I did my first SOTA activation on Lug in September for the 2m/70cm IRTS contest. I won the 2m contest and did well in the 70cm considering I just had a Baofeng handheld.
However Lug is windy. It’s the highest summit in the East of Ireland and it was a particularly windy and occasionally wet day. So not the time to try and get a 10 element antenna working portable. After it blew down hard a couple of times, I settled for setting it up couple of meters above the ground and was only just about able to turn it in the wind. Worth experimenting with again, but in better weather.
The antenna is a 10 element Diamond 2m portable antenna that I came across in the UK. It’s basically the 10 element version of their more portable 5 element yagi. And if you are looking for something in between Moonraker do a 7element yagi.
It was just a day trip. I took the easy way up from Fenton’s Pub. This year perhaps I’ll try an overnighter.