I walked out of my front door on the morning of Friday, September 29, 2023, knowing I was going to do an activation, but I had no idea where that might be.
I certainly had no idea it would be one of my most memorable activations ever–!
I knew I had a five hour window to play radio somewhere not too far from my daughters’ classes near the Asheville Airport.
I really wanted to do a SOTA (Summits On The Air) activation, but I’d pulled a muscle in my back and was nursing it a bit. I knew that an invigorating hike on a long, gnarly trail was not really in the books.
After dropping off my daughters, I sat in the parking lot running through the activation options in my head. There were 5 or so parks within an easy drive. I knew a POTA activation probably made the most sense since it wouldn’t require hiking or carrying a heavy pack.
Then again, I really wanted to do a SOTA activation–the weather was so amazing, I didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity to take in a summit.
I decided that if I took a minimal amount of gear and activated an “easy” summit, then maybe I could get away with a little SOTA without hurting my back. I thought this might be the perfect excuse to do a SOTA activation pairing my Elecraft KX2 and AX2 antenna. I had a lightweight chair and my kneeboard, so in theory, I could set up anywhere on the summit with my entire station on my knee.
Next, I only needed to find the right summit and one came to mind almost immediately…
Black Balsam Knob (W4C/CM-005)
The last time I activated Black Balsam was with my buddy, Monty, in 2021. I remembered that it was an easy hike with stunning vistas of Pisgah Forest (K-4510) and the Blue Ridge Parkway (K-3378).
This it the Mountain Ash (Sorbus Americana) with bright red fruit!
I drove 55 minutes to the trailhead and was happy that there weren’t too many cars in the parking area yet that morning. Black Balsam is one of the most popular summits on the Blue Ridge Parkway, so sometimes it can be a challenge to find a parking space…especially with stunning weather like this!
The hike was very pleasant and my GoRuck GR1 backpack was pretty light.
I knew I’d chosen the right summit hike.
The views from the Art Loeb Trail do not disappoint. (Click images to enlarge.)
In fact, if anything, I wish this hike were just a little longer because I enjoyed the scenery so much!
It’s only 3/4 of a mile one way, so it goes by quickly. Still… it’s why I chose this particular summit. I knew it would be gentle on my back (and it was).
Once I reached the summit, I started searching for a spot to set up. There were quite a lot of folks on the summit that morning, so I looked for a site just slightly off of the main trail.
Many thanks to Bob (K4RLC) for the following guest post:
Field Trip to Greece: September & October 2023
Bob (K4RLC)
A trip to Greece had been on the bucket list for my YL Alanna K4AAC and me for several years. In fact, we had to postpone the trip twice due to COVID. An opportunity arose to take a unique trip to Greece with the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, rather than a more touristy cruise. It’s always good to have fellow Tar Heels around, to share experiences.
This trip involved a few days in Athens, seeing the classic archeologic sites such as the Parthenon and the Acropolis, as well as exploring the packed downtown markets, such as Plaka and Monasteraki Square. Then the group would travel to the South of Greece on the Peloponnesian Peninsula staying in a fishing village called Gytheio, founded in the 5th Century BC, and port to the Spartan warriors. From there, there would be day trips to historic sites. These included a trip to Areopoli, where the Greek revolution against the Turks started in 1821. Another trip would be to Monemvasia, an island fortress founded in 50 AD. Other trips would be to Mystras (the last outpost of the Byzantine Empire) and ancient Sparta. On the return trip to Athens for departure, the tour would stop in Ancient Corinth, which had been civilized by the Greeks by the 8th century BCE and where the Apostle Paul preached ethics to this Sin City of ancient Greece.
As I had taken the KX1 and KX2 to various places overseas, I, of course, wanted to operate portable radio in Greece. Past treasured memories included enjoyment operating with the KX1 on Suomenlinna Island, in the Bay of Finland, and with the KX2 in various Caribbean sites, including St. Lucia in 2019.
