This happens to me in the shack 
73 Dave
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My unheated outside shack is perishing in winter so in recent years I’ve moved the HF rig to the guest bedroom. Forget the astronomical and meteorological dates for the start of Spring. Winter ends officially when I move the HF rig back to the shack. I’ll let the Met Office know.
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There’s inevitably lag in the spotting system. If you’re using spots then you need to hang around long enough for the spot to get into the system and then out to potential chasers, and then for one of them to respond. Extra steps like RBN add to the lag. I generally figure on sticking with one frequency for at least five minutes to cover that…
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If I have mobile network coverage on summit and self-spot, I look at sotawatch every time to check that the spot has appeared and the details are correct before even starting to call CQ. It’s usually less than 5 seconds between sending and appearing. Two minutes of my calling CQ and listening is enough for the keen chaser (who can hear me) to find me and work me. Of course, if there are other chasers working me, he might have to wait longer. Some are too impatient to wait.
The situation where I call CQ and get no replies is unusual. That’s because I mainly work 30m CW and 2m FM. 30m always seems to be open and lively when I operate (late morning to mid-afternoon) [hence it’s my favourite HF band] and in G/LD, G/NP and G/SP where I mainly activate, we’re lucky to have loads of 2m FM chasers (though a few summits are deaf on 2m).
Call me unadventurous but old age imposes several restrictions including the need for quick and reliable activations. My activation times are rarely longer than an hour and often much shorter unless the weather is warm on summit - like it was Sunday afternoon on G/LD-052 where I could indulge in exploring extra bands (and wear shorts!).
Of course, I envy those (usually younger) sturdy types who can sit around and activate for hours in all weathers. I for one am very grateful that I am still fit enough to get out and up on those hills despite a few age-imposed restrictions.
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That’s interesting. I usually try to call for 10 minutes from the spot. Admittedly things are generally warmer here. Even so, ten minutes can seem like an eternity when nobody is answering. It can and does pay off sometimes though.
Other than that, count me as a fan of the multiband doublet to go with the amazing tuner of the KX2. I carry two carbon fiber masts and sometimes a third fiberglass mast and I try and get it as close to flat-topped as I can and as high as I can. I’ve had good results with this arrangement.
Another country heard from,
73 Eric KG6MZS
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I do too. But weather and speed of activation on some multiple summit days does occasionally result in a shorter compromise time.
You are much more careful than me! I might be spoilt by having plenty of European chasers nearby so I go for speed… one pole, inverted vee EFHW for me 
On some very bad weather days the antenna has been draped over a bush or even on the ground!
Fortunately chasers have “big ears” and even bigger “voices”. 
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I have an end fed random wire that I use for quickies. Not the best antenna for anybody having trouble making contacts, although I suspect that is more often a matter of insufficient spotting.
I am a big believer in activating in a manner that suits you, and let everybody else activate in a manner that suits them. I like to get all my “regulars” in the logbook and also see how far I can work. Two easy summits are generally my limit on any given day.
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You carry three masts!? With the KX2’s internal ATU you could tune up a barbed wire fence.
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I usually rely on RBN when activating, and that can take a bit longer, though probably not much (and there’s no messing about with websites involved at the summit).
When chasing from home, it’s hard to tell how long it has taken for a spot to appear, but I might get to an activator’s frequency within a minute or two of seeing a spot on a good day, assuming the antenna’s already pointing in more or less the right direction. If there’s rotating to be done I’m very unlikely to be among first chasers in the log, as it takes about 45 seconds to turn 180 degrees. (Curiously, handing control of the rotator over to the computer seems to have slowed things down.)
Chasers running high end cluster-connected set-ups will get there faster, of course, and stand a better chance of being First In Log, but that’s not a game I play. I’m much more likely to be one of the last in a log, or to miss completely. 
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Sometimes. The carbon fiber masts fold up and fit in the pack. I have 20’ and a 31’ fibreglass masts. I’ll use one or the other as a walking stick when I know I am going to be on a summit for quite a while and there are no trees to stand in. Electrically this setup can get the doublet 1/2 wave off ground on 20m. I like the performance.
Eric KG6MZS
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Absolutely! That’s part of the joy. So many ways to enjoy the hobby.
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Just did the test and it went great. I could hear my CW CQ call in Seattle, Vancouver, and San Francisco on webSDRs. I also saw RBN spots in both OR and CA.
For some reason I didn’t hear myself only on the Anchorage webSDR and one in Long Beach, WA (near Portland)
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That’s good news. It means your setup is working as intended.
