so i finally did my first activation last weekend up on W4T/SU-017 and honestly it went way better than i thought it would. got 6 contacts in about 45 minutes which i know isnt a ton but it was enough to qualify the summit which was the goal. ran 5 watts on the ft-818 into a linked dipole i threw up between two trees and the bands were pretty cooperative, 40m was doing most of the heavy lifting.

few things i wasnt totally sure about though. on the SOTA database when i log the activation do i need to enter each contact separately or is there a way to do it from an ADIF file? i just kept a paper log up there and figured id enter it later but now im staring at the entry form and its a little confusing. also i saw some people mention SOTAwatch and alerting ahead of time -- i didnt do that this time, is that basically expected or is it more of a courtesy thing? felt bad if people were waiting on a frequency for me that i never showed up on since i wasnt even on the list.

anyway it was a great time, lugged way too much gear up there honestly, my pack was probably 22 lbs which is embarrassing but ill trim that down next time. already looking at a few other summits in the area for next month.

congrats on the first one, 6 contacts to qualify is all you need and honestly on a random weekend without alerting thats pretty solid. the ADIF import is on the activation log page, theres a little link that says something like 'upload file' -- its not super obvious the first time you look at it but once you find it its easy enough. i usually just log everything in my phone with the SOTA Goat app now and it syncs automatically when i get back in cell range which saves a lot of hassle.

as for alerting, its definitely more of a courtesy and it really does help. the chasers watching SOTAwatch will spot you when you show up on frequency and that drives a pile pretty quick. without an alert you can still self-spot from the summit if you have data signal, or just call CQ and hope someone picks you up which is what sounds like happened to you. alerting just makes the whole thing more efficient. some summits ive done where i forgot to alert it took 20 minutes to get the first contact, other times someone spots you within two calls. just depends.

22 lbs is not that bad for a first activation haha i think i carried like 30 my first time including a full sized hf rig that shall not be named. you figure out pretty fast what you actually need vs what you thought you needed. the linked dipole is a great antenna choice btw, i keep coming back to it even after trying a bunch of other things.