so ive been planning this for about two months now and tomorrow is finally the day. going up W6/CT-067 which isnt a super high pointer but its close enough to drive to the trailhead and the hike isnt too brutal. i've got my KX2 packed with a 20m end fed, planning to run maybe 10 watts, throw the wire up in a tree if theres one up there (i checked the photos and there seem to be some scrubby ones near the summit so fingers crossed).

my main worry is that ive never actually done an S2S contact before and i kind of want one for the log but i dont know how to find who else might be activating at the same time. do i just check SOTAwatch3 the morning of and look for spots? also is it bad form to self spot if nobodys picking me up on the cluster? i feel like i read conflicting things about that.

im licensed since last year so still pretty new to all this. any advice appreciated, even the obvious stuff i might be overlooked.

Self spotting is totally fine, dont let anyone tell you otherwise. Thats literally what SOTAwatch is there for. Just put your frequency and mode in the comment so chasers know where to find you. A lot of activators spot themselves first thing before they even get a contact in the log.

For S2S just keep an eye on the spots while youre up there, if another activator pops up on 20m or 40m just work them like any other contact, just make sure you log their summit reference too. The other activator will usually mention their reference in their CQ or in the exchange so listen for it. Good luck tomorrow, post how it went.

oh man W6/CT-067 is a fun one, i did that maybe three years ago with a buddy. the trees near the top are kind of small and at weird angles but i managed to get a wire up with some creative use of a fishing pole. bring some paracord just in case, way more useful than i expected.

one thing nobody told me before my first activation was to just be patient at the start. i panicked after like four minutes thinking nobody was listening and started moving around the band, and then of course i missed a small pileup that built up on my original frequency. just call CQ for longer than feels comfortable, chasers are out there trust me, especially on a weekend.