First POTA/SOTA Combo - Park K-2735 Summit W4C/EP-001

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1

Good evening everyone,

Well, yesterday was my first SOTA and I thought I would share my experience. I created a video and have posted it here, but unfortunately, with the challenges I had getting my antenna setup and finding a way to set up out of the very strong wind, I forgot to video any of the actual activation.

I am fairly new to ham radio having been licensed right at a year now, and started my first POTA activations last month. I was looking at doing another POTA activation at Hanging Rock State Park, when I thought about hiking to the top. That made me wonder if it was listed as a SOTA location, and sure enough it was. Everything was a little last minute, and I am limited on my set-up, so I lugged up my Icom IC-7200 and a battery, antenna etc and it all weighed 39lbs. As I set off on my journey, it had been quite a long time since I had hiked to Moore’s Knob, and couldn’t remember the trail, so having looked it up, I set out on my journey.

Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that I took the long trail, so instead of being approximately a 1 mile hike, it was a 4 mile hike, and I am very out of shape! Eventually made it to the top, and ended up getting 50 contacts, so all in all a very successful day…buy my feet and legs are feeling it today.

I’m looking forward to many more summits moving forward!

73,
Steve

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2

Congratulations. I too am way out of shape and I feel it when I hike. If you do any summits on the Appalachian Trail you can claim the AT for POTA once you get 10. In W4G for instance, Blood Mountain, Blue, Rocky, and Tray are all on the AT so 10 contacts and you can claim both.

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3

Thank you for the info on the AT. I am definitely feeling it, but it also really made me want to get out more!

4

Thanks for making the video. I like watching POTA/SOTA videos. I did my first the other day too. Was a lot of fun!

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5

You’re welcome. I intended to capture some activation, but with the crazy wind and how tired I was I totally missed that and capturing a picture of the setup. But it was fun. I plan to do more.

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