so i finally got around to doing my first SOTA activation last weekend, summit was only a 4 point but figured id start small. packed my kx2, the random wire antenna, battery, and way too much other stuff i ended up not needing. hike took about 45 minutes which wasnt bad but man carrying that pack up the last bit of the trail with all that gear was rough.

anyway got up there and the wind was absolutely brutal, couldnt get my linked dipole set up properly so i just threw up the random wire over a tree branch and it actually tuned up ok on 40 and 20. made my 4 contacts but it took way longer than i expected, the QSB was killing me and one guy i could barely hear kept trying to come back to me. ended up staying up there way longer than planned just because i was having fun.

anyone else find that the first one is kind of a mess organizationally but still totally worth it? already planning the next one

yeah the first one is always a bit chaotic, dont sweat it. i remember mine i forgot to bring a pen to log contacts and was trying to type into my phone with cold fingers. nightmare. you get a system going after a few activations though and it becomes way more streamlined. i do mostly POTA these days since theres a park near me i can drive to but SOTA is more satisfying somehow even when it goes sideways.

4 contacts is all you need so mission accomplished. wind is the worst for antennas, ive had my whole setup come down mid-activation before. the kx2 is a solid choice for that kind of thing, i run one too and the built in tuner handles a lot of junk wire configurations surprisngly well