so i finally did my first activation up on a local summit, nothing crazy just a 1 point peak nearby but i was so nervous i almost forgot to log half the contacts. brought my kx2 and a random wire up the hill with a little 4ah lipo and it actually worked pretty well. got 4 contacts on 20m SSB then switched to 40 and it kind of exploded, had like 11 more chasers in maybe 20 minutes. didnt expect the pileup honestly

only thing that went sideways was my antenna support, the collapsible pole i brought kept wanting to fall over because the ground was too rocky to stake it. ended up leaning it against a tree which felt sketchy but hey it worked. anyone have a good solution for rocky summits? i've seen some people use guy lines but im not sure how to set that up without bringing a ton of extra stuff

congrats on the first one, that feeling of the first pileup is pretty hard to beat. for rocky ground i usually bring a couple of those small sandbags or just fill a stuff sack with rocks once i get up there and hang it off the base of the pole. takes like 30 seconds and you dont have to carry the weight up. some guys use a tripod base too but that adds bulk. honestly leaning against a tree is fine, ive done whole activations that way

yeah rocky summits are the worst for that. i just use paracord and tie off to whatever boulders or scrubby trees are around, even a short guy line going two directions makes a big difference. once you get used to it you can set the whole thing up in like 5 minutes. 40m is where all the action is for SOTA for sure, good call switching over