Portable & Field Operations Latest Topics

first SOTA activation and i was not prepared lol

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 19:01:25 +0000

so i finally did my first summit activation last weekend, W4T/SU-001 up near the smokies. been planning it for like 3 months and i still managed to forget half my stuff. brought the KX2 and a end fed but forgot the counterpoise so i was just kind of hoping the feedline would do something useful. got 4 contacts which i guess counts but the SWR was ugly the whole time.

also the hike up was way harder than i expected with all the radio gear on top of the normal hiking stuff. my pack was probably 30 lbs and thats too much. anybody have suggestions for cutting weight on a SOTA kit because im starting to think the KX2 might not even be the problem, its everything else that adds up

first SOTA activation did not go as planned lol

Sat, 04 Jul 2026 21:04:07 +0000

so i finally did my first SOTA activation last weekend, summit was only like a 2 mile hike so i figured itd be easy enough to test things out before i try anything serious. brought my KX2 and a linked dipole i built a few months ago, threw it up in a tree no problem, made my 4 contacts and qualified the summit but man it took forever. kept getting my dipole links tangled and the wind was just brutal up there, fingers were too cold to do anything right. also my phone GPS ate through my battery way faster than i expected and i nearly didnt have enough juice to get back to the car with navigation. on the plus side the 20m contacts came in super clean once i got everything sorted, worked a guy in Germany which i was not expecting at all from a little wire in a tree at 5 watts. gonna try a vertical next time maybe, something easier to deploy

first SOTA activation did not go as planned lol

Sat, 04 Jul 2026 01:03:28 +0000

so i finally did my first SOTA activation last weekend, summit was only a 2 mile hike which seemed easy enough but man i did not account for how much gear i was carrying. ended up with my kx2, a 40m EFHW, some water, food, battery pack and by the time i got to the top my legs were done. set up took forever because the wind was insane and i kept dropping the feedpoint connector in the rocks.

anyway made my 4 contacts to qualify which i was happy about but the whole thing took like 3 hours when i thought it would be 2. also forgot my kx2 was still set to low power from the last time i used it indoors, was running like 1 watt for the first 20 minutes and wondering why nobody could hear me. classic.

anyone else have a disaster first activation story or is it just me

first SOTA activation went better than expected honestly

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 15:02:26 +0000

so i finally did my first summit activation last weekend, W4C/EM-001 if anyone knows it, and i was honestly pretty nervous about the whole thing. ive been a ham for like 3 years but mostly just sitting at the home station working digital modes so this was a totally different vibe. packed way too much stuff, my pack was probably 35 lbs which is embarrassing in hindsight, but i made 12 contacts on 20m SSB with just my end fed and a 817nd so im counting it as a win. the view up there was also just... yeah. anyway took me like an hour longer to get up than i planned and i almost didnt have enough time to make the 4 contacts needed for the activation points but squeaked it out. definitely going back but gonna cut the pack weight down a lot next time, probably leave the backup radio at home lol

first SOTA activation went better than expected honestly

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 19:03:26 +0000

so i finally did my first summit activation last weekend, been putting it off forever because i kept thinking i needed more gear or a better antenna or whatever. ended up just throwing my KX2 in a bag with a random wire and some coax and drove up to a local summit that was only like a 45 min hike. nothing crazy.

set up took maybe 20 minutes which felt slow but whatever, called CQ on 40m and got a pileup going almost immediately which honestly caught me off guard. forgot how many chasers are out there waiting. logged like 22 contacts in about an hour and a half then the battery started getting low so i packed it up. total weight was probably under 4 lbs including the radio which still kind of amazes me.

already looking at my next summit. anyone else done POTA and SOTA at the same time when the park boundaries overlap? seems like free points if you plan it right

first POTA activation went sideways but still counted lol

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 15:03:35 +0000

so i finally did my first POTA activation last weekend at a state park about 40 mins from me, been putting it off forever because i kept convincing myself i needed more gear or a better antenna setup before going out. anyway i threw the KX2 in my backpack with a 20m EFHW and just went. set up on a picnic table near the parking lot which probably wasnt the most scenic but whatever.

first issue was the antenna, i strung it up between two trees but one end was way too low and i kept getting SWR around 2.8 which the KX2 tuner handled but i was not happy about it. made 10 contacts in about 45 minutes though so it counts as an activation, logged them on paper and uploaded when i got home. second activation done right would be better but honestly it felt good just to actually go do it instead of sitting at home planning forever

First time POTA - battery died after 30 minutes?

