so i finally did my first activation last weekend, been chasing summits for about 6 months and kept telling myself id get out there and actually do one. picked a relatively easy summit nearby, W4T/SU-031 if anyone knows that area, figured it would be a good starter since the trail isnt brutal and the summit reference had been activated a few times before so i knew it was legit.

brought my FT-818 and a linked dipole i built from a kit, got to the top and started setting up and immediately the wind picked up like crazy. spent probably 20 minutes just trying to get the antenna sorted before i could even think about making contacts. posted my spot on SOTAwatch and waited and honestly thought nobody was going to answer me on 40m, the noise floor up there was surprisingly bad considering im on top of a hill.

eventually moved to 20m and started getting some responses, managed 4 contacts which i know is the minimum but it still counts right. one of the chasers was super helpful and told me to try calling CQ a bit slower which i think did help. came down feeling kind of mixed about it but also kind of hooked if that makes sense. anyone else have a rough first activation that still worked out?

4 contacts is 4 contacts, activation complete, points on the board, nobody can take that away from you. honestly the first one is always a bit chaotic, you're figuring out the logistics while also trying to operate and it's a lot going on at once. the antenna thing is real, ive had days where i spent more time fighting a mast in the wind than i did actually on the air.

one thing that helped me early on was alerting on SOTAwatch the night before instead of just self-spotting at the summit. the chasers are watching those alerts and some of them will literally be waiting by their radio when you show up. makes a huge difference for getting that initial pile going, especially on 40m in the afternoon when conditions can be iffy. W4T has some fun summits though, keep at it and you'll get a smooth one soon enough.

that mixed feeling you described is pretty much exactly how my first one went too lol. i was convinced i was doing everything wrong even though technically it worked. the slow CQ advice is good, i still forget that sometimes and wonder why nobody's coming back to me and then i realize im just blasting through calls way too fast for anyone to even copy my callsign.