so i finally did my first summit activation last weekend, W4T/SU-001 up near the smokies. been planning it for like 3 months and i still managed to forget half my stuff. brought the KX2 and a end fed but forgot the counterpoise so i was just kind of hoping the feedline would do something useful. got 4 contacts which i guess counts but the SWR was ugly the whole time.

also the hike up was way harder than i expected with all the radio gear on top of the normal hiking stuff. my pack was probably 30 lbs and thats too much. anybody have suggestions for cutting weight on a SOTA kit because im starting to think the KX2 might not even be the problem, its everything else that adds up

the counterpoise thing will kill you every time, ive done the same thing. i just keep a couple of wires coiled up inside the antenna bag now so theyre always there. as for weight, honestly the biggest gains are usually the battery and the mast. a lot of guys go to lithium cells and a painters pole instead of anything fancy and that alone can drop like 4-5 lbs easy. the radio is rarely the heavy part once you start looking at everything else.

4 contacts still counts, you activated it. dont stress. i did my first one and only got 5 and one of them was my buddy who was specifically listening for me so like... yeah. it gets easier once you figure out your kit and stop bringing stuff you dont need