so i finally did my first activation last weekend, been chasing for about 6 months and always wanted to try the other side of it. picked W4T/SU-001 because it looked doable on the topo and a buddy said the trail wasnt too bad. well the trail was fine but i completely forgot to spot myself on SOTAwatch before i left cell range and then my phone died anyway so that was fun. spent about 40 minutes up there calling CQ on 40 and 20 and managed to scrape together 4 contacts, two of which were the same guy on different bands which i hope counts as separate QSOs because i really needed that 4th one.

the whole thing with the antenna was a mess too, i brought my linked dipole and one of the links got stuck and i couldnt get 20m configured properly so i just ran 40 the whole time with the ends drooping because the trees werent cooperating. got home and realized i had the wrong summit reference in my log, had to go back and fix it before uploading to sotadata. anyway i did get the activation credit and im already planning the next one, just need to figure out the spotting thing before i lose cell signal next time.

haha yeah the spotting thing catches everyone the first time. what i do now is pre-spot before i even leave the parking lot if i have signal there, just set a time like 30-45 minutes out and note your planned frequency. most chasers will wait around for you especially if its a new or rare summit. also look into the SOTA Spotter app, you can set up alerts and it makes the whole thing smoother. for the antenna situation with trees not cooperating, ive started carrying a longer throw line and a small weight, total game changer on summits where the branches are being difficult. four contacts is four contacts though, activation counts and thats what matters for your first one.

the same guy on two bands absolutely counts as two QSOs, that confused me too when i started chasing. each band is a separate contact for the activation log. and yeah sotadata will reject stuff if the reference is wrong so good that you caught that before submitting. i chased a guy last month who had his reference wrong and it took forever to sort out. which radio were you running up there if you dont mind me asking, im trying to decide between a few options for when i finally try an activation myself