I have been meaning to do a SOTA post for a while, detailing equipment I use, resources, operating and things I have learned along the way. Every time I sat down to write it up, it became way too long.  Since a few people have recently asked about my antenna, I figured I would just shift my thinking, and write several smaller posts on SOTA in one ongoing thread.  



SOTA Antenna

For a SOTA HF antenna, I wanted something that was light weight, quick to set up, and adaptable to many different terrain conditions.  I settled on using a telescoping fishing pole to support a 20M dipole, and a 31 foot end fed wire (not at the same time).  My intent was to get a 10 meter telescoping pole, and I found the least expensive ones topped $100.  I decided to try out an inexpensive 7.2 meter (23.6 foot) pole to see how I liked it first.  I picked it up for $35 shipped from Ebay.  Packed length is 28 inches.



The dipole antenna was made using Wireman 'Invisible' Toughcoat 'Silky' 26 AWG wire, some scrap plexiglass for insulators and  RG-174 coax.  At the end of the insulators on each dipole leg, I attached a fishing line swivel to keep the antenna from getting twisted while wrapping and unwrapping the line during setup/takedown.  To the other end of the swivel, I attached a thin line in order to extend the reach of each leg for tying off.  



The line has reflective strips in it, so forgive the reflection in the photo:




Since the dipole gave two legs, I added a third line connected to the center insulator in order to use it and the dipole legs as three support lines for the telescoping pole.  (Note: most of the summits I hike to are either all rock at the top or less than an inch of soil.  If there is five or more inches of soil, the dipole legs do not need to act as support for the pole, nor is the third line attached to the center insulator needed, as the antenna base mentioned below will provide all the support.)

Viewing down on top of antenna:





To keep the center insulator on the top of the pole, I use a very simple but effective device: rubber bands. I wrap one around the pole immediately under where I want the center insulator, then slide the insulator on the pole through a hole drilled in the center.  I then put a second rubber band on top.  It may seem a bit mickey-mouse, but it works great, and does not slip.





For the base of the antenna, I took a piece of PVC pipe, and reamed about three inches to fit the base of the pole.  I cut the other end to a point that could be pushed into the ground.  Most of the peaks I have been to have very little to no soil, so this PVC base also provides protection to the pole while I pile rocks around its base.



All of the wires and lines have Velcro one-wrap securing them for storage.  I use these double-duty to secure the coax to the pole at about five places while I am putting it up.  Oh, and if I happen to have a small tree or bush available, I will simply Velcro the antenna mast to it.  



Set up time is about five minutes in total, and the antenna has worked very well for me.  


End-Fed

For a secondary set up, I also have a 31 foot wire antenna and counterpoise.  Obviously, my dipole setup uses the antenna to support it on rocky terrain, but a vertical can’t manage that task.  So, I have three guy lines to use for the vertical antenna application.  Each uses thin line and a quick clip.  Light weight aluminum stakes are used to secure to the ground.  The attachment points to the pole are simply thick rubber bands again.   These will not slip, even when pulled at a down angle, and are tolerant of the line being slightly off in length during setup.  
















The packed weight of the pole and its bag is 9.6 ounces.  The packed weight of the antennas with support pieces in the waterproof bag is 1 pound, 7.7 ounces.  

Overall, this provides me with a very versatile antenna system that can be setup just about anywhere.  While I have intended to get a longer 10M pole, I haven't quite gotten around to it yet.  





High wind bending the pole, antenna base shoved in between boulders:





Radio, battery and antenna in waterproof bags:

Nice!  

Very good writeup. Can't wait for the rest.

Nice

Frostbite
Thank you for posting, I am studying for my General and SOTA looks fun.
What pole is that? I searched ebay and could not find anything at that length.
Great Post Thanks Again

I bought the one at the following link mainly because it ships from the US, and not overseas.  Looks like the price went up to $39.
Disregard the word "vintage" in their ad.  I have no idea why they put that in there, but remembering that did help me find it again!

