SOTA = Summits On The Air!

With a 1911 and an AR-15, using a J-38 and IC-703 on 20 CW in unit 6A



What a great way to spend the day!

Poole

AZ is the best state.

You forgot to mention your dog!

Is that pole hot?  Don't fry your dag.

So which summit did you activate?

Cool activation.
Congrats!

Very cool way to spend the day!  Dig your set-up, hiking gear and your SOTA Leader!!!

Are you up in Flagpole?  Munds Park?

Thanks for sharing.

I've always wanted to do the same type of AZ guerrilla-SOTA.

yeah, that's up near Flagstaff. The killer attack rat-dog was guarding my site.

there are LOTS of peaks on the rim and elsewhere in northern AZ, many are an easy hike from the nearest dirt road. To be a valid activation you have to hike to the peak, even if it means parking below the peak and hiking the road the rest of the way.

power is proportional to how much battery you are willing to carry. So nearly everyone uses QRP (5W or so). and QRP is better in CW.

My pole is a 20' fishing pole holding up the vertical, it hung at an angle so the base of the antenna is behind my back, the radials are on the ground behind me, one is visible on the left side of the photo, the other much harder to see. the Radiating element I think you can just barely see it rising behind my head. about 6' of coax not visible to the radio. but a dipole hung over a tree branch by tossing a string over the branch.

I've been a ham for 42 years and I feel like SOTA has breathed new life into it, especially slow/medium speed CW.

Poole

I miss Arizona. There is nothing like this here in SC. It's hard to even find a wilderness because people and houses are everywhere. You can drive for hours and it's like you never left the city. I would have never moved from Arizona but I could never get used to the heat. It's a misery 8 months out of a year.

BTW, I used to operate HF portable in Arizona. Mountain tops were great for VHF/UHF too. Back then I never heard of SOTA thou. My favorite peak was - Williams Mountain, just west of Flag. There is a hiking trail that goes all the way to the top. The views are amazing.   In the summer time, we could ride a cable all the way up to the skiing slop up on the San Francisco peaks. I believe it was a bit over 11.000 elevation. I always brought my HT and called CQ on 146.520. It's amazing how far a 5W HT can reach from that mountain.

BTW, it someone saw you walking with that AR here in SC, they would call 911 and the whole sheriff's department would show up in a tank. SC is considered a gun friendly state but proximity to some liberal areas can be noticed everywhere.

Cool! Nice setup, looks like fun

I thought there used to be an actual distance requirement you had to make the final ascent without the use of motorized transport.

Also,
So my take on this is that as long as the vehicle is not within 25 meters of the summit you are good to go.  So if you park 26 meters below the summit, unload your gear and place it 24 meters from the summit, you are withing the activation zone.  Of course no receiving power from the vehicle.

I seem to recall that there was a concern for places where the only parking was within 25 meters of the summit you were allowed to park, unload and haul your gear outside the activation zone and then carry it back into the activation zone.  However, I don't see that mentioned in the rules.