so i finally did my first ever SOTA activation last weekend, been chasing other peoples summits for about 8 months and kept telling myself id get out there and do one. picked a relatively easy one, W4T/SU-014 up in the smokies area, only about a mile and a half hike to the summit so figured it was a good starter

packed way too much stuff. like embarrassingly too much. had my KX2, a 40/20 linked dipole on a 20ft mast, about 400ft of coax (way overkill obviously), spare batteries, snacks, rain gear, the whole deal. backpack probably weighed close to 30lbs which is dumb for that short a hike but hey, lessons learned

got to the summit and the band conditions were rough. 20m was basically dead when i got there around 10am local, tried calling CQ SOTA for like 20 mins and got nothing. switched to 40m and immediately got spotted by someone who must have seen my SOTAwatch alert and things started moving. ended up with 11 contacts including 2 S2S which i was really happy about, one guy in ohio and another in maryland both also on summits

the thing i wasnt ready for is how fast the weather can change up there. had blue skies when i started and by the time i was packing up it was getting dark and breezy and i could hear thunder in the distance maybe 10-15 miles out. definitely hiking down faster than i hiked up lol

anyway just wanted to share, if anyones been on the fence about activating instead of just chasing, just go do it. its a completely different experience

congrats on the first activation, that S2S count is actually pretty solid for rough conditions. i remember my first one i got like 4 contacts and thought i was doing great haha

the weather thing is so real and i dont think any amount of reading about it really prepares you. i now check the hourly forecast for the actual summit elevation not just the trailhead, makes a huge difference especially in the smokies where the mountains basically make their own weather

also dont feel bad about the heavy pack, every activator ive talked to went through that phase. i went from 28lb pack to about 11lbs over the course of a year or so. the coax is usually the first thing people realize they can cut way down on or eliminate entirely with a different antenna setup

the S2S contacts are my favorite part honestly, theres something about knowing both operators are sitting on a cold windy hill somewhere that makes it feel more real than a regular contact. ive started specifically looking for S2S opps on sotawatch whenever im activating

which KX2 setup were you running, just curious if you had the internal tuner doing the work or external? ive been going back and forth on whether to stick with my 817 or finally make the jump