One of the first things I did was to consult the SOTA Summits Database for peaks we might be near. In the Peloponnesian (PL) region, there are about 180 sites, many of which had never been activated. Once we got there, we found out why. The peninsula is extremely mountainous, with steep barren peaks up to 4000 feet, rising quickly from the shore. In fact, talking with Cristos, our guide in Areopoli and a local young man, he said that he and his friends would hike about 6 to 8 hours to a summit, then spend the night in a cave before returning home. Obviously, this would not fit in with our somewhat rigid tour schedule.
Olive tree grove & Taygetos MountainsSOTA map of Peloponnesian Peninsula with Gytheio circled
I was very excited to see that Mt. Mystras, where we would visit, also was a SOTA site (SV/PL-012), as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
I found it curious that Mystras had not been activated since 2017. I found the name of the last ham who had activated this site, and took a chance of sending him an email at his QRZ address. I was very pleased to get a nice reply from Cristos (a common name in Greece, named after Saint, or “Agios” Christopher), who said that he lived in the north of Greece some distance away and had not been back. I asked him if he had to seek permission to activate there. Cristos said they just didn’t ask anybody, but that I should be “careful of the guards” as I’m not a local.
I took his caution under advisement and reached out to the Greek Radio Union. I received a very nice email from Takis, Vice President of the Greek Radio Union. He advised me that my call sign on the Peloponnesian peninsula would be SV3/K4RLC/P. That is, in Greece the geographic location of operation still matters, while it doesn’t in the United States. And I also should use the designator P, identifying as a portable station. Takis went on to write that radio operation in many the archaeological sites is now “prohibited” by the Greek Ministry of Culture and Antiquities. I filed that away for consideration.
The tour was culturally enriching, taking in the incredibly long and complex history of each ancient site we explored. Just as memorable, we were extremely well fed with local cuisine, including fresh fish caught that day, especially eating by the water in Limeni on the West Coast of the Mani Peninsula. I have to admit we ate spanakopita at least once for 10 consecutive days (it’s even served at breakfast)!
The trip to Mystras also included a trip to ancient Sparta, civilized in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. We were fortunate to have an archaeologist who is currently excavating Sparta as a guide to the fascinating history here. On the trip to Mystras, three miles to the west of Sparta, the bus stopped at the tavern where we would return to eat later that afternoon, for a pre-tour bathroom break. Bathrooms are few and far between in ancient sites, and most of our group could be considered geriatric and needed proximity to a bathroom. Mystras is a 682 meter sharp peak over the town (see photo). Continue reading Bob pairs the KX2 and AX1 for ultralight travel-friendly SOTA in Greece→
“How can I accumulate a bunch of summit-to-summit points all at once, for Summits on the Air?” This was a question Pete Scola WA7JTM had been pondering for years. He initially thought it might be fun to choose several 10-point summits that were near each other, have a person operate on each summit, and then rotate to a new summit every so often. Eventually, this idea gave way to the Arizona 10-Point Madness Summit to Summit event. With an invitation from Pete, all willing SOTA participants gathered on a 10-point summit on September 19th, 2018, and 10-Point Madness was born!
The Arizona 10-Point Madness Summit to Summit event is a casual on-air gathering, where Summits on the Air participants set up their ham radio station on the top of summit . . . at approximately the same time. Operators are on simultaneously so that there is an overwhelming availability of summit-to-summit contacts to be made. This event occurs every year on the first Saturday of October.
Fred (N7PN) 2023 10-Point Madness
There was a focus on 2-meter contacts the first year we did this. We learned quickly during the 2018 inaugural event that it was true madness for 31 ham radio stations to contact 26 nearby summits all at the same time, especially on 2 meters. We tried alternate 2-meter frequencies and even considered a net control operator. However, in the end, we learned to just wait patiently for our turn to call for contacts on 2-meters, or if it was extra busy, we just moved off to HF for a while and returned later. As a courtesy, we now monitor 2 meters and return to it throughout the event to give the operators a chance to come and go.
Adam (K6ARK) 2022 10-Point Madness
That first year was amazing.
We collectively made 1104 contacts, 354 of which were VHF. And yes, we scored a lot of summit-to-summit points. We averaged 140 points each, with a grand total of 4324 s2s points for all the Arizona stations. We announced the event to several online platforms and invited others to participate, and had a few people join us from outside of Arizona. All of them had fun and saw good results as well.
