New to SOTA activation. Advice needed

Equipment
1

Last weekend I just had my first SOTA activation.
You can read more about it at: YO8SEP - Ham Radio, YOFF, SOTA ...: 2014.08.02 SOTA YO/EC-017 and YOFF-170 Activation

So far my SOTA backpack has:

  • Elecraft KX3 without ATU
  • 8400mAh LiFeO4 batttery
  • 7m fish-pole fiberglass antenna
  • Vertical antenna 1/4 lambda for 14MHz
  • Vertical Delta Loop for 14Mhz

I want to get an antenna for the 40m to use it for contacts under 1000km.
I also want to make some antennas for 17/15/10m.

Because I don’t have an ATU, nor an antenna analyzer, I’m not sure what will be my best option for the 40m band.

2nd question is about paper log → electronic format.
So far I used “Fast Log Entry” by DF3CB and I like it because it is very simple/fast/easy to use. But you can’t enter the exact frequency or other options. Also sometime I do typing mistakes and a Logging software that can check the callsigns will be nice. What are other SOTA activators using to transfer paper logs to ADIF / CSV format?

Any other advice is really appreciated,

73,
Petronel

2

Congrats on your first activation! My advice is to get the ATU for the KX3, definitely! And get a smaller battery!

73, Barry N1EU

3

In reply to YO8SEP:
Well done on your first activation.
I use an elecraft T1 auto tuner and a set of the betterqrp backpacker baluns. This allows you to try many different antennas (doublets, long wire, loops,…) and it’s a flexible set up… I also have a mountain tuner for efhw which works great.

73
Angel