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 21:34:20 +0000

Finally made it out for my first POTA activation today at K-0832. Had my KX2 and what I thought was a fully charged 6Ah LiFePO4 battery, but after only making 6 contacts in 30 minutes the radio just shut off. Checked the battery and it was completely dead - barely got the 10 contacts I needed for the activation. Is this normal or did something go wrong?

Used 20m CW mostly at 10 watts. Any ideas what might have caused this quick drain?

first POTA activation totally humbled me lol

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 19:17:15 +0000

so i finally did my first POTA activation last weekend at a state park about 45 mins from home. brought my KX2 and a random wire up in a tree, figured id be done in 20 minutes with 10 contacts no problem. yeah that didnt happen. spent the first half hour just trying to get the antenna tuned up because i forgot the counterpoise at home sitting on my workbench. rookie mistake. ended up using the car as a ground plane kind of sorta and it worked okay i guess but SWR was still pretty ugly on 40m. eventually scraped together 11 contacts so i validated but man it was way harder than i expected. i think i need to practice setting up at home first before i go back out. anyone else have a disaster first activation story or is it just me

first SOTA activation went better than expected

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 13:42:44 +0000

so i finally did my first summit activation last weekend, took the FT-818 and a random wire up a little hill about 45 mins from the house. nothing crazy elevation wise but it counted. was honestly kinda nervous about the whole thing because ive read so many posts about people struggling to get their 4 contacts and i wasnt sure the antenna situation was gonna work out up there with all the trees

ended up making like 11 contacts on 20m SSB in maybe 40 minutes, a few chasers who clearly knew what they were doing and a couple random guys who had no idea what SOTA even was but were happy to give me a contact anyway. the wire just draped over a branch at like 20 feet or so, nothing fancy, ran the radio off a little 3ah lipo and had plenty of juice left over. overall really stoked on how it went, already planning the next one

First SOTA attempt - antenna deployment advice?

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 12:27:57 +0000

Planning my first SOTA activation next weekend and struggling with antenna deployment. I've got an IC-705 and EFHW but not sure about the best way to get the wire up on a summit without trees. Been watching YouTube videos but would love to hear from operators who've actually done this.

Should I invest in a telescoping mast or are there simpler solutions? The summit I'm targeting is pretty exposed with no nearby trees.

first SOTA attempt was kind of a disaster but also kind of great

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 09:17:12 +0000

so i finally did my first summit activation last weekend, W4T/SU-017 if anyone knows it, and wow i was not prepared for how long the hike actually was. i had looked at the map and thought yeah thats not so bad but the elevation gain just absolutely wrecked me. took forever to get up there and by the time i set up my KX2 and the 20m EFHW i was already tired and a little frazzled.

made 5 contacts which i guess counts but i was hoping for more. the wire kept wanting to fall down because i stupidly didnt bring enough cordage to get it really up in a tree and the branches were not cooperating. also forgot sunscreen which, yeah.

but honestly when i finally got the first contact and the guy on the other end knew exactly what i was doing and said congrats on the activation i kind of got it, like why people do this. already planning the next one

first SOTA attempt this weekend, went better than expected

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:12:20 +0000

so i finally did my first SOTA activation saturday, been putting it off for like a year because i kept thinking i needed more gear or a better antenna or whatever. ended up just throwing the kx2 in my pack with a 20m end fed and hiking up to a local summit that was only like 1200 feet. nothing crazy. made 9 contacts in maybe 40 minutes which i guess is enough to count. the pile up wasnt massive but there were definitely people waiting which was kinda surreal. only issue was my log sheet kept blowing around in the wind and i forgot a clip or anything to hold it down so i was basically wrestling with it the whole time. next time im bringing a clipboard. also my signal reports were all over the place, some guys said i was loud and a few said i was barely readable, probably just the band conditions doing their thing. overall though i cant believe i waited this long to try this, its way more fun than sitting in the shack

first SOTA attempt went sideways but still counts right

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 11:17:24 +0000

so i finally drove out to a summit that was listed as an easy activation, W4C/CM-093 if anyone knows it, and yeah the hike wasnt bad but i completely forgot to account for the wind up there. had my ft-818 and a linked dipole and the whole setup just kept flopping around every time i tried to tune it. spent like 45 minutes fighting with it before i got 4 contacts and qualified.

