Thanks for the comments everyone. It’s been a great experience to get here. SOTA has put me on top of over 130 mountains that I probably wouldn’t have climbed otherwise, gave me the motivation to learn CW (which is now my favorite mode for everything), and most importantly, given me lots of great new friendships with those who have a common interest. I’m very grateful for all of that.
The only disappointment I have from my Goat summit activation was that the band condx seemed poor, and I didn’t get a chance to make contact with many chasers & friends who are always in my log. SOTA wouldn’t be what it is without our great chasers always there on the other end of the contact. Big thanks to all of you for always being there!!
My son Jesse, KF7CTR, was with me on the summit, and he worked for a while to scrounge enough VHF contacts to make it. My Goat summit was also his first successful SOTA activation. So that was another special aspect to the day!
Congrats Ryan! Very happy for your MG . Only sorry propagation did not allow me to work you yesterday. Enjoy your accomplishment. Best wishes, de Scotty
Thanks for a really special MG activation! I saw your alert, so I knew what was up when I started my own activation on W0C/FR-057 here in Colorado.
I was about to begin calling CQ on 40 CW, when I tuned across you on 7.033, right when AC0PR called you for an S2S contact. I heard you both really well - and of course, as soon as you and Mike were done, I called you for an S2S. We had good propagation on 40M, so that was fun! Thanks for 10 S2S points!
In a few minutes I found AC0PR down at 7.027, and I got him S2S also. That was another 10 easy S2S points!
The real thrill was that when I got home, I looked up both peaks and saw that you both did First Activations! That was extremely cool, and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate your MG accomplishment.
Now you begin the next chapter of your SOTA journey - I wish you good luck and good times!