Our 6th annual event concluded a few weeks ago. Participation has been steady in Arizona but we have seen an increase outside of Arizona. We had about the same number of Arizona participants as years past, but total contacts increased to 1403. The average s2s points per participant increased to 169, with a grand total of 4906 s2s points. I was amazed that Keith KR7RK earned 400 s2s points this year for this event – a new record, I think. These are only numbers for Arizona participants.
I read on social media that Josh WU7H, who was participating from Washington state, had 55 total s2s contacts and only a fourth of them were from Arizona. We received some statistics from stations in Georgia, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Texas, Nevada, Washington, Oregon and more. It is a lot of effort to compile the statistics but it would be interesting to include people outside of Arizona in the future.
Joe (KE9AJ) 2022 10-Point Madness
Here are a few things that have stood out to me over the past 5 years for this event:
In 2019, Josh WU7H and DJ WW7D participated from Washington. They won the award for most challenging activation in my opinion, operating from a snow packed summit in below freezing temperatures. But that didn’t deter them! They continue to come back year after year. They are tough!
In 2022 my friend Adam K6ARK was participating on a summit in California. I was able to make a 2-meter CW and SSB contact with him from my summit, 327 miles away.
Several others in Arizona also made contact with him. While not record breaking, this is long haul for 2-meters. And this year, I was able to make 19 DX contacts with one summit-to-summit into Germany. It seems like there are a lot of DX contacts to be made every year, but this was a record for me.
Finally, this year Pete WA7JTM made a contact on every single band from 1296 MHz down to 1.8 MHz. That’s 16 different bands. How amazing is that?
The point is, you can make this event into whatever you want. Experiment and try new things because there are people listening. And of course, you do get a ton of summit-to-summit points.
WW7D on High Rock 2019 10-Point MadnessJosh WU7H and DJ WW7D operated from High Rock
Dave AE9Q sent an email out to the Arizona participants and inquired about the radios, antennas, and power sources used for the event and as you can probably guess, the list was very diverse. I’m not exaggerating. Just about every QRP HF radio, VHF/UHF handheld, Antenna, and power source you can think of was used – Log periodicals, mono-band double-bazookas, double zepps, whips, Yagi’s, end-feds, QRP and QRO HF radios of all types, HT’s with microwave capabilities, mobile vhf radios, amplifiers, lipo and lifepo batteries. The list is long.
We recognize that other SOTA associations do similar events, like the Colorado 14er event and the Pacific Northwest Not Quite Fourteener event, to name a couple. These are all great opportunities to get on the air and have fun with QRP radio in the field.
I’m sure you have heard about how amazing the SOTA community is. If you get out on the summits or frequently chase, your call sign becomes familiar to others. So much so that you feel a personal connection and sense of comradery every time you make contact with them. During these events you see many of your good on-air radio friends. It’s like a reunion.
The Arizona SOTA association thanks the many chasers and participants outside of Arizona who make this event more and more exciting every year. We hope to see even more participate next year. Just pick a summit, put your alert on the sotawatch.sota.org.uk web page, get on top of the summit and have a blast!
If you’re not familiar, SOTAmat is an incredibly valuable app and tool for spotting yourself on the SOTA or POTA networks when you’re truly off-grid and outside the range of mobile phone service.
Check out this two minute intro to SOTAmat:
Setting up SOTAmat for the first time can be a bit confusing, but it’s not difficult. It is important, however, that everything is set up in advance of your SOTA or POTA adventures.
Our friend Vince (VE6LK) has just published a “Quick Start” guide to SOTAmat. It’s concise, and covers everything you’ll need to get set up and running with SOTAmat!
SOTAmat is an incredibly powerful resource for those of us who activate parks and summits in remote locations. I highly recommend downloading the app and making it a part of your SOTA/POTA tool kit!
Another W4 SOTA Fall Campout is in the books! What amazing fun.
This year, the campout was held at Lake Rabun Beach Recreation Area in north Georgia.
