If you’re a little nervous about how to do your first activation, or you’re looking for some refreshers after not doing it for a while, then this section should give you some ideas.

The most important advice to start with: don’t push yourself too hard and enjoy the scenery. Make sure someone knows where you’re going and your route and when to expect you back. Look after yourself: the basic stuff.

To-do: add radio/antenna/power sections

• Personal protective gear - a list of stuff for the you side of things, not the radio side of things.
• Radio equipment - HF and VHF/UHF equipment ideas
• Power options - some ideas for powering your expeditions
• Antenna ideas - lightweight antenna ideas for a variety of bands

If you want some tips on how to make your activation a success there are lots of videos of people activating summits on YouTube, along with some tutorials and guides. You are encouraged to check some of these out!

• https://youtu.be/PERTbLZ4EyU - M0JCQ managing a busy pile up with lots of summit-to-summits
• https://youtu.be/nkiht95YCP4 - M0JCQ’s equipment list
• https://youtu.be/MxfAGgABqHA - K6ARK - showing some examples of CW contacts. If you want to do some CW but are worried about how well it will go programmes like SOTA are useful because of the simple, known exchange used in a QSO.