Amateur Radio · VHF/UHF · Summits On The Air · Colorado Mountains · Adventure
Joyce/K0JJW and I were planning a trip to Alaska to visit several of the national parks. We had some time available while in Fairbanks to do some SOTA activations. We were traveling very light, so we took minimal SOTA gear: a pair of VHF/UHF handhelds and simple antennas. We used my newly-fashioned antenna mount on … Read more
My Summits On The Air (SOTA) activation of Pikes Peak (W0C/FR-004) on June 20th qualified me for Mountain Goat, using only the VHF/UHF bands. Mountain Goat requires 1000 activation points using the SOTA activation point system. I’ve been working toward this goal for quite a while. I was doing mountaintop VHF activations before SOTA was … Read more
For the ARRL January VHF contest, I did a combination Summits On The Air (SOTA) and contest entry. I am recovering from a knee injury so Genesee Mountain (W0C/FR-194) turned out to be a nice easy hike for me. Of course, Joyce/K0JJW joined me and also did a SOTA activation. Caleb/W4XEN came along with us … Read more
One of our favorite summit hikes along the front range of Colorado is Devils Head lookout tower (W0C/FR-051). This hike is about 1.5 miles one way with 900 feet of vertical gain. See my summer trip report from July 2012 for more information on the hike. This year we activated the summit in winter. One … Read more
Joyce/K0JJW and I were planning a trip that included some time in Europe. It turned out that our airline route would connect through Zurich. Rather than spend a few hours in an airport, we decided to spend a day or two in Switzerland. Somehow the discussion turned to Summits On The Air (SOTA) and whether … Read more
There is a SOTA (Summits On The Air) summit just north of Tincup Pass with an elevation of 13,538 feet. The SOTA database (W0C/SP-127) says the name is Mount Emma but all of my maps indicate that it is Emma Burr Mountain. (I contacted the W0C Association Manager and we’re working it out.) Joyce/K0JJW and … Read more