so i finally did my first activation last weekend on W4T/SU-064, been meaning to do one for like two years and just never got around to it. packed up the KX2 and a random wire, hiked up saturday morning, weather was fine when i left the car

well by the time i got to the summit it was getting pretty gusty and i was having a heck of a time getting the antenna up in anything resembling a useful configuration. ended up just kind of draping it over some rocks and honestly expected nothing. fired up on 40m and called CQ SOTA for maybe 10 minutes, nothing. switched to 20m and immediately got three QSOs in like five minutes which i was not expecting at all

only made 4 contacts total which i know is the minimum for the activation to count, just barely squeaked by. logged it on sotawatch when i got home and it showed up fine. my question is does anyone else find that 40m is just kind of dead during the day for SOTA or am i doing something wrong with my antenna situation? and also is there some trick to getting chasers to find you, like do i need to be better about posting a spot ahead of time

congrats on the first one, 4 contacts counts just as much as 40. and yeah 40m during the day on a domestic summit is rough unless youre doing NVIS and even then its kind of hit or miss depending on conditions. 20m is your friend for daytime activations most of the time, especially if you want to work chasers who are farther away or even pick up some S2S contacts if other folks are out.

the spot thing is huge though. seriously, post an alert on sotawatch or the SOTA goat app before you leave the car, put your planned frequency and a rough time window. chasers are literally sitting there watching the alerts and some of them will camp on a frequency waiting for you. i had a summit once where i had 12 contacts in the first 8 minutes just because i posted a good alert the night before. makes a massive difference compared to just showing up and calling blind

oh man i did the same thing on my second activation, totally forgot to post an alert and just sat there calling for forever. felt like i was yelling into the void lol. once i figured out the alert system it got way more fun, people are actually excited to work you when they know youre coming

also dont sleep on 2m FM if you have anything handheld with you, sometimes on a decent summit you can hit a repeater or work simplex and knock out a couple contacts real quick if HF is being stubborn. not always an option but has saved me a couple times