so i finally drove out to do my first real SOTA activation last weekend, W4C/EM-001 or something like that, and i had this whole plan worked out but of course nothing went like i expected. got to the summit fine but the wind up there was absolutely brutal, like i could barely keep my endfed strung up. kept sagging and i ended up just holding one end of it for like 20 minutes while trying to log contacts with my other hand which was pretty ridiculous looking im sure. managed to get 4 QSOs on 40m SSB before the battery on my KX2 started acting weird and i just packed it in. still counts as an activation right? i posted the spots on SOTAwatch before i went up but honestly i dont think anyone was really expecting me, probably should have self spotted from the summit too. anyway it was fun even though it was kind of a mess and im already planning the next one

yeah 4 QSOs counts, you just need 4 to qualify so you're good. the wind thing is real, i use a cheap fishing pole as a mast and just guy it out with some paracord now, makes a huge difference. also yeah self spotting from the summit is kind of essential, the SOTAwatch alerts help but chasers are watching the spots way more actively. get the SOTA Goat app or just use the web spot page. you'll get it dialed in, first few activations are always a little chaotic

i did my first POTA activation last month and had almost the same experience lol, except mine was a mic issue and i was literally just kerchunking into the void for like the first 15 minutes before i figured out the connector wasnt fully seated. at least you made contacts. i think the chaos is kind of part of it honestly