Sixteen miles of roundtrip hiking, even on a nice trail, is a long way to go for two points, but it might the easiest way to get to Buck Peak and it's a lovely hike just the same.

Lava Butte is an easy and fun four pointer if you are ever in Central Oregon. It is a drive-up summit part of the year. There is a sometimes staffed lookout at the top and enough room for operating and most any antenna. Since it is a popular spot, you could get plenty of questions about ham radio when it is busy.

For those that hunt regularly this is not news, but for other SOTA Activators please be aware of hunting season in the areas you might activate, especially when hiking off trail. Check the hunting calendar for your state, wear clothing to be seen, and be thoughtful when crashing through the brush.

While in town for the Hells Canyon Relay race, Taylor and I planned to hit two 10-point summits in the Joseph, OR area, our highest elevation and point value yet. What started off as a well-planned day trip unraveled into a messy situation. This is a long report, but worth the read!

2011-10-29 Goat Island W7W/RS-006 CN96EV22

I ordered a LiFePO4 battery, one what I wanted for a while. It is 12.8V and capable of deliver 26A. Capacity is 13.2Ah. This should be sufficient to operate the portable radios on maximum power. It weighs 1.9Kg. Now that I have a good battery, I do not want to carry the 897 any longer with the internal batteries. So it is time to get another radio, a lighter one. I looked around and at the end I decided on the 857. I think ICOM does not have any good SOTA capable radios. The 706 would be good, but cannot buy new it any longer, and I don’t want to wait for a good deal on eBay. I would not like to take the 7000 outdoors. Time to go down south into Oregon to buy a radio.

The summits in the eight W7 regions are being renamed, much like those in W4 or W5 were earlier this year.

The name changes follow this plan:

W7 - USA - Arizona -> W7A - USA - Arizona

W7 - USA - Idaho -> W7I - USA - Idaho

W7 - USA - Montana -> W7M - USA - Montana

W7 - USA - Nevada -> W7N - USA - Nevada

W7 - USA - Oregon -> W7O - USA - Oregon

W7 - USA - Utah -> W7U - USA - Utah

W7 - USA - Washington -> W7W - USA - Washington

W7 - USA - Wyoming -> W7Y - USA - Wyoming