Planning your first SOTA activation, or returning after some time, can feel overwhelming, but it’s important to remember that the skills you already bring to the table can make the experience uniquely your own. Whether you're an experienced hiker, an expert cartographer, a seasoned outdoors worker, or simply someone who’s great at preparing a packed lunch, these transferable skills will serve you well on your activation. With a bit of preparation, you’ll find that SOTA activations are not only about radio operations—they’re an opportunity to blend your outdoor knowledge with your amateur radio enthusiasm. This guide will help you decide what equipment and essentials to bring to ensure a successful and enjoyable outing.

To-do: finish 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.

https://wiki.oarc.uk/leaflet - If you're out and about you'll get asked questions by the public, that is pretty much a given. This can be annoying when you're operating and listening intently. Here's something you can hand out to the public that explains what amateur radio is and what you're actually doing at the time.