Mountain Top SOTA

Or my first and feeble attempt at SOTA (SortaSota?)

SOTA: Summits On the AIR is something to aspire to do. Ahh the fresh mountain air, the cool breezes and the magnificent views, making contacts from the top of the world. Ok enough of the “pretty picture” as it was freezing cold, windy and blowing snow sideways fast enough that it took your breath away at 10,000 feet altitude. It also did not help that we caught Covid on the airplane going out to Colorado in February.

Larry, my IT guy, and I had decided to stop skiing because of the poor visibility. I broke out the radio and made a contact with a special event station in Arizona. Tune around the bands and played with it for a little bit until the fingers froze and then packed it in. Went inside for a hot chocolate. Was not able to activate the mountain top because we only made one contact. At that temperature the batteries starts to lose its power. The built-in battery for the KX2 actually did extremely well at 10 W and freezing temperatures. We had to move because the snowblower guys started to clean off the porch that we were sitting on. I was impressed how clear the Arizona station came in and apparently they had absolutely no trouble copying us on SSB. I use the short AX1 antenna on 40 m with a 33 foot ground wire and it worked really well for a limited antenna. It was very portable.

Take home message is: have everything tuned up and ready to roll and know which bits and pieces you’re gonna put together for which bands. Write it down so when it’s freezing, you can just look it up and assemble it quickly. We tried to pick a spot that was out of the wind, but you know that pesky wind has a way of changing directions. Not the most ideal situation but then again we brought it along just to see what we could do with it. With a little more forethought and planning I’m quite sure we could’ve activated the mountain top. There’s nothing like really to get to know your equipment so that it becomes second nature when you’re out in the field. Sometimes you just don’t have time to make a big production so you have to have your options open and choose your alternatives.

I am most impressed with the people that do POTA/SOTA and my goal is to become quite proficient at it. The Elecraft KX2 performed really well and the short antenna, surprised me. Like any goal that’s worthwhile conquering, this is mine. Enjoy it, get out there and play Radio!

Be “radioactive“.

73 Peter N4PVH

---