Eight months ago during our first lock down I finally bit the bullet and passed my amateur radio licence. Passing and getting my basic with honours giving me access to the entire range from VHF, UHF and HF. To start I focused on VHF mobile communications along side of APRS.
But one of the main aspects that got me interested in this hobby was Summits On The Air. This is where you climb up pre-determined mountains across the world. Each mountain is rated and gives you a different set of points if completed.
This is my first successfully activation at VE6/RA-032 known as Square Bute. The hike in is around 5 km round trip with just under 268 meter of elevation at best. So a walk in a park from the snow shoe adventures I have been on over last few months.
Started the day leaving the truck at 10:30, due to hard pack and now fresh snow I was able to move quickly. I reached the summit activation zone in 30min.
This gave me a full hour to relax, slowely setup and get things dialled. Right of the gate I was able to make 4 contacts on 145.520 FM.
Around 12:30 a few groups of hikers rolled up to the summit. They where very interested in what I was doing with my fishing pole mast. I did meet one gentleman who used to teach celestial navigation for pilots. He was mention using radio while flying c-130 Hercules. Very interesting gentleman who was shocked to see some one using HF and VHF on a Mountian .
For next 2 hours I was fighting with my HF rig to get clear audio coming in. I blame this on my lack of knowledge on my radio. Near the end I moved locations and setup an inverted v dipole.
Sent out one last SOTA spot.
BOOM!
They started coming in like a wildfire and within 15min I had 11 HF contacts from California to Virgina and Kansas.
I can tell you the rush from that first contact has me hooked. The feeling you get from speaking to some one 1000+ km away is one that I will always enjoy.
Want thank every one in the SOTA group here in the VE6 zone. You all have been a wealth of knowledge and support to get my first activation.
Now I have my sights on a few 4 pointers to round out the tail end of winter. I am amazed at how many SOTA summits that are in my backyard and all of Western Canada.