It’s a Party! A Summit-to-Summit Party! – Mark your calendars for Saturday, May 16th - we’ve got two Summit-to-Summit Parties coming to the Northwest – one in the Willamette Valley of Oregon and another around Washington’s Puget Sound. Both of these places are “surrounded” by a variety of peaks – some easy to access and others more challenging. See announcements here: www.pnwsota.org/blog/nd7pa/2015-april-30/willamette-valley-summit-summit-s2s-party and here: www.pnwsota.org/content/puget-sound-s2s-party-16-may-2015. Post an alert with your summit on SOTAWatch and join the fun on May 16th.
Upcoming Events – SeaPac Convention – For those in the Northwest, consider attending the SeaPac Convention, June 5-7 in Seaside, Oregon (http://seapac.org/). There will be presentations by SOTA chaser Phil-NS7P, and also Mike-W7RIS (and yours truly for the Friday workshop), and relevant seminars on solar power and antennas. And best, SOTA folks will gather together for pizza in Seaside on Friday evening – see www.pnwsota.org for the announcement and location.
Upcoming Events – June VHF Contest – For those with 6 meter and up SSB capability, activating on June 13 and 14 could have an extra fun factor – the ARRL June VHF Contest. There will be bunches of folks delighted to work you on 50.125 and 144.200 MHz SSB, and other bands too if you have the gear. There is also some activity on 2 meter FM, but use of 146.52 isn’t allowed so look for folks on 146.55 or 146.58. VHF contests are also a great time to activate a summit where you don’t want to carry or put up an HF antenna. See the rules at www.arrl.org/june-vhf and consider entering a log for the contest – people have gotten first place in their ARRL section with just a few contacts!
The June VHF Contest is also a great way to make some contacts for the newest Official SOTA Challenge for 10m and 6m. Read the details of the Challenge and consider adding those bands to your antenna and gear quiver on summits.
Those “Unactivatable” Summits – In the Spirit of SOTA as outlined in the General Rules, let’s remember that access to any SOTA peak needs to be via public right of way or with permission to pass on private or restricted land. As examples, near Portland are three summits with activation zones entirely on private property – Biddle Butte (W7W/LC-154), Ridgeway Butte (W7O/WV-092) and Peak 1129 (W7O/WV-136). Also off limits are fourteen summits in the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit east of Portland and all summits on Native American Reservations such as Warm Springs in Oregon and the Yakama in Washington.
Sometimes you can get one-time permission to activate a peak on private property – but consider how the property owner would feel if another activator showed up next month, and the month after that, and so on. There are plenty of things to do without venturing onto private property or into restricted areas – there are more than 1,900 summits in Oregon and 2,700 in Washington.
Name that Numbered Peak – ForOregon, Washington and Idaho there’s a SOTA program to give SOTA names to otherwise unnamed peaks. There are thousands of peaks without formal names – they are typically numbered according to their elevation. Renaming won’t be in any USGS list of course, but it will show up in the SOTA database and in each Association Reference Manual when updates occur. The intention is to provide a local place name when possible and otherwise have fun and encourage activations of these usually obscure numbered peaks. Examples include Peak 2140 (W7O/WV-134) that was renamed "Back-up Plan" after the preceding activation attempt failed, Peak 761 (W7O/WV-138) renamed "Skyline Ridge" for a nearby park, Peak 4375 (W7I/SR-167) was renamed "Sam High Point” to honor SK W7JWO, Sam High, and Peak 4980 (W7O/CN-082) was renamed "Chasers Rock" to recognize all SOTA Chasers. If a first time activator does not put forth a name within about three months of activation, here in Oregon I would entertain suggestions from the next activator. And if you don’t want to rename a peak or can’t think of a good name, don’t sweat it – sometimes a number is best. See www.pnwsota.org/content/announcement-vanity-name-numbered-peak-program for some information, but note that each Association has its own renaming criteria.
DX SOTA Activations – If anyone is making any summer vacation plans outside the US, consider your own SOTA “DXpedition.” Note that for operating outside the US an Extra Class license is helpful because it is sometimes difficult or impossible to determine common operating privileges between countries, so having all privileges is simpler. See the ARRL website www.arrl.org/international-operating for details on operation from other countries. Operating in other countries is fun way to see places that are off the tourist track and you can sometimes meet up with hams from the countries you visit as they are often happy to show you around their home turf. You’d do the same for any visitors coming your way.
This newsletter is brought to you by the SOTA W7O Association Manager Etienne-K7ATN. To subscribe or unsubscribe, please email climb2ski at Gmail. See back issues here: www.pnwsota.org/search/node/newsletter.