People who wish to receive the PNW SOTA Newsletter
Portland-area software engineer for the last 27 years.
Recently, got back in to ham radio after a decade or so lapse.
Interested in homebrewing circuits and trying out new antenna ideas.
Just getting started with SOTA. Was able chase a few contacts last week. I enjoy hiking, backpacking and now combining that with ham radio.
Newbie Technician licensee interested in SOTA
Noob with a handful of local summit activations. Looking forward to more adventurous outings
Project Manager in Healthcare in Portland Oregon area.
Formerly KJ7EHA.
Currently working towards achieving 200 summits 100% unique.
Formerly KJ7EHA.
Although I've had my license for forty years, I had not been active for thirty-five - until I learned about SOTA. As an active hiker/climber/skier, more opportunities to take me to places I would never think of going has made combining two favorite things into a fantastically fun activity. Any 'home' station I have is just about as temporary as the ones I set up on a peak. And a final word - Chasers Rock!
I run Ultratrail races as another hobby and am always near summits when I am training. I received my General License in September and stumbled upon SOTA and thought that it would be great to combine the training with summitting.
I'm an avid mountain biker and backcountry skier and sometimes I go hiking if I'm under duress. I have a YouTube channel dedicated to mountain biking called Voice Over Trail Reviews. I will add SOTA content to the channel as appropriate.
Currently I only have my Technician license and will be activating with a dual band HT. When I get my General license and an appropriate rig, I'm interested in doing HF activations. I anticipate activating VHF or UHF only from the volcano summits.
Licensed 2017. Enjoy portable activations. Just learning cw.
Interested in activating.
I was a tech from 2024 to 2021. A few years ago my life was turned upside down due to an injury in my brain. No longer able to work or do many of the activities I did before, I came back to ham radio to fill my time. I was enjoying what I could from the hobby as a tech. Due the injury, studying for my general was very slow. I want to learn more about SOTA in our area.
Update May 2021 - I recently set a goal to study for my general exam. Many days, I could only study for 1/2 hr each day. I spent a couple months slowly going through the exam questions and learning as much as I could absorb. One day in March of 2021, I began taking practice tests. Some days I could not study or take the tests. But I pushed through. Steadily, my practice test scores began to climb. Each day, I focused on the tests only. Taking breaks in between. Taking naps to rest my brain. I continued to push through. March 17th I woke up in the morning and took a practice test. I was feeling somewhat confident, but studying and taking practice tests were hurting my brain. So I felt it I needed to put my energy into the real test. I scheduled an online exam for the following day. I practiced a bit in the morning and rested as much as I could leading up to the test. I took the real test and got all questions correct. None of my practice tests did I get all questions right. It was a very emotional moment for me. What might be easy for some, was much more challenging for me.
Getting my general ticket has now opened many more doors for me to enjoy the hobby with the limited physical and mental abilities I now have.
My areas of interest are
Continue using Winkeyer and CW Decoder software to communicate with other CW Ops.
SOTA - I have learned there are many drive up (close) summits. I began chasing and activating.
POTA - I love getting out of the house and using my gear in parks.
Checking in on local and wide area nets
Contesting is not something my brain can handle, but I will throw my call into the hat and hopefully help some others.
I would love to do as many drive-up activations as I can. I can no longer hike :( , but I see there are sites that I can reach via vehicle.
Being in the mountains is just about my favorite way to spend time.
When I am not carrying a radio into the woods to do SOTA or support a wilderness ultra, I like to build RF gear of all sorts. I pick SOTA summits for the challenge or hike rather than the points and when I am out I really enjoy chasing other SOTA ops for S2S points.
My primary rigs are the KX2 and FT2D. I generally use endfed antennas for HF and a half-wave whip or beam for VHF/UHF. I mostly work CW on HF and FM voice on 2M.
In 2021, I put together the first Pacific Northwest Not-Quite-Fourteener to coincide with the Ham14er and Socal SOTAFest. It turned out pretty well, with more than a dozen W7W and W7O ops getting out and making a bunch of S2S contacts.
Ham radio operator located in Central Oregon. Thinking about getting started in SOTA.
Interested in possibly becoming an activator. Enjoy casually chasing SOTA.
I'm a reforming software engineer, trying to return to the infrastructure and network engineering world. Been tinkering with electronics/arduino/RasberryPi on and off for a while.
Started watching Ham Radio Crash Course and got hooked on the idea of SOTA/POTA. Been reading/watching lots of youtube on the subject. Found this page linked from the pota.app spotters page.
General class about 2 years into the hobby really enjoying portable ops
I’ve only done 1 drive up but intend to do many hike up activations as I used to climb regularly
Tech license, was a Novice license many moons and many miles ago...
Voice FM, 2m/70cm maybe 1.25m... Anyone play with DMR Direct???
Sea to Summit, thats me!
Hanging around more on summits, especialy those w/ views.
Currently using a Wouxun HT @ 5W or a TYT @ 10W w/ one of Ed Fong's roll-up J-pole antennas.
I'm hoping to promote activations using local ham repeaters.
I have an APRS ap that might help as well.
Building a five element Yagi for better range.
New ham. June 2022 technician's license. Upgraded to general in August.
Started doing local SOTA activations. Connecting with local SOTA people. It's awesome. I keep planning my next activation! and now taking a cw class for qrp cw activations eventually ...
I have a Yaesu 300D and hope to get a portable HF radio at some point and start doing more remote activations.
I live in Beaverton with my family. In the past I spent quite a bit of time climbing, backpacking, winter camping, back country skiing/camping. Now I do fair weather camping ;) hiking, fishing, skiing and other outdoor activies when I can get out.
New ham and want to explore doing SOTA and POTA. I really want to familiarize myself with it and maybe do some spotting, if possible on VHF and UHF.
Currently I have a Yaesu FTM 300D and some 5 watt handhelds both are VHF/UHF only. I use the Yaesu for both home base and mobile. I plan to get an HF mobile radio, maybe a Yaesu 818 or 891? Not sure yet.
Former electrical engineer now retired. I live in Battleground Washington which is about 30 minutes north of Portland Oregon. I love backpacking and ham radio so SOTA is perfect for me.
No activities yet ~ just starting out. Would like to do the actual hiking with other hikers as well as making contacts with hikers from home.
I am a physicist, trail runner, mountaineer, and general technical hobbyist (computers, electronics, optics). I also enjoy making music in just about any format.
Very new: tech license early August 2022. Gear: UV-5R with MFJ-1717 antenna. Recently climbed St Helens and made one contact, but plan to bring the radio with me from now on.
Retired forester. New ham, technician.
New to SOTA. I enjoy geocaching, so these two should be a blast.