so ive been chasing summits for about six months now and finally decided to stop being a coward and just do my own activation. picked out a local summit that's only like 4 points but the hike isnt too brutal so figured it was a good starting point. W4C/CM-059 if anyone knows the area.

anyway my main question is about the timing. i know you're supposed to post a spot on SOTAwatch before you go up but how far in advance do people usually do that? like do i post it the night before or morning of? i dont want to put it up too early and then have chasers waiting around and i end up being late because the trail took longer than i expected.

also im running an FT-818 with a random wire antenna, probably just throw it up in a tree or use my trekking pole. planning to work mostly 40m and maybe 20m if conditions are decent. is 5 watts usually enough to get my 4 contacts or should i bring a small amp just in case. trying to keep the pack light but i also really dont want to hike up there and fail the activation you know.

any tips appreciated, ive read most of the stuff on the sotadata site but real world experience is always different

CM-059 is a nice one, good choice for a first activation. dont stress too much about the spot timing honestly, most people post it the morning of and then update it once they're actually on frequency. some folks put an alert up a day or two ahead and then post the actual spot when they summit and get set up. the alert lets chasers know you're coming, the spot is what gets people to actually tune in.

and yeah 5 watts on 40m should be plenty if you get a decent antenna up, i've done hundreds of activations with qrp and almost never struggle to get 4 contacts once i'm spotted. the random wire will work fine, just get it as high as you can. if conditions are weird try calling on 14.285 or watch the cluster for where the pile is. good luck and dont forget to log everything on sotadata when you get home, thats the part i always forget

oh man i was so nervous on my first one too. mine ended up being totally fine, had like 8 contacts in 20 minutes once i got spotted. the chasers are really patient people in my experience, they know you're dealing with wind and cold hands and whatever else is happening on a mountaintop. dont overthink it too much. just get up there and call CQ SOTA on a clear frequency and youll be surprised how fast people come back to you.