWFF references sometimes look similar but arent quite the same thing.

as for the minimum contacts, i believe its 44 contacts to get a full activation credit but dont hold me to that exactly, worth confirming on the wwff.net site or the KFF group on facebook. some activators just go for the fun of it and dont worry about the award credits which is totally valid too

oh man an end fed in the pines sounds perfect, i bet conditions were decent on 40m last weekend too. im still trying to work up the nerve to do my first one, been hunting WWFF references from home for a few months to get familiar with how it all works. did you spot yourself on the WWFF spotter or just rely on pota spots? im never sure if i should use both or just pick one when a park qualifies for both programs