Once again, Joshua (N5FY), and I shared a campsite. He arrived Wednesday afternoon and I showed up Thursday afternoon around 2:30 PM.
There was quite a lot of wet weather in the forecast, so I opted to bring my large 6 person tent (the orange one above) instead of my two person ultralight tent. My thinking was that, if need be, we could us the large vestibule on this tent as shelter while eating and cooking.
Joshua was way ahead of me, though, and brought a canopy for the picnic table.
After pitching my tent and setting up, Joshua and I discussed how we should spend the rest of the afternoon. One thought was to try to squeeze in a SOTA activation, but we would have been fighting sunset at the end of it.
Instead, Joshua suggested that we build some antennas.
It was then I noticed that Joshua’s picnic table canopy had a built-in spool of 26 gauge wire!
I shouldn’t have been surprised. Joshua is the fellow behind the Tufteln brand of antennas. Turns out, he brought along a full antenna-building station.
I built a long random wire antenna and started a 30M EFHW.
That evening, we had friends pop by the campsite, ate dinner and fit in a quick POTA activation.
This morning, I’m hitting the road and heading to the W4 SOTA (Summits On The Air) campout at Lake Rabun Beach Recreation Area in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest (K-4473).
I’ll be completely offline until late Sunday, save for any cell phone coverage I might receive on the summits we activate. Obviously, I won’t be answering any emails or comments during that time.
I do, however, have a few Field Radio Kit Gallery posts scheduled to publish in my absence here on QRPer! Also, Eric, WD8RIF (who may only be learning about this at time of posting) will hopefully be able to monitor comments and approve any that are auto-moderated. Thanks in advance, Eric!
W4 SOTA
Once again, I’ll be sharing a campsite with Joshua (N5FY) and we hope to hit quite a few summits possibly with others.
N5FY juggling his HT and log book as S2S contacts were flooding in last year!
Since our campground is in K-4473, you can bet that we’ll be activating it during any downtime at the campsite. I’ve already scheduled activations each evening from 22:00-02:30 UTC knowing that will be the activation window and hoping the RBN picks us up to auto-spot to POTA.app (did I mention a lack of internet service–?)!
I hope to log some folks I don’t normally hear on the air.
Many thanks to Eric (NL5E) who shares the following article about his portable field radio kit which will be featured on our Field Kit Gallery page. If you would like to share your field kit with the QRPer community, read this post. Check out Eric’s field kit:
NL5E SOTA/POTA Backpacking Kit
Description
Hello! NL5E here.
I’m one of the rare SOTA activators in Alaska (I also use this same kit for POTA). Anyone that has looked at a map of this state will know that we have some interesting difficult topography. Many of our summit hikes start out near sea level, but are 3000-6000 vertical feet of climbing to get to the summit. So I built my kit with compactness, versatility, and weight in mind. Everything weighs approximately 2lbs (not including the battery, I don’t always take it).
My primary operating modes are CW, FT8, and SSB.
To facilitate those modes I tried to keep everything as small as possible while still being usable. For example, I debated using N6ARA’s tiny paddle, but I found I made too many sending errors. The N0SA paddle is a perfect medium between portability and sending ability. For FT8 the FT8CN app has been a good alternative to carrying a Raspberry Pi or small laptop and the well loved Digirig is probably the best audio/cat interface on the market today. I don’t do a lot of SSB (especially at QRP levels), but the K6ARK mini microphone is a wonderful improvement over Elecraft’s comically massive microphone for the KX2. I added headphones so I don’t disturb anyone on popular summits and so I can hear CW a bit better.
My antennas of choice tend to be random wires and End Fed Halfwaves.
With the KX2 I chose to use K6ARK’s 20w antenna kits and built both a 9:1 and 49:1 version. I usually carry the 9:1 just to have the band flexibility as it will work from 40m-10m. If the ground is wet enough I’ve had it tune up to 80m.
