Hi Chris,
I’m sorry to hear of your disappointment, but please give it another go. It it were all easy and worked every time some of us might get bored!
Conditions are poor at present. 4 years ago you would have done OK I suspect.
Anyway welcome to the “missed it” club.
- I’ve failed to reach the summit - fitness problem
- I’ve failed to get 4 contacts - not alerting or spotting was the major factor
- Spent too long setting up and missed 10 points at the end of the year rollover. Not watching the time.
Some activations have been salvaged by having VHF and being in range of a couple of activity centres.
Others were recovered by the use of a sharp pocket knife. BNC connectors on the feedline can be trouble. Some UHF connectors don’t screw up properly. Some batteries aren’t charged. The squid pole can break. An officious personage can instruct you to move on. Many are the impediments to a trouble free activation. I used to fish a lot and there are many parallels.
If you don’t want an occasional challenge then maybe SOTA isn’t for you, but like fishing, it’s better if you keep trying.
Here operating in the middle of the day is less productive - people go for lunch and propagation is generally near the minimum for the day. Check out what bands and times are likely to be best for your next activation.
Good luck with the next one. Alert and Spot. Ask your first contact to spot you - helps a lot especially if the phone network isn’t working.
73
Ron
VK3AFW