so i finally did my first SOTA activation last weekend, W4T/CN-001 up in the smokies, been putting it off for like two years because i kept overthinking the gear situation. ended up just throwing my KX2 in the pack with a 40m EFHW rolled up on a winder and a cheap fiberglass pole from ebay. total kit was maybe 5 lbs including the battery which was a 3ah lipo i borrowed from my son's RC car stuff lol

conditions werent great, 40m was noisy as heck mid morning but i still managed 12 QSOs in maybe 25 minutes and got my 4 contacts for the activation. one guy spotted me on SOTAwatch before i even finished setting up which was wild, didnt expect that. 20m was a bit better later on but i was cold and just wanted to come down honestly

anyway if anyones been sitting on the fence about doing one of these just go do it, the obsessing over antennas and watts is so much less important than just getting out there

yeah the spotting thing is always a nice surprise the first time, someone with the app sees your self-spot and suddenly youve got a pileup waiting. KX2 is such a solid choice for that kind of thing too, ive been running one for POTA for about a year and a half and its never let me down. only thing i'd say is maybe look into a slightly bigger lipo eventually, the 3ah can get a little dicey if youre running higher power for a while but for QRP it's probably fine

this is making me want to try one, ive done a few POTA activations at state parks which felt low stakes but SOTA always seemed like more commitment. did you have to pre-register the summit or anything or just show up