This is more of a non-activation report…
Did you ever find that when all installed, up and running at the summit the band is so dead you can barely hear an FT8 signal coming in ? The joys of the single band radio. At least it was a nice hike. Better luck next time i hope, 73 !!
Sly VA2YZX
Yup, Same thing happened to me last week. X-class solar flare and a complete HF RF blackout for a time.
Thankfully still managed a few contacts after things calmed down.
It happened to me several years ago, after more than an hour I finally got my fourth, but each one was on a different band!
Hi Sly,
Some say the hike is the main thing and radio is a distraction.
Any activator who has never had a failed activation hadn’t done enough activating. Welcome to the Club.
73
Ron
VK3AFW.
I agree. It doesn’t happen often to me but when it does, I try to stay positive and think the walk was pleasant and the failed activation gives me the excuse to walk it another day.
Out of my whopping 5 (completed) activations, at least 3 have been perfectly timed to meet the incoming CMEs. A couple more didn’t qualify for the same reason. Guess any of my future alerts should include a warning for possible CMEs/flares.
Being a bit of a distance from any summits does make each one a real treat, even if not qualified. It’s time outside in the woods away from work. If no signals it’s still nice to enjoy just being on a summit. More activating would really be fun, but work and family haven’t gotten the SOTA bug yet. Retirement’s about a year away, so hope to do more then when there’s (hopefully) more free time.
Mike, N4VBV
Yes, it happenned to me on a multi-summit day trip.
I made quite easily 4 CW contacts on a first summit, but kept calling CQ for another 15 minutes and got no answer back despite a few RBN hits. I remember signals weren’t strong but present. I thought: bands dead.
I moved on to the next summit. I called CQ for an hour on several bands, called my friends… no contacts made and barely any RBN hits. I thought: bands still dead. This was by night and in the snow. It was a tough decision to pack-up.
Once back home, I realized the antenna wire was ripped off the 1:49 transformer (EFHW).
So it appeared the KX2 tuned the RG316 feeder and 1:49 transformer and this “antenna” did radiate a bit 
Sorry for the off-topic 
I was wondering as well about my radio’s serviceability… but at least we got a nice hike on a nice day ! 