Since the age of 6, when I visited Estes Park, Colorado, whenever I see any geographical feature more than say 100 meters above me, I climb it. (Provided it’s not a technical climb.) If I can get there without hanging by my fingertips, I go.
Summits On The Air [SOTA] is an organization that operates mostly in Europe and the US, which encourages amateur radio operation from mountain peaks. In many areas these are really just large hills, but here the western mountains of the US, we have many hundreds of peaks that are truly mountains and not just high spots.
The SOTA organization awards points for those who climb peaks and “activate” them by making a minimum number of radio contacts. It also awards points to chasers who listen for the climbers and contact them. This encourages more people to pursue the hobby, be on the air at the right time (when someone is on a peak!), and to actually make the contacts.
Backpack mobile operation, which is really what this is, requires either 1) carrying a honking big battery (several pounds); or 2) carrying smaller batteries and perhaps going solar-powered. Since my trail forays are generally 4 to 8 days in the wilderness, I go for the lightweight solution, which includes small batteries and solar-panels to charge them up.
SOTA: (UK)
SOTA Watch (current activity): who’s on top right now
SOTA enthusiasts online: KDØBIK // KØMOS
This summer as I make week-long treks in the Yosemite wilderness, I’ll be operating low power (2.5w) and attempting to activate a couple of SOTA-rated peaks. I’ll do a sneeze page of links later as I build up more of an inventory of sites.
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