so i finally did my first summit activation last weekend, been putting it off forever because i kept thinking i needed more gear or a better antenna or whatever. ended up just throwing my KX2 in a bag with a random wire and some coax and drove up to a local summit that was only like a 45 min hike. nothing crazy.

set up took maybe 20 minutes which felt slow but whatever, called CQ on 40m and got a pileup going almost immediately which honestly caught me off guard. forgot how many chasers are out there waiting. logged like 22 contacts in about an hour and a half then the battery started getting low so i packed it up. total weight was probably under 4 lbs including the radio which still kind of amazes me.

already looking at my next summit. anyone else done POTA and SOTA at the same time when the park boundaries overlap? seems like free points if you plan it right

yeah the simultaneous activations are totally doable, i did one last fall where the summit was inside a state forest that qualifies for POTA. just make sure you upload to both programs separately, the logs dont cross over automatically or anything like that. congrats on the first one btw, 22 contacts is solid especially if conditions werent great

man i keep meaning to try SOTA but every time i look at the map the summits near me are either already heavily activated or require like a real hike and im not really in shape for that lol. maybe ill just start with POTA at a flat park and work up to it. what radio did you say you were using again