so ive been chasing SOTA for about 8 months now and finally decided to actually get off my butt and do an activation. picked a W6 summit thats only rated P1 so i figured it cant be too bad for a first time. done the hike before without radio gear so i know the terrain but obviously now im lugging stuff up there and its a different story.

my plan is to bring the KX2 with a 40m link dipole, maybe 20m too depending on conditions. lithium battery pack, the whole deal. i know you need 4 QSOs to qualify but im not sure how realistic that is if i cant get spotted on SOTAwatch. do you just call CQ blind and hope someone hears you or is there a way to self spot without cell service up there? the summit im doing is kinda in a dead zone for AT&T at least. i have a friend who said he could spot me if i text him my freq but thats kind of a pain. anyway just wanted to see if anyone had tips or experience with low-cell-service summits

the self spotting thing is a real issue on certain summits yeah. few options — APRS spot works great if you have a TNC or a radio that can do it, the KX2 cant do that natively but you could carry a cheap baofeng with an APRS tracker. or honestly just call CQ on 14.285 or wherever and the chasers will find you fast once somone hears you and posts to SOTAwatch. the chaser network is surprisingly active, especially on weekends. dont stress too much about the 4 QSOs, once you get one the pile usually takes care of itself.

also your link dipole plan sounds solid. id bring the 20m option for sure, 40m gets weird during the middle of the day especially in summer. good luck on your first one, the first activation is kind of addictive

i just did my 3rd activation last month and was super worried about the same stuff. honestly what helped me was posting on the SOTA reflector a day before saying i was going up and asking if any chasers wanted to listen for me. got like 4 people who said theyd be around. felt way less intimidating knowing someone was actually expecting my signal. also download the SOTA goat app or the spotter app before you go, even if you cant self spot you can see whos active and get a feel for the freqs people use