so i finally did my first SOTA activation last weekend, summit was only a 4 point peak but man i was not ready for how exhausting the hike up is when you're also carrying all your gear. had my KX2, a 40m EFHW, some snacks, water, the whole deal. took me like 90 minutes to get to the activation zone and by the time i set up the antenna i was totally gassed.

anyway got my 4 contacts no problem, even had a guy from ohio call in which was cool considering i was only running like 5 watts from a summit in vermont. but the whole packout was rough and i think i need to seriously rethink my kit. the reel the wire came on kept snagging on everything and i spent probably 20 minutes just trying to get it sorted after i took it down. anyone else have this problem with wire antennas on summits or is it just me being dumb about how i'm storing it

yeah the wire storage thing is like a rite of passage honestly. i used to use those plastic winder reels and they're just terrible in the field, always kinking and catching on brush. what i do now is just wind the wire in a figure-8 around my hand and thumb, toss it in a small mesh bag. takes like 2 minutes to coil up and comes out clean almost every time. also way lighter than any reel. the EFHW itself is a great choice for summits though, hard to beat for quick deployments.

4 contacts from vermont at 5w is solid for a first time out. dont stress the logistics stuff, that all gets better the more activations you do. i remember my first POTA activation i forgot my coax adapter and just sat there in the parking lot for an hour trying to figure something out. ended up making contacts by basically holding the feedline together with my hand which probably wasnt great but it worked lol