so i finally stopped putting it off and drove up to a local summit last weekend, nothing crazy just a 2 point hill about 45 min from the house. threw the kx2 in a pack with a 49:1 unun and about 30 feet of wire and just kind of winged it. set up the wire as a sloper off a tree branch and honestly it worked way better than i expected. got my 4 contacts in like 20 minutes on 20m and then just kept going for another hour because why not. ended up with 14 qsos total which felt pretty good for a random tuesday morning. the hardest part was finding a decent spot to set up where i wasnt in the middle of the hiking trail. think im hooked now, already looking at the next closest summit

yeah that first one is always kind of a revelation isnt it, you spend so much time worrying about gear and antenna and then it just... works. i was the same way with my first POTA activation, convinced myself id need way more stuff than i actually did. now i go out with basically just the radio and a piece of wire and call it a day. whats the kx2 running for power, 10w? those little rigs punch way above their weight on cw

nice, i did my first activation last spring and also kinda just winged it lol. one thing i learned the hard way is bring more water than you think you need especially if youre setting up and tearing down a few times trying to find a spot. also downloaded the SOTA spotter app afterwards and it makes a huge difference for getting chasers lined up before you even key up