so i finally did my first SOTA activation last weekend, W4T/SU-something up near the cherokee national forest area. took me forever to find the actual summit boundary and i was second guessing myself the whole way up. brought my kx2 and a random wire thrown over a branch, which honestly worked better than i expected but getting 4 contacts took longer than i thought it would since i was only running like 5 watts and the band was kinda dead when i got up there

ended up getting 6 contacts total which i know isnt a lot but hey it counts. the hike down was worse than up because my legs were just done. anyway if anyones thinking about doing their first one just go do it, the setup doesnt have to be perfect

congrats on the first one. honestly 6 contacts on your first activation with 5w qrp is pretty solid, some people show up and can barely hear anyone. the random wire thing is the way to go imo, ive tried all kinds of linked dipoles and endfeds and half the time the random wire just works. what freqeuncy were you mostly on?

the hike down killing your legs is so real lol. did my first pota at a state park last month and the operating part was easy but i was not prepared for how tired i was just from standing around and messing with gear for 2 hours. my next one im bringing a chair