so i finally did my first SOTA activation last weekend, W4T/SU-001, not a hard summit but i figured id start easy since i had no idea what to expect with the setup. packed the KX2, a 40m EFHW, and way too much food apparently because my pack was like 30 lbs by the time i added water and layers. anyway the antenna situation was a mess because the trees at the summit were not cooperating and i ended up with the wire at this weird angle that probably killed my takeoff angle pretty bad but whatever.

still managed 6 QSOs on 40m SSB before a storm rolled in and i had to pack up fast. got my 4 contacts so it counts as an activation but man i was expecting it to be smoother than that. also the KX2 battery died faster than i thought it would running 10w, need to look into that. anyone else find their first activation was kind of a learning experience in what NOT to do

haha yeah my first one i forgot the coax adapter and had to improvise with a piece of wire touching the connector which somehow worked for like 3 contacts before it fell apart. you figure it out. 6 QSOs is solid for a first activation honestly, some people dont even get their 4. the battery thing on the KX2 is real, i started carrying a small 3ah lipo and that thing lasts forever now compared to the internal pack

the wonky antenna angle probably didnt hurt you as much as you think, 40m is pretty forgiving especially if there were any decent band condx. i did one a few months back where my EFHW was basically sloping downhill and i still worked into europe somehow. just keep doing them, after like 5 or 6 activations you get a feel for how fast you can throw something up and what actually matters vs what you stress about for no reason