so im finally doing my first activation this weekend, been chasing for a few months now and figured its time to actually get up on a summit myself. im doing W6/NC-271 which is a pretty easy hike not too far from where i live, only 2 points but whatever gotta start somewhere right

my question is about the summit references and how the whole thing works on the day. i get that you need 4 QSOs to qualify the summit but im a little fuzzy on the self spotting stuff. do i spot myself on SOTAwatch before i start calling or after i make contact with someone? and is it bad form to ask the chasers on frequency to spot me if i dont have cell service up there? ive seen people mention RBNhole and i honestly have no idea what that even does

gear wise im bringing my KX2 with a 40m EFHW and a small tripod mast thing, done a few parks on the air activations so im not totally green but SOTA feels a little different somehow. also do most activators announce a planned frequency ahead of time or just post to the reflector and hope for the best

congrats on making the jump from chasing to activating, honestly its way more fun once you get up there. the self spotting thing -- yeah post to SOTAwatch before or right when you arrive, most people do it on the walk up if they have signal or right when they set up. you can also do an alert the night before which is even better because the chasers will be watching for you.

RBNhole is pretty neat, basically if youre doing CW the Reverse Beacon Network picks up your CQ and then automatically posts a spot to SOTAwatch for you so you dont have to worry about it at all. for phone ops it doesnt help but yeah for CW its a lifesaver when you have no cell up top.

asking chasers to spot you is totally fine, just give your callsign and summit reference and most of them will throw it up immediately. the community is really good about that. W6/NC refs get decent activity, youll be fine with your KX2 setup, 40m in the afternoon should get you the 4 contacts no problem. have a great time up there

oh man i remember my first activation, i was so nervous i forgot to log two of my contacts properly and had to reconstruct it from memory lol. one thing i wish someone had told me -- bring more battery than you think you need, the KX2 is efficient but if you end up spending an extra hour up there because the view is too good to leave youll thank yourself

also dont stress too much about the frequency thing, just pick somewhere clear on 40 and start calling CQ SOTA, the chasers find you pretty quick especially if youre spotted. 7.195 or so is popular but just check for activity first obviously