so i finally did my first real SOTA activation on saturday, drove up to a summit about 45 mins from my house that was only worth 2 points but figured id start easy. threw up my end fed with a 9:1 unun against a tree branch and just ran 10 watts SSB on 40m. honestly wasnt sure anyone would hear me up there but i had like 8 contacts in maybe 20 minutes which i guess is fine for a first try

the hardest part was honestly just the physical setup, wind was picking up and my mast kept wanting to fall over. i ended up just lashing it to a fence post which wasnt ideal but it worked. also forgot to actually spot myself on sotawatch until after my 4th contact which probably cost me some chasers early on

anyway just wanted to share, been lurking here for months reading about portable ops and it really is as fun as everyone says

8 contacts on a 2 pointer first time out is honestly solid, some people struggle to get the 4 minimum on their first go especially if conditions are sketchy. 40m is usually a good call for shorter activations, i tend to bring a linked dipole so i can also jump to 20m if i want more distance on the pile. spotting yourself early makes a huge difference though, the chasers really do check sotawatch constantly

for the mast situation have you tried one of those lightweight fiberglass poles? i use a 7m sotabeams one and it packs down to like 60cm, stakes into soft ground pretty easily. anyway congrats on the first one, the addiction only gets worse from here

nice, im trying to do my first one next month. did you use a phone app to spot yourself or like the website? i keep reading conflicting things about whether you need a data connection up there