so i finally did my first SOTA activation last weekend, took the kx2 and a random wire up to a local summit about 3200ft, nothing crazy but still counted as a valid summit. setup took way longer than i thought it would because i kept fumbling with the antenna mast in the wind and my fingers were freezing by the time i got the feedline sorted out. made 6 contacts in about 40 minutes which i guess qualifies but i was hoping for more. the worst part was my phone died before i spotted myself on sotawatch so i ended up just calling cq blind on 20m for a while until a chaser found me. overall though it was really fun and i get why people get hooked on this, already looking at the map for the next one

6 contacts is fine for a first activation, you just need 4 to qualify so youre good. the spotting thing is always a pain when you dont have service, i carry a little battery bank just for the phone now after i got burned the same way. also 20m can be slow mid afternoon depending on conditions, a lot of chasers are monitoring 40m so might be worth trying that next time especially for shorter range stuff

yeah the wind and cold combo is brutal, i did one last november and my log sheet literally blew away lol. i switched to logging on the phone after that but then yeah battery becomes the new problem. theres no winning sometimes. what summit was it if you dont mind me asking