so i finally did my first activation last weekend up on W4T/SU-001 and honestly i went up there thinking i'd maybe get my 4 contacts and call it a day but ended up staying almost two hours and worked like 14 stations including a couple S2S contacts which i didnt even realize was a thing until some guy on 40m told me he was also on a summit in colorado and we could both log it

my setup was just an HF-go kit thing with an end fed halfwave thrown up in a tree and my little kx2, nothing fancy. the hardest part honestly wasnt the radio stuff it was finding the actual summit reference. i kept second-guessing myself on whether i was actually in the activation zone. the SOTAwatch app helped but the terrain up there was confusing and i wasnt sure if i was within the 25 meters vertical of the true summit or whatever the rule is

anyway just wanted to share because ive been lurking this forum for months reading about SOTA and it seemed way more complicated than it actually is once you just go do it. if anyones been on the fence about trying an activation i say just go, worst case you dont get your 4 QSOs and you still had a nice hike

congrats on the first one, that feeling when you realize you've qualified a summit never really gets old honestly. S2S contacts are one of my favorite parts of the whole thing, there's something cool about knowing both of you dragged radios up a mountain to talk to each other

on the activation zone question - yeah it can be confusing especially on flatter summits. the 25 meter rule is vertical drop from the highest point so as long as your antenna is set up within that elevation band you're good, you dont have to be standing on the literal peak. i've had activations where the best tree for the antenna was 50 feet horizontally from the top but still well within the zone. just use your GPS elevation and compare to the listed summit height on sotadata and you'll be fine

what band did most of your contacts come in on? i've found 40m is usually the workhorse for activations in the southeast but sometimes 20m surprises you with chasers from europe if you post your spot on SOTAwatch ahead of time

nice, ive been wanting to try this for ages. did you self spot or did someone else spot you? thats the part im not sure about with my setup, i dont always have cell service on the summits near me and im not sure how the whole alerting thing works without data