How far is anchorage from your home ? If it’s too close, only direct ground waves or 40m with nvis propagation will get you there.
It’s a bit strange then why you couldn’t make any contact of HF at 1500 local time. There is usually plenty of chasers on the radio all day long. Maybe you were very unlucky with a bad HF propagation weather ?
Next time will be the good one 
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I’m not trying to sound cheeky here. What power are you running ? Seeing that it is a new to you radio, do you have the power turned right down ? I have the same unit here in southern B.C. and consistantly get good resutls with it. Also you may want to test your coax and connectors and make sure they are workig properly I have had bad coax and connectors that destoryed my swr. Just a thought, I hope HF treats you well in the future.
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You can play with reversebeacon.net and see exactly where/when your signal was detected by RBN receivers.
RBN - Reverse Beacon Network
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F4LEK - I live in Anchorage, so that explains it
VA7XCW - I constantly have to turn my KX2 up to its maximum 10W output. For some reason it always wants to revert to 5W when I change modes or band it seems
I did order wire and a 9:1 UNUN and will build that antenna once it arrives. In the meantime I will continue with the current set up and try again next time I activate a SOTA
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Anchorage is in your skip zone on 20m. The other station may be some unlucky multiple of hops for that day.
The reverse beacon network allows you to see your spots as far back as 10 years (enter your call in the DX field to filter, adjust max age as appropirate). Your setup on the 8th performed much better than anything else, so something was right that day.
Interestingly you had only one spot on CW on sotawatch, on the 9th, and by yourself. With spots on the RBN it very likely means that you did not post an alert on sotawatch.
An alert on sotawatch primes the “system” to auto-magically (via the RBN-Hole) generate a spot on sotawatch when the RBN network detects your call (on CW, within a timeframe which - if I remember right - starts one hour before the time of the alert and ends three hours later). That is the basic usage, the RBN Hole is more flexible.
For SSB, you had one spot “QRV now” (on the 8th) - this is best practice, provided you were patiently calling CQ on the spotted frequency. If you change frequency, you should re-spot yourself. The RBN hole would re-spot a CW caller every 10 minutes, so a re-spot on SSB is OK too. Some chasers spot the activator as well.
The other two spots “QRV in 20 min” are not ideal. You probably cannot be sure about the 20 min, nor the exact frequency.
So all in all, you are coming out, its not an amazing signal, but if you can hear yourself, so (and even more so) will dedicated chasers. SNR-wise CW performs better than SSB, so it is a better bet. Patient calling and listening (people have suggested at least 10-15 minutes) may be required. For SOTA you only need the call and the RST, so you can keep the exchange very short. There are threads about suggested CW exchanges here.
With CW a Sotawatch alert + an RBN Network hit leads to a Sotawatch spot both of which you can follow online for a real-time feedback that things are working. Be patient and chasers will be there.
Good luck, you are on the right track.
73, Kiril
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Give the inverted V dipole for 40m a try as well. About 10m wire each side, 2-3 m parallel wires down to the radio, any reasonable distance is OK. What is your tuner for after all!
While describing this setup to you a while back I convinced myself to try it, maybe even on 80m. It’s the next antenna I will try.
73, Kiril
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Well, I had a good day.
I was feeling confident about HF after checking the SDRs and RBN and was excited to try it out again on KLA/AN-185 (Bird Ridge Point) today. As we got to the summit my wife turned on her 5W handheld on 2m call and we tuned in right to the end of a net! We got over 4 contacts within 2 minutes, it was my easiest SOTA to date. As much as I wanted to try out the HF setup, it was cold and I decided to just accept the SOTA as a success.
I made a video, but fair warning: not a single radio is pictured. I didn’t film our 2m handheld exchange. It’s really more of a paragliding/scenic video than anything
In other news I’ve bought the wire and an UNUN to build a random wire antenna but am still waiting on shipping. Might try out the current setup again before it arrives
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One issue was not mentioned yet (apologies if it was posted). Generally propagation in the North is worse than in the South. So upper bands might work in the South but in the North you might only hear stations. This does not mean that you are able to work them…
An idea might be to find out what bands are open at what time… use CW at different times of the day, check RBN this will give you an idea… hearing remote stations does not mean that you can work them…in QRP. Maybe give 30m and 20m priority at daytime. At night 40m and 80m should do. Anything above 30m - depending on condx - will be closed at night time. Sometimes even 40m…
The EFHW need to be setup in a specific way to get out most of it. If not setup properly the SWR might not be optimal. Check your antenna setup with a VNA or antenna analiser…
Hope this helps you …
73
Ingo
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