For the 49:1 I chose 20m because bands lower than that have mediocre performance from the latitude. Because of how short both these antennas are, they pair very well with the SOTAbeams Carbon 6 mast. From a summit a 19’ mast is usually tall enough to work most of the US and lots of Asia from here. The only modification I made is gluing the top 2 sections together for durability. To attach the antenna wire I use a small Niteize carabiner and a prussik loop.
I also wanted to ensure that I could power many different devices while out hiking. I settled on an Anker battery because it is easy to power phones and the radio without having to bring a bunch of different adapters like I would with a dedicated 12V battery.
I know someone will mention protection and the bag I chose. Yep, a silnylon stuff sack offers zero protection from bumps and impacts. I firmly believe that hams “over baby” their equipment and think that their radios will hilariously explode if sneezed on wrong. I settled on the Gems Products cover and rails as a good solution to keep the radio from getting destroyed in a backpack. So far so good. I added the dry bag to my list for rainy days.
I didn’t include one in the images, but I also usually have an HT with me, but most summits don’t have good line of sight to our population centers. I usually run a Yaesu VX-6R with Diamond RH77CA or MFJ Longranger. I will usually run 2m FM when I am close to Anchorage or Palmer. I also didn’t include my logging solution, but that is usually HAMRS on my iPhone or a Rite in the Rain book and pencil. I find CW is easier to log on paper for some reason.
Thanks for looking and perhaps I’ll hear some of you on the air.
Tuesday, September 5, 2023, was a gorgeous day. A hot day, but a beautiful one!
I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to fit in a quick SOTA activation and the most accessible summit that day was Bearwallow Mountain.
Bearwallow Mountain (W4C/CM-068)
I was in South Asheville all day, so Bearwallow was only about a 25 minute detour.
Since it was a Tuesday in the latter part of the morning, there were few others parked at the trailhead. Had it been a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday? It can be difficult to find a parking spot. Indeed, the previous day (Labor Day) I’m sure it was packed!
I practically had the place to myself, though.
The hike up was most enjoyable although it was hot and humid, so sweaty I became.
That said–and I think I even say this in the activation video below–I really wished the hike was a bit longer. The Bearwallow trail is maybe a mile long.
I wanted a longer hike, but in truth, didn’t have the time for one anyway.
Bearwallow’s summit is a large pasture. It does offer up some spectacular long-range views.
Bearwallow is also home to a lot of comms towers including a number of local repeaters.
In the early fall and spring, I go over my QRP radios and give serious thought to how I’ll build compact field kits around them.
Why? I’m pretty sure it’s the pending change in weather that’s the catalyst. The temptation to get back out there and make some contacts.
Then again, any excuse: I absolutely love building field kits, and fortunately it never gets old.
The radios I’m considering at present are my MTR-3B (named Threepence) and KX1, now named Audrey. (Yep, I chose “Audrey”…thank you for all of the amazing suggestions!)
Both of these are ideal little radios for kitting out because they’re so compact and truly made to be taken to the field.
One of these two radios––and I haven’t decided which one yet––is going to live in my EDC bag.
The Tom Bihn Stowaway in black has been my EDC bag for many years. I’ll need to pay attention to the weight and bulk of this field kit, because I’ll be lugging it pretty much everywhere.
I’ve got some ideas and a couple of pouches in mind, so this will all start coming together soon.
But first…
Care to share your portable radio kit?
One of the things I enjoy doing when I’m putting together a new field kit is to check out what others have done. It’s a great way to get some fresh ideas…and besides, it’s just plain fun to compare notes.
If you would like to showcase your field radio kit on QRPer.com, please send a short write-up with photos detailing how/why you built your kit as you did, and list all of the components with links to the manufacturers.
We only ask that you send your own original ideas––and not just a link to another website article or video––as we’d like this content to become part of the QRPer archive. That way, if an external link is removed, it’ll still be safe and sound here. (We take our archiving seriously on this site.) Of course, we welcome links to blog articles and videos in your post.
Simply send your information via email to my callsign K4SWL at QRPer.com.
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I walked out of my front door on the morning of Friday, September 29, 2023, knowing I was going to do an activation, but I had no idea where that might be.
In fact, if anything, I wish this hike were just a little longer because I enjoyed the scenery so much!