honestly kinda embarrassing how unprepared i was for just the physical setup part. been doing portable ops from parks for a while but a summit is a different animal. anyone else have tips for keeping wire antennas from turning into a kite up there

first POTA activation didnt go as planned lol

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 21:42:51 +0000

so i finally did my first POTA activation yesterday at a state park about 45 minutes from home. been planning it for like two months and of course the day i go out it's windy as heck and i forgot my antenna stakes so i ended up just kind of propping the end fed against a picnic table and a tree branch. not exactly textbook.

managed to get 12 contacts on 40m with the KX2 before my phone battery died and i couldnt log anymore. i know some guys just write it on paper but i totally blanked and couldnt remember all the exchange info after a while. still counts as an activation i think since i got past 10 but man i was not prepared. next time im bringing a whole checklist taped to the radio bag or something.

first POTA activation didnt go as planned lol

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 12:34:18 +0000

so i finally did my first POTA activation yesterday at a state park about 45 min from my house. brought my ft-891 and a linked dipole i built a few months ago, figured id just throw it up in a tree and work some stations easy right. yeah no. spent like 40 minutes trying to get the rope over a decent branch and by the time i had the antenna up i was sweating through my shirt and my lunch was gone somehow. got on 40m and the band was just dead for a bit, started to panic a little honestly. finally moved to 20m and got my 10 contacts but it took almost 2 hours total. not complaining because i did activate it but man i thought itd be more relaxed than a contest. anyone else have a rough first one

first SOTA activation did not go as planned lol

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 11:34:11 +0000

so i finally did my first activation up on a local summit last weekend, been putting it off for months because i kept second guessing my kit. ended up throwing the kx2 in my pack with a 20m EFHW rolled up and my little 4ah lipo battery. hike up was fine, maybe 45 minutes, not too bad. got to the top and the wind was absolutely brutal, like i could barely hold the antenna wire while trying to tie it off to a branch. spent probably 20 minutes just getting the stupid thing in the air and by the time i was on frequency my hands were half frozen.

managed to get 4 contacts before the battery connector wiggled loose and i lost power. spent another 10 minutes figuring out what happened. got it back up, worked a few more, made the 4 contact minimum so it counts but man it was way more stressful than i expected. nobody tells you about the wind thing when you're reading activation reports

first SOTA activation went better than expected tbh

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 07:47:52 +0000

so i finally did my first summit activation last weekend, took the ft-818 and a linked dipole up W4T/SU-072 which is only like a 2 mile hike but still, wasnt sure how the setup would go. spotted myself on sotawatch before i left the car which felt weird but apparently thats just what you do. ended up with 14 contacts on 20m and a handful on 40 before the clouds rolled in and i figured id better get down before it got sketchy. the whole thing took maybe 90 minutes on the summit and honestly i was expecting it to be way more of a hassle than it was. the linked dipole over a random tree branch works way better than i thought it would for something that took 10 minutes to throw up.

first SOTA activation went sideways but still counts i think

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0000

so i finally did my first SOTA activation last weekend, W4T/SU-001, been putting it off forever because i kept convincing myself i needed more gear or a better antenna or whatever. anyway packed up my KX2 and a 40m EFHW and hiked up saturday morning. wind was absolutely brutal up top, i mean i knew it would be exposed but not like THAT. spent like 20 minutes trying to get the wire up in a tree and the tree was basically horizontal from the wind lol. ended up just draping it over some rocks at a really terrible angle.

managed to get 4 contacts on 20m SSB before my hands got too cold to key properly, so it counts as an activation right? barely but yeah. didnt even try CW which is probably what i should have done, fewer letters to mess up with frozen fingers. already planning the next one though, gonna bring gloves next time which seems obvious in hindsight

first SOTA attempt went sideways but still had a blast

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 04:12:16 +0000

so i finally did my first SOTA activation last weekend, summitname was W6/CT-216 which is only a 2 point summit but figured id start easy. packed the KX2 and a random wire up the side of the hill and honestly the hike nearly killed me lol im not in as good shape as i thought

got to the top and the wind was absolutely brutal, like knocked my pole over twice before i got it staked down properly. managed 6 contacts on 20m SSB which i know barely qualifies but hey it counts right. tried 40m and got nothing which was weird, maybe the antenna was off or i was just too close to some noise source up there

