This was my first SOTA Summit for 2023. My very first SOTA activation/attempt was last February on Mt Tzouhalem. It’s a favourite of mine and very close to home.
I can usually see the mountain out my back window but this morning it was cloudy/foggy and I couldn’t see a thing. I assumed I’d not be able to see the view once up top but I was wrong. There was a little bit of snow last night. None of it stuck down at my level but there was definitely some up in the mountain.
Left the parking lot at about 745 and got to the summit around 845ish. There was about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground so this would be my first activation in the snow.
Got setup in about 10-15 minutes. The antenna I’m using is basically a dipole in an L shape for 20 metres. Plugged it into the FT-891 and plugged in the battery and was ready to go. I was going to start with FT8 but because of the snow/cold I decided to leave that for today and just do SSB.
Spotted myself and right away started getting calls coming in and was a pretty solid continuous stream right up until the end.
Highlights:
- My first summit to summit (+ another one).
- QSO with W1AW.
- France, Germany and Slovenia.
- The snow and the great views.
Looking forward to the longer days coming so I can get out and do more.
