I usually carry a two-person bothy shelter with me or a tarp that can be erected as a simple cover or made into a small and discreet tent-like structure
I also sometimes carry this small pop-up sun shelter to deal with passing rain showers. It is cheap and very light but the bikini-clad accessory is not included…
I regularly carry a 2-person bothy for emergencies. I’ve used it once for an activation and didn’t particularly enjoy the experience. I’ve also ducked into a friend’s 4-person bothy after I finished my activation to wait for him to finish. We ended up with 3 people in it for a while and it was just as uncomfortable as the 2-person with single occupant. The same friend sometimes takes a beach shelter which is very comfortable (but I wouldn’t want to carry the weight!). I’ve used a tarp shelter once which worked ok, but tricky to erect on uneven ground in a wind. A tarp fastened against a fence works very well as a wind break.
In general if bad weather is forecast (and I still want to go out), I leave the (non-waterproof) HF set behind and only take the (waterproof) handheld V/UHF. Then shelter from the wind becomes the priority with my clothing looking after the damp!
I’m not sure there is a perfect solution as most of the rain I’ve met on the hills generally is blowing sideways in wind…
One of the first things I discovered is making sure you use ballpoint/biro or pencil in your log as neither runs. I use an ordinary A5 pad.
I’ve tried tarps. Pretty good but difficult to erect in windy & wet conditions and not totally windproof if the ground you’re on is uneven.
I’ll look for any existing feature on the summit which will help = a small dip in the ground, a wall or ledge etc.,
A two or three man bothy bag (mine has/had no floor in it) is excellent but can be a bit noisy if you haven’t worked out how to keep it stretched out. To make mine more windproof I sewed into the end I sit on, a portion of parachute nylon covering much of the then end I sit on. to make a floor - but anything lightweight & thin will do. This I can sit on and it ensures that no wind can lift the bothy bag off the ground and no wind can get in from behind.
I have a a smaller sheet of nylon to cover the kit if it starts to drip inside the bothy bag.
I’ve also tried a golfing umbrella. You get some odd looks walking up the hills carrying one, but hey ho, its what we English do… 
To ensure there is minimal wind getting through I removed one of the stays completely this means there’s a flat section which can sit against the ground. With a short bit of cord I peg the pointy end down and also the handle… I sometimes use the umbrella to hold the bothy bag taught/tight. Ok, it makes the bothy bag a bit cramped, but…
If I could find a small ‘pop up’ tent/shelter like MM7MWl, Mike pictures I might try one of those but they always seem to fold up far too big to stuff in a rucksack.
Otherwise wait until its a nice dry day. Preferably in sunny summer…
Can you get a thin rubber/silicone beading to go around the edge of the protector, which then acts as a seal when you tighten the screws?
Or run a thin bead of silicone sealant around the protector, let it cure (so it doen’t stick to the KX2 body) then screw back on?
That’s the kind of thing I’d do to warerproof my Landie, but not my KX2 
Me too. The Terra Nova Bothy 2 is perfect for the job.
As I intimated in my original post, there are SOTA activations and there are mountain days in inclement weather that include a SOTA activation. A bothy bag is perfect for the latter. Work the pile up and run.
This is my method nowadays. When I was younger and wasn’t a goat I have operated in horrible conditions. Not any longer, a bit of drizzle is tolerated if it is expected to blow through because I can see the size of the shower. But rain is a no-no. Even if it was the 817 not the KX2, I’ll shutdown and pack up once the drizzles becomes “lumpy”.
I would suggest collecting the Silica Gel packets that come with almost everything nowadays. You can dry them out for reuse in a microwave oven or normal oven and then store them in an airtight box. I’d pop one in my KX2 battery compartment to dry it out after it’s been in damp conditions.
Then I’d never get out. If you can pick and choose your days then that works, but if you only have one or two specific days a week then you’d go many weeks without getting out.
I did wonder about making a gasket, but the screen window is only attached in the corners so I don’t think it would sit flat and compress a gasket all the way around. Besides there’s plenty of other holes in the case!
I don’t worry about it too much, just put electrical insulation tape over any of the obvious holes in the KX2 case (like the data port on the back) if it might be a bit damp, it peels off afterwards without leaving any marks.
Definitely the preferred option 
That’s what I have been doing for years. As a retiree I can largely pick and choose which days on which to activate and go or not go much as Andy @MM0FMF described. In recent months with so many days of constant rain I’ve not activated much at all.
My wife and I just got back from a ~3-hour walk in the Lake Distinct in heavy rain and strong winds. We were all dressed up in our ‘waterproofs’ (so dry-ish and warm whilst walking) and saying “How nice this would be in summer”.
For wet days I have been considering a dry bag with clear “window” for the radio and a ‘patch lead’ hanging outside for mic + headphones + coax. There are some made by exped.
Then everything else can just get wet…
I don’t know if it will work well, I haven’t tried yet. I always carry a bothy bag and use it when the conditions are hideous.
I bought a cheap dry bag from Home Bargains (or similar store) but it was bigger and thicker than expected so I’ve ended up using it for transporting radios in my non waterproof rucksack, but it works well for keeping light rain off the radio.
Depends on the layout of your radio on how well it would work.
My tip: Don’t do it.
For me SOTA activations must be fun. What fun is there sitting on a mountain in the rain?
In the alps the weather is often quite unpredictable. So studying the weatherforcast carefully is a very important part of the preparation. If I’m caught by an unexpected shower, I pack up and go home.
However this has happened to me only once, I think. But then I’m retired and have more freedom in choosing my days for an activation.
73, Fritz
Especially sitting inside a clammy bothy bag. Colin @M1BUU said [wrote] that someone once kicked him while in his bothy bag. I call that adding insult to injury.
No choice in North Wales, rain is simply unavoidable. A two-man bothy works well for me, tucked behind a bit of wind shelter if I can. Usually get my best range in rain, better grounding I imagine.
The “heroic” feeling when you get back to the valley bottom after a good thrash by the weather is quite nice. Retrospective pleasure I suppose?
Sitting in a bothy bag in the rain, on a windy hillside is much, much better than sitting outside in the rain!!!
I’m with Fritz on this one. Better still to be sitting in a warm cafe dunking ginger biscuits in your hot coffee.
No points for that.
For me it’s never about the points, it’s all about the experience. And if it’s not fun, I’ll rather do something else.
I’m obviously strange because activating in bad conditions is kinda fun. My last activation on G/NP-016 was in challenging conditions - rain plus wind plus very wet underfoot. I went out because I wanted the winter bonus and because I knew it would be my last chance to activate this year thanks to very strong winds forecast for later that week. The top was in the cloud and I managed to walk past the summit. I turned round and found it and then found the least wet spot to activate. I had a successful activation and safely returned home. Everything was very wet. I wouldn’t have gone out with that weather forecast if there weren’t points on offer (actually I probably would have gone out but to a more local hill) but I cannot say I hated the experience. I obviously would have enjoyed it more if it had been dry but the worst part was not the rain but the very wet ground. That same weather but on a different hill would have been more fun.