>Link<

double tap

It may ship from the uS, but I'm guessing it doesn't originate there

Very nice setup. You should submit it to QST.

Now the important question: Who did you work?

Have you seen wG0AT's videos?  He carried a prototype KX3 on one of his hikes and the video of it's performance probably contributed a lot to the rig's initial success.
Unfortunately, Rooster passed away a few months ago, so I don't know if he's hit the peaks with Peanut since the two of them carried Rooster's ashes up into the mountains.

I can't really take credit for the antenna setup.  I learned about the use of telescoping fishing poles from Australian Hams.  The dipole and vertical antennas are very standard.  The only pieces I came up with on my own were using a fishing swivel to keep the line and antenna from twisting while being wound/unwound, and the use of the heavy rubber bands in providing non-slip pole attachment points.  I just put it all together in a kit that works for me.

On my SOTA outings, I have worked people all over the U.S. and Canada.  I have a good number that I work regularly.  There are a lot of SOTA chasers out there, and they get points for working me as well.  I have received reports of my WA state signal being heard in Europe, but I did not work them.  I'll have a bit more on that in a "lessons learned" post.

I have actually had Steve, WG0AT work me a few times on my SOTA activations.  He is an avid SOTA chaser as well as activator.  Here is a card I received from him with his newest design...

That card is awesome!  
I need to start chasing since it looks like that's something a flatlander can do!

What actually defines a place as being a summit?

We have a place close to me that is named Sugar Loaf Mountain. Yes that is actual name not a local name. It is not the highest point in the county but is of some interest. I have thought about camping out for the weekend and taking a rig up there and having fun. I don't think anyone has actually ever operated HF from there. I do know we did use VHF when we had an ARES/CAP downed aircraft drill.

http://www.sota.org.uk/


There is also IOTA and I plan on doing some USIOTA activations this summer.

Oh BTW Frostbite...I ordered the fishing pole you have for use with Par-endfedz 20m and 10m.

Here is the list for South Carolina:

http://www.sota.org.uk/Region/viewRegion/id/629

I am digging this thread. What radio do you use? do you use a turner?

Thanks for the thread Frostbite! I've been very interested in trying SOTA out. I have chased a few operators, but really want to get started activating. I have lots of summits around me to try out. Now that I'm finally getting into CW, I think it will be a bit easier since I can run QRP with more chance of making contacts.
More justification for a new radio too!

First off, for those not familiar with Summits on the Air (SOTA):

From http://www.sota.org.uk/ :

Summits on the Air (SOTA) is an award scheme for radio amateurs and shortwave listeners that encourages portable operation in mountainous areas. SOTA has been carefully designed to make participation possible for everyone - this is not just for mountaineers! There are awards for activators (those who ascend to the summits) and chasers (who either operate from home, a local hilltop or are even Activators on other summits).

SOTA is now fully operational in many countries across the world. Each country has its own Association which defines the recognised SOTA summits within that Association. Each summit earns the activators and chasers a score which is related to the height of the summit. Certificates are available for various scores, leading to the prestigious "Mountain Goat" and "Shack Sloth" trophies. An Honour Roll for Activators and Chasers is maintained at the SOTA online database.

Basically SOTA is exactly what I envisioned myself doing when I was a kid – on a distant mountaintop talking to faraway places on a transceiver.  Doing now what you thought was cool as a kid = win!

Pre-summit activities:

There are two websites to sign up on.

SOTA:  http://www.sota.org.uk/

This is where you research summits to activate in your area, and also where enter your activator logs at the end of the activation.  You can think of it as the database for all summits and user records.

SOTA Watch:  http://www.sotawatch.org./

This site functions like a SOTA specific DX spot for your activation.  List the time, location and frequency for your upcoming activation, and people will know where to look for you.  During your activation, those that work you will likely spot you on the same site while you are on the air.

Research your summit on the SOTA website, and be sure to write down the summit number to take with you on the activation.  

