Spring W4 SOTA Campout April 19-22, 2018

Yahoo! It will be great to see y’all again.

Sorry you can’t make it Joe, but I definitely think we will be doing this again. But just think about all of the S2S possibilities that you will have this year!

73, pat - KI4SVM

I may just have to take advantage of this on sunday!

Pat, I’m new to SOTA. Have done a little chasing but no Activations as of yet. I am planning on joining you for one day. I’ll be driving up from Chattanooga area and returning home that evening. Looking forward to meeting the group and especially learn th ins and outs of Activation from the veterans.
Barry W4LSV

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I am in campsite 35 and will have plenty of space if someone is looking to come but does not have a space yet.
Pat mentioned the S2S possibilities. Last camp out I was amazed on how many S2S contacts we made on every summit. It was so easy it almost seemed like cheating! LOL Looking forward to seeing everyone.

Ryan
WG4I

Thanks, Lanier! Looking forward to chasing you on a summit, although it was nice to know that we always had a chaser back in camp at the W4G campout. Glad we could twist Del’s arm too! :sunglasses:

That’s great, Barry! There is a wealth of SOTA experience in this group, but you will have to excuse us if we smell like a herd of goats. :goat: :goat: :goat: :goat: :goat: :goat: :goat:

73, pat

wow, I wish I could have come this weekend… Roan Mountain was always my favorite park growing up as a kid, and where I spent a lot of hours with the ATC and Tenn Trails doing trail work. You all have a great weekend, and hopefully I can be on a summit somewhere for some chaser/S2S points!

I really did want to do this, but I guess I need to accept that I can’t this time.:sob: I knew I needed 2 days just to drive down & back, plus campout time. Looks like work & work travel have cranked up again. That plus I’m responsible for starting up the gravity spring fed water system in our camp in Virginia - squeezes out any available time.

Hope you all have a great time, I’ll be thinking of you & wishing I could be there.

For anyone interested…There is a hamfest in nearby Sevierville, TN on Saturday, April 21. Sevierville is near Gatlinburg, east of Knoxville. The hamfest Facebook page can be found at:

We will looking for you on a summit, Jamie!

That’s a bummer, I was really hoping that you could make it. I am already thinking about where we could do this again next year…

Pat,

Great to see you Friday. Count me in for the camp out.
I will set up in Ryan’s campsite 35 with a tent as will Doug N4HNH.
Doug’s son may tag along
Should be coming in Thursday evening.

We should invite Gary & Martha to make a road trip to the camp out.
This should be a lot of fun.

73, Joel - KC4WZB

Great to see y’all and be summit neighbors on Friday. I will add you and Doug to our mailing list and update the Attendees list. I have invited Gary and Martha and who knows? They do seem to love road trips!

Looks like I can no longer edit the first post, so I will just add the current attendees here.

Attendee List
Cabin # 6 - WD4CFN - Steve & Patty - Fri-Sun
Campsite 4A - AC1Z - Bob - Th-Sun
Campsite 6A - KB1RJC & KB1RJD - Herm & Merle - Wed-Sun
Campsite 17 - KN4BBC, WF4I & AB4PP - Alan, Derek & John Paul - Th-Sun
Campsite 35 - WG4I, KC4WZB & N4HNH - Ryan, Joel & Doug - Th-Sun
Campsite 36 - KI4SVM & WH6LE - Pat & Pete - Wed - Mon (at least for myself)
Campsite 37 - AE9Q & N4SFR - Dave & Ron - Th-Mon
Campsite 39 - KM4JKM & KJ4RSW - Del & Lanier - Th-Sun
Campsite 40 - KW4JM - Scott - Th-Sun
Campsite 52 - KI4TN & K1LIZ - Ron & Liz - Wed-Sun

Visitors
KJ4ZFK - John
K4LPQ - Patrick - Section hiking the AT in the area and activating summits. Hopefully joining us for dinner one night.
NE4TN - Walt
AC4M - Craig
W4LSV - Barry
KI4AAU & KI4MKM - Gulley & Anita

I will be reaching Mountain Goat status for campout and picked Grassy Ridge Bald (W4C/EM-001). I don’t know what day yet, depends on the weather but will pick the better of 2 days. I will setup and activating for an extended period - 6 hours or more. I might even stay into the evening and try 160m.
So make sure you come up and visit, take pictures, bring me presents! lol
If you want to come up and activate, feel free to do so, just bring a battery and you can use my setup.

Ryan
WG4I

Yes. We need to touch bases on the trip up there.
I will have the hitch on the truck to grab your trailer and
we can proceed from there.
And we need to figure a time to head up there too.
Call me whenever you have a break. We can set it
up and get together on what we need to take with us.

JP/AB4PP

The campout is just two weeks away and I am so excited! There will be around 30 activators attending including 8 Mountain Goats, a freshly minted Technician class licensee and I know of two that are planning to join the MG herd during the weekend. I think there may be a third very special MG in the works, but I can’t confirm that. :wink:

73, pat - KI4SVM

Weather permitting, I hope to join your guys for the day on Friday the 20th and stay for dinner then drive home. My hope is to activate W4T/SU-015, Little Rock Knob during the day. Maybe evenget another one in but not sure which one yet.

Dean ~ K2JB

Hi Pat,
Your group might consider adding to the fun with participating in QRP To The Field - QRPTTF happens on Saturday, April 21 in the middle of your campout event. See the website for rules and work a few Rivers, Summits, and otherwise folks running QRP Outdoors! http://www.zianet.com/qrp/qrpttf/2018/ttf.htm
73, Etienne-K7ATN

Thanks for the reminder, Etienne. It is really an event piggybacked on an event piggybacked on another event - campout -> NA/EU S2S -> QRPTTF. :sunglasses:

That’s great news! See you there.

73, pat

Hi there. I ought to be a few hundred miles north of you during Campout Days starting out in W4V/HB and working my way south. Sounds like an opportunity to get in some Summitt to Summitt QSO’s.