already planning my next one, thinking about actually trying CW this time cause i hear the pileups are way more manageable. anyone else do a lot of portable ops in southern california, feels like theres a ton of options out there

first POTA activation did not go as planned lol

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 19:44:27 +0000

so i finally did my first park activation yesterday at a state park about 45 mins from me, been meaning to do it for months. packed up the ft-891 and my buddipole and drove out there feeling pretty good about myself. set everything up at a picnic table, got SWR down to like 1.4 which i was happy with considering the ground conditions out there, and then just... nothing. sat on 40m calling CQ for probably 20 minutes and got maybe 2 contacts. moved to 20m and picked up a couple more but honestly i was expecting it to be a little more lively than that. i think i just didnt spot myself on the POTA hunters site soon enough, by the time people saw me i was already packing up. the park closes at sunset and i cut it way too close. anyway gonna try again next weekend and actually pre-spot before i even leave the parking lot this time

first POTA activation went way better than expected

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 17:48:09 +0000

so i finally did my first POTA activation last weekend at a state park about 45 mins from my house. been putting it off forever because i kept thinking my setup wasnt good enough but honestly i just threw the KX2 in a bag with my end fed and drove out there. set up on a picnic table took maybe 20 minutes and worked 15 contacts in like an hour and a half on 20m. got a few on 40 too before the band went to garbage in the afternoon.

the hardest part was honestly just finding a spot where i could hang the antenna without being in someones way. also a ranger came over and asked what i was doing and i just explained it and he thought it was pretty cool, no problems at all. cant believe i waited this long to do this

first SOTA attempt did not go as planned lol

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 13:12:30 +0000

so i finally decided to try activating a summit last weekend, been reading about SOTA for like two years and just never pulled the trigger. picked what looked like an easy one on the map, W4C/EM-001 or something like that, drove out there saturday morning with my KX2 and a end fed wire and a small pack.

well the trail that was supposed to be the easy route was basically washed out and i ended up bushwhacking for like 45 minutes to get into the activation zone. by the time i set up my wire in a tree and got on 40m it was already past noon and the bands were kind of dead. managed to get 4 contacts before my phone battery died and i couldnt pull up the spots anymore. needed one more for a valid activation and just couldnt get it. honestly kind of frustrating but also kind of addictive? already looking at maps for next weekend

IC-705 vs KX2 for SOTA - weight matters!

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 13:08:03 +0000

For SOTA (Summits on the Air): Ultra-lightweight gear is essential. Consider the Elecraft KX2 or Mountain Topper for minimal weight. I'm torn between these two for upcoming activations. The IC-705 has all-mode capability and built-in battery, but the KX2 is lighter and has that legendary Elecraft receiver.

Has anyone done back-to-back comparisons on actual summits? For some remote summits, it can be a challenge to get enough radio contacts (4) to qualify for the SOTA points. Using HF can be a big help in generating contacts. Which radio gives you better odds of making those crucial 4 contacts?

weird noise on 20m during my pota activation yesterday

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 04:17:14 +0000

so i was up at K-1234 doing a pota activation yesterday afternoon and kept getting this weird buzzing noise every few minutes on 20m. it would last maybe 10-15 seconds then disappear. didnt hear it on 40m at all. wonder if it was something in the park or just band conditions? was using my usual endfed with the 9:1 balun about 20 feet up in a tree

anyone else notice anything funky yesterday around 1800z? worked about 30 contacts but that noise was really annoying

first SOTA attempt this weekend, went better than expected honestly

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 03:44:56 +0000

so i finally did my first activation up on a local summit, W4V/SH-001 if anyone knows the area. been putting it off for like a year because i kept convincing myself i needed more gear or a better antenna setup but my buddy just told me to stop overthinking it and go.

ended up bringing the KX2 and a 40m EFHW strung up between two trees maybe 20 feet up, nothing fancy. took me probably 45 minutes to get 4 contacts which i know isnt great but hey it counts. the last contact was a guy in ohio who was genuinely excited i was on a summit which was kinda cool, made it feel more real i guess.

only issue was the wind kept messing with my antenna and i had to retune twice but whatever it worked. already planning the next one, thinking about trying 20m next time too. anyone else do a lot of SOTA in the southeast?