Pick your operating frequencies.  The QRP frequencies are at the top of each band, and generally where the SOTA crowd operates.  If you can, try to operate on several bands during your activation.  This will allow more chasers to work you, and can add to the fun.  For me, there is an Oregon station that is too close for anything but 40M, so I will hit that just for him.  When you list your operating frequencies on SOTAwatch, it can be a good ideal to list “+/-3” for each one to allow you to adjust for a busy frequency once you are on the mountain top.  

List your upcoming activation on SOTAwatch.  Enter the approximate time, summit, frequencies and modes.


On the summit:

Be ready, and have everything within easy reach before transmitting, because you will have a pileup, and it will get busy.  I have only done weekday activations, but on one of those, I had six SOTAwatch spots as well as four DX spots.  I am sure a weekend with good conditions would result in a much larger pileup.
 
In a notebook, I write the date and summit name/number at the top of the page.  For each QSO, I record their callsign, the time, my signal report to them and their signal report to me.  While operating, be sure call out your summit number often.  I find this to be what SOTA chaser screw up the most often, even when it is correctly listed on SOTAwatch.  I now throw out the summit number every two QSO’s.  

Before beginning, be sure ask if the frequency is in use.  You will likely be operating in the QRP area of the band, so you may not be able to hear one end of an ongoing QSO.  

I find that my first QSO is a nice one that allows for a minute of chat.  Ask this person to spot you on the SOTAwatch site.  Once he does so, the pileup will begin.  This will sound like a DX pileup with two exceptions – it is for you, and the SOTA crew is pretty polite.  The main thing to remember is that YOU are in control.  There is no need to rush things.  Be sure you have all the information you need written down, and the other person is correct in the information you gave them before moving on to the next contact.    

One suggestion for an operating practice, is to take a pause about 10 minutes into your operating to allow for DX stations or summit-to-summit stations to get through.  Just let the pileup know ahead of time, and no one will get cranky.  Just say something like “In five minutes I will be taking a moment to call for DX stations”, and repeat every few minutes on a count down.  I learned to do this after receiving an email from a Ham in England after an activation.  

When you finish working everyone on one frequency and you change bands, be sure to announce that you are changing, and the frequency you are moving to.  This allows someone to spot that you are QSY to somewhere else, and anyone who you can’t hear has an opportunity to switch bands with you for another try.

Post-summit activities:

Go to the SOTA web site and enter your activation log.

http://www.sota.org.uk/

For fun, pop onto SOTAwatch again and see how many people spotted you, and if they had any comments.

http://www.sotawatch.org./

Do the QSL’ing of your choice.  I upload my contacts to EQSL and LOTW.  For anyone that I actually send a paper card to, I like to send a photo of the summit I was on, usually with my antenna or radio in the picture.  

Grab a beer and start planning your next adventure.  

I am using an Elecraft KX3 with internal tuner.  I love that radio!  

I will definitely have more gear posts coming up.  I have some small equipment recommendations and a number of ancillary items that I find very useful.

A "summit" here in Florida is usually the top of the local garbage dump.

Something tells me a picture of that would not be quite as dramatic as what you are doing Frostbite

Another reason to start doing SOTA...

They already have patches!  

Where do I sign up?

For my SOTA activations, I have my gear in three main pieces.  
-Antenna Bag
-Antenna Pole
-Radio Bag




I have already gone over the antenna and pole, so it is time to go over the radio bag.  I am packing two cordura pouches inside, one for the radio, the other for the battery plus small items.  



The cordura pouch holing the radio is an inexpensive water bottle holder from Condor Tactical.  I like it because it fits the KX3 well, and is lightly padded.  It also has enough room to carry most of the ancillary equipment.  




Contents:
-KX3 Radio
-Microphone
-Green padded nylon rectangle to protect base of radio on rocks, etc.
-Ear buds
-Power cord
-BNC-BP BNC Male to stackable binding posts (for wire antenna)
-End Fed wire and counterpoise

I keep the end fed wire with the radio in case I either forget or lose the main antenna bag.  I want to have a backup with the radio.  I am using a good quality pair of ear buds because they are light weight, will cut out noise such as heavy wind, and provide good audio.

