Tri Peaks, Arkansas River Valley Region
Activation Report (15 SEP - 20 SEP 2012)
On a whim, I decided to take my KX3 along on a spur of the moment trip to the Arkansas Magazine Mountains area with my XYL. We had already booked nights at Mount Magazine State Park and at Mount Nebo State Park to do some hiking. Just before leaving home in Jefferson City, MO, I printed out some quick reference info from the SOTA website but didn’t really look at it until we arrived in Arkansas. I had heard of SOTA and had worked a few activators but I really was a newbie, having never done an activation myself.
To my delight, I learned that Mt. Magazine (W5A/MA001) and Mt. Nebo (W5A/MA004) were designated SOTA summits. Also I noticed that Petit Jean Mountain (W5A/MA009) was also a designated SOTA summit, but had never been activated. Petit Jean Mountain is only 20 or so miles from Mt. Nebo, so it looked like activating three summits was a real possibility. With only limited time available for radio activities, I was still able to enjoy putting the KX3 through its paces while working some excellent operators, mostly on 20 meter CW, but a few on 10, 15, and 17, and 40 meters.
Thanks to the great SOTA website and associated tools, I have now uploaded my logs to the SOTA database. I really appreciated the spots on SotaWatch from WG0AT, N4EX, and KT5X. Thanks guys! It was also a thrill to have a S2S (Summit to Summit) QSO with WT5RZ, Ron, on W5T/FR003. Sorry I didn’t have time available to make more QSOs, but perhaps I can do it again soon with a bit more planning. Thanks to all for the SOTA contacts.
73,
BILL
W4RK