Amateur Radio · VHF/UHF · Summits On The Air · Colorado Mountains · Adventure
While exploring northwest Wyoming, Joyce/K0JJW and I were looking for a suitable mountain for a Summits On The Air (SOTA) activation. A little bit of research identified Pass Benchmark (W7Y/TT-122) as a good option. This summit is accessed from the Teton Pass trailhead, which is on a paved road (Route 22) heading west out of … Read more
It is always fun to do the first Summits On The Air (SOTA) activation of a peak. Most of the Colorado peaks have been climbed by someone along the way but there are still many that have never been activated for SOTA using amateur radio. I noticed that an unnamed summit not too far from … Read more
I’ve been up Pikes Peak (W0C/FR-004) a zillion times via the Pikes Peak Highway and the Pikes Peak Cog Railway (currently out of service) doing SOTA activations, working VHF contests, participating in the Colorado 14er Event, maintaining repeaters and escorting visitors from out of town. See my previous post on activating by driving up the … Read more
For the Colorado 14er Event, Joyce/K0JJW and I decided to activate Mount Princeton (W0C/SR-005). I had climbed this summit many years ago, well before Summits On The Air (SOTA) was a thing. Princeton is a majestic peak that towers over Buena Vista and the surrounding area. We see that mountain quite often when we are … Read more
Mosquito Pass is a popular 4WD road in Colorado that takes you to 13,185 feet in elevation. It also provides access to two excellent SOTA summits, both over 13k feet: Mosquito Peak (W0C/SR-068) and London Mountain (W0C/SP-025). Joyce/K0JJW and I activated both summits on the same day. Fortunately, the weather cooperated nicely. The Road We … Read more
Here are some operating tips that I have found useful when doing Summits On The Air (SOTA) on VHF. I’ve been using VHF and higher frequencies for SOTA exclusively and have activated over 100 summits in Colorado (and other states such as California, Wyoming, New Mexico, North Carolina and Tennessee.) The challenge with VHF and … Read more