so i finally did my first POTA activation yesterday at the state forest near me, been putting it off for months because i kept second guessing my setup. ended up just throwing the KX2 and a random wire in my backpack and heading out. forgot my coax adapter so i had to MacGyver something with electrical tape which worked surprisingly okay but the SWR was kinda ugly on 40m. managed to get like 9 contacts in about an hour and a half before it started raining, didnt hit the 10 to qualify so i gotta go back. honestly wasnt even that frustrated about it, just kinda fun to be out there doing radio stuff in the woods ya know

9 contacts is still solid for a first time out, honestly the first activation is mostly just figuring out what you forgot to bring lol. i did my first one and realized i left my logging sheet AND my pen at home so i was texting myself callsigns the whole time. get yourself a 9:1 unun and the random wire situation gets way more manageable, makes a big difference for multiband

yeah the rain thing is the worst, i've had two activations get rained out mid-session and its just demoralizing. definitely go back though, once you get that first qualified one it kinda gets addictive. i started doing SOTA too and now im planning every hiking trip around summits which my wife thinks is hilarious