SOTA Stats 1010 pts (207 bonus) 175 activations (11 this year) 126 unique summits 3,718 QSOs 10 associations 12y 7m
general ham

An Update from KH7AL

An Update from KH7AL

An Update from KH7AL
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_In case there is anyone out there following this page I thought I should provide an update as it has been too long. But if I’m just here typing to myself I want to affirm the reasons why SOTA is appealing to me, and maybe to you… if anyone actually takes the time to read this.
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**Update:
After a great year in Korea, I returned to my family in August 2015. We quickly packed up and moved once again to Colorado Springs, Colorado, a prime SOTA location.

Top 5
And now for my top five reasons why I thoroughly enjoy Summits On The Air:

  1. The supportive SOTA community of both activators and chasers.
  2. It gets me on great trails and to different parts of the world I would not otherwise visit.
  3. It encourages me to think smart about working portable operations. Less is more…
  4. SOTA makes it easy to learn Morse code. The short exchanges coupled with encouraging members creates a positive environment to learn and improve.
  5. I am continually amazed and intrigued at what 5 Watts and a wire strewn in a tree can provide.

Activation update :
With those top five reasons in mind this weekend I hit the road with aspirations of hitting five summits, in January…but I ended up with three.

I am in Alabama for training and instead of sitting in my hotel room all weekend I decided to head to the Smoky Mountains (see point 2 above). The first stop was Cheaha Mt (W4A/PT-001) an easy drive up 8-pointer in northern Alabama that offers great views from the state’s highest point. On the summit I had the honor of meeting Dennis - WA2USA, and Wes - N4QYI (see point 1 above). They stopped by while I had a pile-up, encouraging my shaky CW ability. We had a quick chat and then I headed for Tennessee to activate one summit before staying the night in Knoxville.

Awaking Sunday morning I discovered winter threw a monkey wrench in my plans and caused the closure of Hwy 441 over the Smoky’s. So after breakfast at the Pancake Parlor in Gatlinburg, TN, I made the journey up and around via I-40 for Cherokee, NC in hopes the sun would do it’s thing and open the road by lunch. No such luck.

While on my way around I stopped to activate Bunches Bald (W4C/WM-013). This is normally a near drive up summit but the Blue Ridge Parkway was also closed due to winter weather. After only a quick hesitation to decide, I put on my backpack and walked up the 3.5 mile, snow-covered road to Bunches. The solitary hike was made easier by the fresh snow on the Smoky’s and was sparkling with the late morning sunshine. I had a great trip to this part of the country and look forward to my next opportunity to come back.

73 and safe hiking!
KH7AL

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