so ive been chasing for a few months now and finally decided to just go for it and activate a local summit this weekend. picked out W4T/SU-068 which is only like a 2 mile hike and should be easy enough for a first time. got my KX2 and a linked dipole i built last fall, planning to run 10w on 40 and maybe try 20 if conditions look okay.

my main confusion is around the summit reference and the AZ when i log on sotawatch. do i need to post an alert the night before or is it fine to just spot myself from the summit? ive seen people do both but wasnt sure if theres like an etiquette thing im missing. also do i need to log the exact summit reference in every QSO in my logbook or just note it once? probably an obvious answer but i dont want to mess up my first activation and have it not count.

any tips from people who have done a bunch of these would be great, especially if you've done that particular summit or anything in the SU group

congrats on taking the leap, activating is so much more fun than just chasing. to answer your questions - posting an alert the night before or morning of is really good practice because chasers actually plan their day around alerts, some of them have like 20 countries on their list and they're watching sotawatch constantly. you dont HAVE to alert but you'll get way more contacts if you do, especially on a weekday when band activity is lower.

for the reference you only need to note it once in your log, not every single QSO. just make sure your sotadata submission has the right reference when you upload. the site will sort it out. and yeah spot yourself as soon as you get a frequency, a lot of activators use the SOTA Spotter app which makes it pretty easy from your phone if you have any signal up there. some summits have terrible cell coverage so download the offline version or have a backup plan.

W4T/SU area is nice, done a couple up there. have fun and dont stress too much, even if something goes wrong you'll learn a ton and want to do another one the next week

oh man i remember my first activation i was so nervous i forgot to write down half my callsigns lol. just bring a real paper log as backup even if you're using an app. the linked dipole should work great, thats basically what i use. 40 meters is usually your bread and butter for summits, especially in the morning before the greyline moves.

one thing nobody told me before my first time - yell out your summit reference on the air when you call CQ. like say "CQ SOTA from W4T slash SU-068" or whatever, chasers really appreciate it and it saves you repeating it every contact. good luck hope you get your four contacts easy