so i finally dragged myself out to do my first SOTA activation last weekend, W4V/SH-002 if anyone knows the area. packed way too much gear like an idiot, ended up hauling a full sized dipole, the kx2, spare batteries, the whole mess. took me forever to get up there and by the time i set up i only had maybe 40 minutes before i had to head back down because my buddy wasnt feeling the hike anymore lol

managed to get 6 contacts on 40m and scraped together one more on 20 to qualify but it was close. the dipole kept sagging on one side because i forgot extra cordage and had to use my shoelace at one point. anyway it worked and i got the activation but man i really need to rethink the kit before i go back out

anyone else do their first one and totally overpack? feels like everyone online makes it look so easy

haha yeah my first activation i brought like 15 pounds of stuff and used maybe 3 of it. took a few trips to figure out what i actually needed vs what i thought i needed. now i basically just do the kx3, a 40m EFHW on a 20 foot mast and thats honestly it for most summits. the shoelace thing is a classic move by the way, ive done it twice

6 contacts is good enough to qualify so thats a win. i did my first POTA last month and had nobody answer me for like 20 minutes and started to panic, turns out i was on the wrong side of the band and could barely hear anyone. still logged 12 eventually so it worked out but yeah the first time is always a little chaotic