so i finally did my first activation last weekend up on W4T/SU-001 and honestly it went way smoother than i expected. took my FT-818 and a linked dipole up there and made my 4 contacts no problem, even had a couple guys call me from pretty far out which was cool. the whole thing only took maybe 45 minutes once i got set up which surprised me.

my question is about logging the activation on sotadata — i entered everything i thought was right but im not sure if i did the activation zone thing correctly. the summit page shows a specific grid and i just used that but one of the guys who chased me said something about being in the activation zone versus the actual summit and i got a little confused. also does it matter what mode you log it as if you switch between SSB and CW during the same activation? i did a few contacts on each and wasnt sure if i needed to split the log or anything.

also for the chasers out there — do you guys actually prefer when activators post an alert ahead of time or is it fine to just self spot on the reflector and hope someone sees it? i used SOTAwatch and spotted myself but only after i was already set up, wasnt sure if that was the right move or not.

congrats on the first one, those first 4 contacts feel really good dont they. for the sotadata logging question — mode doesnt matter in terms of splitting the log, you just enter each contact with whatever mode you used for that specific QSO. so if you worked 3 on SSB and 2 on CW just log each one with the right mode and it all goes in together under the same activation. the system handles it fine.

the activation zone thing is a bit confusing at first but basically you need to be within 25 vertical meters of the actual summit to count the activation, which is almost always not an issue unless the summit has a big flat area near it. sounds like you were right on top so dont worry about it.

on the alerting question — honestly posting an alert the night before or morning of makes a huge difference for getting chasers ready. a lot of us have sotawatch on our phones and check it before heading to the shack. self spotting once youre up there is great too but if nobody knows to look for you there might be a gap before the pile starts. do both if you can, it really helps especially for newer activators building up contacts.

yeah i chased you actually i think, saw a W4T spot on 40m and worked a few activators that morning. the alert thing is huge from a chaser perspective, i have an app that notifies me and if i see a summit i need for my chaser points ill make sure im near a radio. without an alert its more luck than anything.

also side note — have you looked at what other summits are near you? once you do one its kind of addictive, i started doing two or three in a day sometimes if the weather cooperates and the summits are close enough to link into a single hike