so i finally stopped talking about doing a summit activation and actually did one. took the ft-818 and a homebrew linked dipole up to a local summit, nothing crazy, like a 45 minute hike. set up took longer than i expected because the wind was being annoying and the antenna kept wanting to fall over. ended up just leaning one end against a rock.

made 12 contacts on 40m and a couple on 20 before the battery started getting low. honestly kind of addicted now. the whole experience of just being up there working people with this tiny little radio is hard to explain. also realized i need a better way to carry the mast, mine is this telescoping fiberglass thing and it rattled around in my pack the whole way up which was annoying.

anyway if anyone else has been on the fence about trying it just go do it, the chasers are super patient especially with new activators

yeah the mast situation took me forever to figure out too. i ended up getting one of those cheap painters poles from the hardware store and cutting it down, works pretty well and doesnt rattle because its solid. 12 contacts is a solid first activation honestly, i think i only made 7 on mine and was panicking the whole time trying to get to 4 lol

the ft-818 is such a great little radio for that stuff. ive been doing POTA mostly, havent worked up the nerve to hike anywhere with the gear yet but this is making me want to try. did you alert ahead of time on SOTAwatch or just show up and start calling?