SOTA Activation of Cuyamaca Peak

[SD07NISMO]

After learning about the Summits On The Air (SOTA) from xtakik in a previous thread I decided to do a little research. It looked like a pretty cool way to combine hiking/peak bagging/HAM radio all into one fun activity! Anyways, I went for my first summit "activation" attempt today up to Cuyamaca Peak (SOTA ref. W6/CC-014) here in San Diego County, CA. My wife and I had a great hike to the top and the views were great from the summit at 6512 ft elev. I was able to successfully log 4 QSOs on 2m FM simplex which was enough to qualify for a summit activation. It looks like there isn't nearly as much SOTA activity in this region (W6) as I expected, as I was the first to log an activation of Cuyamaca Peak. I think it would be pretty cool to attempt some summit-to-summit QSOs in the future, so I'll post up before I go next time.

 

[xtatik]

After learning about the Summits On The Air (SOTA) from xtakik in a previous thread I decided to do a little research. It looked like a pretty cool way to combine hiking/peak bagging/HAM radio all into one fun activity! Anyways, I went for my first summit "activation" attempt today up to Cuyamaca Peak (SOTA ref. W6/CC-014) here in San Diego County, CA. My wife and I had a great hike to the top and the views were great from the summit at 6512 ft elev. I was able to successfully log 4 QSOs on 2m FM simplex which was enough to qualify for a summit activation. It looks like there isn't nearly as much SOTA activity in this region (W6) as I expected, as I was the first to log an activation of Cuyamaca Peak. I think it would be pretty cool to attempt some summit-to-summit QSOs in the future, so I'll post up before I go next time.

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Awesome job Tyler! A first summit activation no less.

 

[DarioCarrera]

EXCELENT!!!

make sure you post it on the diferent ham sites. I wouls also sugest for those of you getting inveold in SOTA, to join up in the YAHOOGROUPS LIST. Its a great SOTA Resource:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/summits/

73`s and keep Dxing!!!

 

[Rallyroo]

I'm not familiar with SOTA, but I usually take my dual band HT with me when I hit high points in the backcountry.

In the past 5 months...

Half Dome 8,842' - 0 contact
Cloudsrest 9,926' - 2 contacts
Mt San Antonio (aka Mt Baldy) 10,068' - 3 contacts
Mt San Gorgonio 11,499' - 1 contact

 

[xtatik]

I'm not familiar with SOTA, but I usually take my dual band HT with me when I hit high points in the backcountry.

In the past 5 months...

Half Dome 8,842' - 0 contact
Cloudsrest 9,926' - 2 contacts
Mt San Antonio (aka Mt Baldy) 10,068' - 3 contacts
Mt San Gorgonio 11,499' - 1 contact

Wow, were these all simplex contacts? As often as you go bagging you should consider taking an HF rig. You'd be a popular contact in the SOTA groups. They have 3 or 4 coordinated peak to peak events on HF each year with contacts made between Whitney, Shasta, Colorados 14'ers, etc.

 

[taugust]

Nice job. Cuyamaca Peak is about 4 miles away out my back door. Sorry I missed you.

 

[Rallyroo]

Wow, were these all simplex contacts? As often as you go bagging you should consider taking an HF rig. You'd be a popular contact in the SOTA groups. They have 3 or 4 coordinated peak to peak events on HF each year with contacts made between Whitney, Shasta, Colorados 14'ers, etc.

All simplex contacts on 146.520. The satisfaction of making "long distance" repeater contacts is not there compared to making contacts on simplex.

Are you talking about packing a QRP CW rig or something like the Yaesu FT-817?

I might do Whitney and Shasta again this year.

 

[xtatik]

Are you talking about packing a QRP CW rig or something like the Yaesu FT-817?

I might do Whitney and Shasta again this year.

Yep, and the 817 would work fine even for phone signals if you aren't a CW operator.
Whitney would be good, although it's been activated several times....many other Sierra peaks haven't.

 

[SD07NISMO]

All simplex contacts on 146.520. The satisfaction of making "long distance" repeater contacts is not there compared to making contacts on simplex.

Definitely agree. Even though my simplex contacts were definitely still "local" I had a lot more fun than just trying to hit the various repeaters. I was getting reports of a very strong signal, S7-S9, so I think I probably could have reached further if I had had more time on the summit. Maybe next time!

I might do Whitney and Shasta again this year.

I might be doing Whitney this year also; my dad is putting in dates for the permit lottery, I think it will be either sometime late Aug or early Sept. I'm looking forward to it! Make sure to post up before your trip with the frequencies you'll be on.