so i finally got my technician upgraded to general last month and ive been reading about SOTA for like 6 months and just decided to stop reading and actually go do one. picked out a local W5 summit thats only like a 2 mile hike, nothing crazy. i have a little ft-818 and a wire antenna i built from some youtube video, not even sure if i built it right honestly.

my plan is just to bring the radio, a notepad, some logs, and hope people actually respond to me. i know i need to spot myself on SOTAwatch but i dont really understand the timing of it all - like do i spot myself before i start hiking or when i get to the top? also do chasers just hang around waiting or is there a schedule thing i know im asking a lot of basic questions sorry

any tips from people who have done this before would be really appreciated. trying not to mess it up too bad lol

dont stress about it too much honestly, your first activation doesnt have to be perfect. the short answer on spotting is wait until youre actually on the summit and set up and ready to go - spot yourself right when you start calling CQ. spotting too early and then not being on the air yet just frustrates chasers who tune in and hear nothing.

chasers do monitor SOTAwatch pretty actively especially on weekends so you should get some bites pretty quickly once you're spotted. aim for 40m if conditions are decent, lots of chasers there. the 818 is a solid little rig for this, used mine for years before switching. and dont worry too much about the antenna - even a mediocre wire will work fine at 5 or 10 watts, SOTA chasers are used to weak signals from hilltops. just need 4 contacts to qualify the summit so the pressure is pretty low. have fun with it

oh man i did my first one like 8 weeks ago and i was SO nervous lol. one thing i wish someone told me - bring more battery than you think you need, i ran low because i was fiddling with the radio way longer than expected trying to get the antenna tuned. also write down your callsign, the summit reference number, and your frequency on a little card before you go up so you dont blank on stuff when youre actually calling CQ. sounds dumb but it helped me a lot. good luck, its really fun once you get going