With a new baby in the house it’s difficult to plan anything, however the wife took the baby to see granny for the day so I grabbed the SOTA backpack and headed for a local 4 point summit to clear the fog from the brain. As I was leaving the house I thought Id better check the gear and post an alert on SOTA watch, so after checking the backpack and contents I jumped into the car and forgot to post an alert 
On arriving at the carpark I remembered to post the alert and started the short hike to the summit (only 1.3 miles)
35 minutes got me to the summit (slightly out of breath lol I need to get fit again)
I had only brought the Moonraker SPX 100 vertical antenna with modified camera tripod for HF with the YEASU ft818nd so I got it set up and tuned round 20m and 40m, all was quiet. So I grabbed my trusty ICOM ID51 handheld and set up on 145.400 FM put a spot up on SOTA watch and after a few cq calls
Moira MI7RPP came back a quick chat and exchange of signal reports and I had my first contact in the log book. A few minutes later and Victor GI4ONL was in the log followed by Ian GI0AZB. After that 2m dried up so I called quits and headed for HF, 20m was still pretty quiet so I tried 40m and found better activity there, however I wasn’t able to get a contact responding to other CQ calls so I put a spot up on 7.175 and after a short while a PA5??? came back to me gave me my signal report, I replied with his report and asked him to repeat his call sign as I didn’t catch his suffix, no reply he disappeared lol I’ll make sure I don’t forget the headphones next time!
A couple of cq calls later 2I0FIP came back with a 59+ report and was so strong back to me I had to switch on the attenuator! Anyway we had a chat and then after a quick cq call G4YBU was in the log book
After that I was getting no more replies to my cq calls so I had a look at SOTA watch and saw DK1TBL spotted on 15m,I answered his call and that was my first s2s contact in the log book! That was my final contact of the day as I had to get home for the Sunday roast.
I wish I would have had my 40m and 20m dipoles with me as I know they work well on this summit however the summit was busy today so no doubt I would have had someone tripping over guy ropes!
The vertical antenna did ok and has a very small footprint, big lesson learned was don’t forget the headphones! Wind noise was making it difficult to hear. All in all it was good fun and a nice walk, and I got my first 4 points in the bag! Thanks to the chasers and hopefully I’ll be back for an other try soon!