The padded nylon base thingy in use:





I am using a cordura pouch for the battery in order to provide some insulation when activating a SOTA peak in the snow.  I can keep the battery in the pouch, and just have the power cord coming out of the zipper.  I have to admit that the pouch was sitting around my house unused for several years, so I was just happy to finally find a use for it!




Contents:
-4200 mAh LiFePO4 battery
-“Rite in the Rain” all weather notebook
-Pall Point Pen
-Fisher Space Pen Trekker (not pictured)

I went LiFePO4 for the battery manly for the power to weight ratio.  These are what are largely used by the R/C crowd these days.  It provides well more than enough power for a summit activation.

I live in what is commonly referred to as “the wet side” of Washington State.  I would not want to try using normal paper for my log in rain or snow.  I found a line of notebooks by a company called Rite in the Rain, which have waterproof paper and are very easy to write on.  As an added bonus, they are yellow, so I won’t lose them!  I have had large drops of water fall from trees above me right on to the page I am writing on.  I just brush the water away, and keep writing.

Notebooks on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Rite-Rain-All-Weather-Student-Notebook/dp/B009F1E01A/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1397935749&sr=8-14&keywords=rite+in+the+rain

The ball point pen I used at the start was one which always worked for me in normal environments.  I soon found that I had trouble with it out in the field.  So, I said “screw it” and grabbed the short version of the Fisher Space pen, with the pressurized ink cartridge.  No problems with that pen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODO0zQBPI2k



One other item I carry is a double ended waterproof pouch.  Both ends are open, like a tunnel, and have cinch straps with cord locks.




Like the other bags I carry, it is made of a light weight coated ripstop nylon that is completely waterproof.  I wanted something to keep my radio dry during wet weather activations.  The issue was that the radio has the antenna coax coming out of one side, and the mic & ear buds coming out of the other.  A waterproof bag I could slide over and cinch both ends was the answer.  I get the radio set with the proper frequency, lock the buttons, and close the bag over it.  Works like a charm!  I have used it both rain and snow.




I went with yellow for my bags so I am sure not to leave them behind.  I am careful to keep all items inside the bags unless in use, so I can keep track of everything.  I find it’s great to have just one bag for radio and battery, one bag for the dipole antenna and then the support pole.  Everything packs easily, is well protected and stays dry.

Finding a summit

The way I prefer to find summits is through the SOTA Mapping Project.  This is available through the main SOTA website under the database menu.

http://www.sota.org.uk/


Here is the direct link:

http://sotamaps.wsstvc.org/

It will bring up a map of the world, and you simply use the drop-downs to select your association and region.  Since I am in Washington State, I choose W7W – USA – Washington, then select the region of the state that I am interested in.  Be sure to note that you can select “multi” above the drop-down box.  This is very useful when looking at summits on the edge of two regions.  Summits will be displayed on the map with their point values listed.  For more information on any summit, just click on it and a window will pop up with details.  If you want more information still, you can click on the summit name in this pop-up window, and you will be taken to the page for this summit.

Overall rules and guidelines can be found on the SOTA website under the “Rules & Guidelines” menu.

http://www.sota.org.uk/RulesAndGuidelines

This will give you the overall SOTA rules.  For example:

For an Expedition to be considered valid, the following criteria must be met:

