so i finally did my first ever SOTA activation last weekend and honestly i dont even know where to start. i picked W6/CT-064 because someone on here mentioned it was a relatively easy hike for a first timer, and yeah the trail itself was fine but man i underestimated how much gear i was hauling. ended up with my KX2, a 40m end fed, some coax, my laptop for logging, battery pack, the tripod for the mast... by the time i got to the summit activation zone my legs were done.

anyway i set up and spotted myself on SOTAwatch and within like 3 minutes i had a pile of chasers calling me. honestly wasnt expecting that at all. worked about 14 QSOs on 40m SSB and then tried 20m but the band wasnt cooperating, got maybe 3 more contacts up there. qualified the summit no problem since you only need 4 contacts but i stayed up there a while just because the view was insane.

one thing that caught me off guard was how fast the wind picked up. my mast kept wanting to fall over and i was holding it with one hand and trying to key with the other which was a mess. anyone have a good solution for staking down a portable mast on rocky terrain? theres not a lot of soil up there to work with.

congrats on the first activation, 14 QSOs for a debut is solid. for the mast problem on rocky summits i just use a handful of guys lines and tie off to whatever rocks are around, even small ones work if you loop the cord around them a couple times. i also carry one of those cheap camera tripods as a base if the ground is really unworkable, not perfect but it gets the job done. the wind is honestly the thing that gets everyone their first time, you kind of have to experience it once before you realize how much it matters. also next time maybe leave the laptop at home and just use a paper log or one of the phone apps, takes a few pounds off and up there every pound counts after about mile two.

yeah the chaser pileup thing surprised me too when i did my first one. i was not ready for people to actually be waiting haha. i use the SOTAmat app now which handles the spotting automatically when i send a macro, saves fumbling with the phone on the summit. what summit are you thinking of doing next? im trying to work through the CT association this year and always looking to see what other people are activating