so i finally did my first SOTA activation last weekend, summit was only a 2 mile hike which i figured would be easy enough with the radio gear. brought my ft-818 and a random wire antenna, figured i'd just throw it up in a tree and get my 4 contacts no problem. well the tree situation at the top was basically nonexistent, just a bunch of scrubby little pines that were maybe 8 feet tall at best. ended up lashing the antenna to my trekking pole which kind of worked but the SWR was all over the place and i kept having to retune. managed to get 5 contacts on 20m SSB but it took way longer than expected and my fingers were freezing by the end. also didnt realize how much wind affects the audio apparently because one guy told me i sounded like i was in a hurricane. anyway got the activation credit which is the important thing i guess, already planning the next one

haha yeah the antenna situation on exposed summits is always a fun surprise. i use a linked dipole on a 20 foot crappie pole and that solves most of the tree problem. the wind noise thing is real too, i ended up getting one of those cheap foam windscreens for my mic and it helped a lot. you'll get the hang of it fast, first couple activations are always a little chaotic

congrats on the first one. i blew my first attempt completely because i forgot the coax adapter and had to just sit up there eating my sandwich and calling it a "survey hike" to my wife. at least you got the 4 contacts. the ft-818 is a solid choice for SOTA, i run mine on a 3ah lipo and it lasts forever on low power