1. The Activator must hold an appropriate transmitting licence.
2. All operation must comply with the amateur radio licensing regulations and must use the
permitted amateur radio bands of the country in which the Association is based.
3. The method of final access to the Summit must be non-motorised. Operations must not
be in, or in the vicinity of a motor vehicle. No part of the station may be connected in any
way to the motor vehicle.
4. The Operating Position must be within the permitted Vertical Distance of the Summit, as
defined in Rule 3.5. The terrain between the operating position and the actual Summit
must not fall below the permitted Vertical Distance.
5. All equipment must be carried to the site by the Activator team.
6. All equipment must be operated from a portable power source (batteries, solar cells, etc).
Operation is expressly forbidden using permanently installed power sources or fossil-fuel
generators of any kind.
7. All operation must comply with any limitations on the use of transmitting equipment that
may exist for the Summit.
8. At least one QSO must be made from the Summit to qualify as an activation. In order for
the activation to qualify for the points attributed to that Summit, a minimum of four QSOs
must be made, each of which must be with a different station.
9. QSOs with others within the same Activation Zone do not count towards the QSO total.
10. QSOs via terrestrial repeaters do not count towards the QSO total.
11. Activator points accrue to the operator regardless of the callsign used. The operator
must be entitled to use the callsign. Multiple operators of the same station may claim
activator points. Each individual operator must make the minimum number of QSOs
stated above in order to claim Activator points.
12. Activators must submit a log of the Expedition in order to claim points. In the event that
a claim is not to be made, Activators are still asked to submit logs so that Chaser claims
can be substantiated. Logs may be submitted by filling in an entry form on the SOTA
web site or as a log file. Full details are on the SOTA web site.
13. Where the mountain peak has been issued a reference number in two or more
Associations, the Activator may claim points each Association provided that the
Operating Position is always within the jurisdiction of the appropriate Association. Unless
the licensing regulations decree otherwise, the position of the Operator is deemed to be
the Operating Position. The same peak may be activated for points once per year in
each Association.
14. All SOTA operations are expected to be conducted in the spirit of the programme




For specific rules, you should refer to the documents for the association for your specific area.

http://www.sota.org.uk/Associations

There is a lot of good information contained in the association documents, which should answer all of your questions on how peaks were identified, and the specifics on activating.  For example, SOTA peaks were identified in Washington State with the following criteria:

The W7-Washington Association defines a
minimum of 150 meters of vertical rise from the surrounding saddle or base in order for a
summit to qualify. This vertical separation from surrounding terrain is the basis of the
definition of geographic prominence

W7W activation area and ascent guidelines:
The SOTA General Rules state that the method of final access to the Summit must be non-motorized. The General Rules do not specify the distance, either vertical or en route, that this final ascent must cover. In keeping with the spirit of adventure and the promotion of physical fitness embodied by the SOTA program, the W7-Washington Association recommends that the activator plan a minimum of 25 vertical meters be covered in the final approach to the operating position by able-bodied Activators. Operation from a vehicle is never permitted for a SOTA activation.
The SOTA general rules also state that radio operations must take place within a summit’s Activation Zone, which, in the case of the W7-Washington SOTA Association, is an area within 30 vertical meters of the actual summit point. The Activation Zone is a single, “unbroken” area which can be visualized by drawing a closed shape on a map, following a contour line 30 meters below the summit point. Another way to describe the activation zone is any place that has a route to the summit point that does not dip below 30 meters of the summit point. The operating position must be within this zone, but antennas may extend well beyond.

There is a lot of good information contained in your association document, so be sure to check it out.


For researching the route to various peaks, I am a big fan of Caltopo, which I think is the best online mapping tool available today.

http://caltopo.com/

It has a good number of map types, sat, aerial, etc.  It has the ability to add layers such as gradient shading.  It is a great tool.  It does not contain any SOTA information, but i use the detailed mapping to find my route and plan my activation site and setup.



With The SOTA rules, your local SOTA association guidelines and the SOTA mapping tool, you should be good to go.  Start looking up peaks, and getting outside!

Nice set up!

Lots of summits in (Western) Washington, but not so many in this part of Texas.  I still think I should start up a group called FOTA.....Flatlanders On The Air. QSO's only count if there are no "summits" within 100 miles.  

Hell, start up Oil Rigs on the Air.  

This highest point I drive over outside Glen Rose doesn't even show on the sota map. Maybe we just need Hills on the air or creeks on the air.