What is the etiquette if I might go up a hill, if wx nice, dog cooperates, and I haven’t had too much red wine with lunch?
Should I post an alert? Don’t want to disappoint.
Not a big deal: Watch Croft in West Cornwall is a 5 minute drive plus 20min walk and I will only use my new baofeng on 2m. (In it’s defence, it will work strongly through GB3NC 60km away)
I think it’s up to you! You could put an alert up saying that it is only a possible activation, so as not to get up expectations.
On the other hand there’s nothing to say that you have to put an alert up in advance, so you could just spot yourself when you get to the summit. Hope you have a fun activation if you do make it!
73, Matthew M0JSB
You could alert … and then delete it yourself when you’ve decided you’re going to finish that bottle instead.
Sometimes I alert.
Sometimes I don’t.
Hope that helps 
Either way an alert is only a notice of intent- it’s not a commitment for all sorts of reasons
Back in 2008/2009 I activated Watchcroft twice without an alert, an easy and most enjoyable summit. The first time I got no replies on 2m and qualified it on 40m, the second time I qualified it on 2m SSB but had no contacts on 2m FM. It may be easier now as SOTA is more popular but I think you may need a better antenna on that Baofeng! On another occasion I activated Carnmenelis on 2m and my only contact was an S9 sporadic E reply from northern EA!
Thanks for helpful responses.
I am relaxed about ‘qualifying’ or not: Watchcroft is just up the road and is one of our occasional dog walks so this is essentially a dog walk with an HT.
The baofeng seems surprisingly capable. The 1/4 wave whip along with 1/4 wave rat tail gives me essentially a vertical dipole.
We’ll see how it does.
On similar walks up TW-002, I don’t bother alerting or even spotting as I’ve already got the point. I just take the handheld for fun until the dog gets bored (not long 
) and to give away the chase point to anyone who wants it locally.
Im sure you’ll enjoy the trip either way.
You’ve got me, spot on! Including dog with short attention span (and me, actually)
Example from another activator:
Ditto.
I treat it as an indication of what might happen if the Mountain and Weather Gods align.
Irrespective of what the Met Office might predict
Actually, our short term, ie <12 hour forecasts are pretty good here in the far west of Cornwall. Wx comes in compact lumps in off the sea (we have sea between 1 - 10 miles for 300°around us). Is very predictable by extrapolating from rain radar.
From the hills you can see the squalls coming. Our last dog would pick up the pace and head for home if you pointed one out to him. New dog is waterproof, damn him.