so i finally did my first activation last weekend, took a drive up to a local summit that's only like 4 points but figured it'd be a good shakedown before i try anything more serious. packed way too much stuff honestly, brought the FT-818 and a linked dipole i built from a kit plus way more batteries than i needed and my bag was probably 25 lbs by the time i added water and snacks lol

anyway the hike wasn't bad, maybe 45 minutes to the top, and i got set up pretty quick - the antenna went up on my little fiberglass mast no problem. i was feeling good. then i spotted myself on SOTAwatch and just... sat there for like 10 minutes with nobody calling. i think i messed up the spot because the frequency i put in was slightly off from where i actually ended up after a QRM issue. eventually moved around and tried calling CQ SOTA on 40m and started getting replies, got my 4 contacts which is the minimum but i was hoping for more

the walk down i ran into another hiker who asked what the antenna was about and we ended up talking for 20 minutes so that was cool. overall i'd call it a success even if it wasn't super smooth. anyone else remember their first activation being kind of chaotic? also wondering if there's a better way to self-spot when you're solo and your phone signal is sketchy - i was barely getting enough data to load the page

ha yeah my first one was a mess too, i showed up at the wrong trailhead and added an extra 2 miles each way so by the time i got to the activation zone i was already pretty wiped out. got my contacts though so it counted

for the spotting issue - a lot of people use APRS to self-spot when theres no cell service. if you have a radio that can do APRS or even a little TH-D74 or whatever, you can send a spot through the APRS network and it shows up on SOTAwatch automatically. theres also the SMS spotting thing where you text a number and it does it for you, worked pretty well last time i was somewhere with barely any signal. worth looking into before your next one. also dont stress about only getting 4 contacts on a first activation, some of those summits just arent that busy and if you hadnt spotted right it makes it harder. once you get a feel for timing - like activating on a weekend morning - it gets easier to pile up contacts quick

The 25 lb bag thing is so real, I think every SOTA person goes through that phase of bringing everything just in case. Took me probably four or five activations before I really got ruthless about weight. Now I'm down to the KX2, a linked dipole, one 3ah lipo, and whatever food I need and it's a totally different experience on the trail.

One thing that really helped me for chasing contacts was pre-announcing on the SOTA reflector or even just posting in a few Facebook groups the night before saying what summit and what time. You'd be surprised how many chasers will just wait around for you if they know you're coming. Also 20m opens up a lot more contacts than 40 depending on time of day - I do 40 first thing in the morning for the closer stations and then switch to 20 when Europe starts waking up if I'm feeling ambitious. Sounds like you did great for a first go though, the main thing is you went and did it.