so i finally picked a summit for my first activation, going up W4T/SU-068 tomorrow morning. ive been chasing for a few months now and figured it was time to actually get up there and do it myself. got my KX2 all packed, a 20m EFHW rolled up, and im bringing a small Li-Fe battery pack that should give me a few hours of operation. the hike is only about 2 miles which isnt bad but theres some elevation gain.

i posted my alert on SOTAwatch already and i think i put the right activiation zone coordinates in but honestly that whole process still confuses me a little. do i need to do anything else before heading out? like is there some checklist i should be aware of or am i overthinking this. also wondering if i should bring both 20m and 40m wire options or if 20m will be enough for a quick activation this time of year. just want to make sure i get at least my 4 contacts so it counts.

you're gonna be fine, honestly the hardest part is usually just getting the antenna up in the trees lol. one thing i'd say is post a spot for yourself as soon as you're set up and have signal, even before you make any contacts. you can do it through the SOTAwatch app or just text SOTA SMS if you dont have data up there. the chasers will find you pretty quick once youre spotted, especially on a weekend morning.

40m is worth having with you if the wire isnt too much extra weight. 20m can be hit or miss depending on propagation and sometimes you get up there and 20m is just dead or really noisy and 40m saves the day. i usually bring both and just use whichever end of my linked dipole i need. also make sure your alert time is in UTC not local time, thats a mistake people make all the time and then the chasers are looking for you an hour off.

good luck tomorrow, let us know how it goes. i did my first activation earlier this year and was way more nervous than i needed to be. the chasers are super friendly and patient, nobody expects you to be slick about it. just get your four contacts and enjoy the view honestly.