SOTA (Summits on the Air)

[wolfmanX]

Summits On The Air.

Just a probe here to see if anyone would be interested in participating in some SOTA trips.  Summits On The Air has traditionally been more popular in Europe, but is gaining some following in the US.  It is a Ham Radio related activity, and as such to participate requires one to have a license.  Anyone can participate in the hike/setup and extra mules are always welcome to carry radio equipment!

I recently made the following video after a local activation of Ryan Mountain.  Make sure to watch in HD.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/OsvkTdt-yCk&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/OsvkTdt-yCk&rel=1</a>

SOTA  is composed of both “Activators” (those who operate from a summit) and “Chasers” (those who have a QSO with an activator on a summit).  Both receive points for these activities towards awards so it’s a kind of team effort.  As an introduction to SOTA  (Summits on the Air) I provide the following links to resources on the Internet.

This is the main worldwide SOTA website where you can read a little about it and see the rules, guidelines and awards:  http://www.sota.org.uk/

This other closely linked website provides a means for persons wishing to activate summits to notify chasers and others of the expedition through “alerts” of upcoming summit attempts and “spots” indicating an actual presence on a summit in near real time:  http://www.sotawatch.org/

SOTA is divided up into associations based upon geographical regions.  Our local region is the W6 region and this is a link to the website supporting the SOTA W6 region:  http://www.sotausa.com/index.htm .

Here are some links to SOTA related videos you might find entertaining:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/LDKOCGVUTts&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/LDKOCGVUTts&rel=1</a>

If anyone is interested, I will post trip plans here in the future.

[AV Xterra]

Sounds cool.  I love hiking.

[xtatik]

Jason,
For an interesting twist on SOTA, go to Youtube and search "goathiker".
I'm not interested much in lugging stuff up and down peaks, but I have activated a number of rare grid squares in the past.
If I'm not playing VE at a testing session in October, I will be operating from some remote spot in Inyo county during the California QSO party. Currently there is only one registered station activating that county.

[wolfmanX]

Jason,
For an interesting twist on SOTA, go to Youtube and search "goathiker".
I'm not interested much in lugging stuff up and down peaks, but I have activated a number of rare grid squares in the past.
If I'm not playing VE at a testing session in October, I will be operating from some remote spot in Inyo county during the California QSO party. Currently there is only one registered station activating that county.

Wow! haha never seen those videos.

Yep, SOTA is a bit more about the hike than anything else.  It's just something extra to do while on top of the world.