Category: SOTA
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What a beautiful day for a hike! I spend a great deal of time talking about amateur radio in my day to day life. It is no surprise that I get many questions from non-hams about the hobby and how it works. Recently I decided to host a monthly “nerd hike” where I invite friends…
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It’s my birthday today and decided to blow off going in to work. My YL Debbie tagged along for a hike to Saddle Peak. 10 years ago we hiked this summit as newlyweds and I wanted to go back. The views did not disappoint! I ran some 2m SSB on the Quansheng, and then switched…
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What a beautiful day for a hike! My friend Chris W tagged along to see what Summits on the Air is all about! He, like many others in my personal life, are always full of questions when I bring up ham radio. It is always nice when friends take interest in some of my nerdy…
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Interactive GPX Track Map Upload your GPX file and Activator Toolkit for SOTA renders a full interactive map with your track, a summit peak marker, and the precise SOTA activation zone boundary. Switch between Topographic, OpenStreetMap, and Minimal base layers. An elevation profile chart sits directly below the map — hover it to watch a…
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Beautiful day for a hike! A.J. W6CMY joined me for an activation at Vetter Mountain. This site is neat because a fire lookout is at the summit. This lookout burned down in 2009 in the Station Fire but was rebuilt. It’s a tough location for 2m / 70cm, Mt Wilson hides a clear view of…
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Blessed to have this summit right in my backyard… but man, the hike is a real grind. About a 2,000 Ft climb, with 1,800 over a short distance. I worked this entire activation on 2m, but mostly CW and SSB. I was in a time crunch to get back. I had my KH1 with me…
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AJ W6CMY and I met at 7 a.m. to head into the Angeles National Forest for an activation. Initially, I thought we might tackle Josephine Peak or attempt a two-for-one with Strawberry Peak and Mount Lawlor. However, we weren’t feeling motivated enough for either. Instead, Kratka Ridge, deeper into the forest, caught my attention. It’s…
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Went for a solo activation this morning after dropping my youngest daughter off at preschool. I had a tight window of time so I planned on packing a light kit for this one. Notes online said that the hike was steep. They were not kidding! I have never owned and trekking poles, but decided to…
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Started the day early with my SOTA team, Mark K3MGM, AJ W6CMY, and Edward KO6DVZ. Wheels up at 0530 from my QTH got us on the trail by 0600. The last half mile of this hike was grueling and steep. Would not recommend for the casual hiker. We all wiped out on the way back…
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A small group of local ham friends that meet on our discord server decided to get out for a SOTA Sunday 8/3/2025. I was joined by Edward KO6DVZ, Mark K3MGM, and A.J. W6CMY. The hike was a bit shorter than anticipated, we miscalculated our planned 1.5mile hike to be 1.5 miles round trip. With only…