Black Mountain (SOTA W1/EM-013) in the Donnell Pond Preserve on 2025 October 17.
About 1.5 hours drive to the trailhead then 1.5 hours walk. Black Mountain is a beautiful, mostly-bald granite summit with views of mountains, autumn colours, very blue lakes, and the Atlantic.
The only antennas I took were wires with some fishing line to hoist them up. The tallest spruce trees there are about 12 feet but finding a few together meant 10-foot trees (3 meters). I chose two 42-foot (13 meter) wires and strung each one up to one tree then across to another tree for V with horizontal wings. The antenna worked better than I expected. Getting to both sides of 4 trees meant a lot of detours to walk on granite and not trample the drought-crisp flora. The KX3 tuned this antenna to all 5 bands that I tried.
My fishing-line winders & antenna ends are maybe less than genius. They work for hoisting an antenna TO a tree but hit some sort of snag hoisting an antenna THROUGH a tree. Whodâa thunk? They also require that I unwind much of the fishing line before tossing the weighted bag over a tree. They worked OK this time but I need to work on version 2. Theyâre made of âexpanded PVCâ which has foam in the middle with a thin layer of solid on each side. Very light. With a clip for the weight bags, I had to tie zero knots on the summit. (Iâm a knot aficionado bit tying and un-tying and re-tying a weight thatâs not going where itâs supposed to is tedious.)
I had to change frequencies often. The first 6 contacts came in quickly on 18.129 but then had a long period of no response. Other times I found a free frequency then several minutes later found someone 1 or 2 kHz away (SSB). Changing the frequency for an SSB spot on POTA is easy; just type the new frequency. Changing frequencies on SOTA takes more typing. I find the phone very awkward to use out there so I probably donât do this the best way. Eventually I gave up spotting myself and just hunted other peopleâs spots.
Three contacts with Europe. Other contacts included the farthest west in Nebraska, the farthest south in Georgia, and the farthest north in Newfoundland.
A very good time. The log for this is still on paper. Iâll get that sorted soon.
Iâve walked the nearby trail over Caribou Mountain and it was completely forested. I guess the summit is off to the side and has some bald granite? Guess I need to go and look. Maybe before the trans-Atlantic S2S event since the trail is shorter and milder.
Good stuff! Congratulations on the first activation! Black Mountain looks like a nice summit to activate. Sunny and dry, not at all like most my recent climbs here in IrelandâŚ
Thanks to everyone for your welcome and kind words.
@KC1MXB Thanks for your coaching months ago. My medical adventure seems to be almost over.
@MM0EFI North? The latitude of W1/EM-013 is south of the latitude of Venice, Italy. Quite far south of Scotland. But yea, if you look at the centre of the US, youâll have to scroll north.
@IK6BAK I do hope that SOTA is addictive. I will probably pause a bit when the trails start to ice up but I hope to be out often. I suspect there are other trails more suitable for winter.
Now Iâm counting the grams in my pack. I can easily shed 800g but it wasnât uncomfortable. Total pack weight with food, water, and warm layers was 7.7kg. Looking for ways to erect a SOTAbeams pole on bald granite. (As if I need to add more weight.)
I donât want to argue with you about the geography of your own country, but it doesnât look like you canât go further north than Maine without hitting Canada.
As you say, itâs all relative. My village is the same latitude as the middle of the Hudson Bay. Thankfully, milder in winter!
I should add special thanks to Dean, @K2JB, who chased me S2S during my first string of contacts on 17m.
This is, of course, also my first S2S.
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I uploaded an ADIF and it worked fine for 12 contacts then left off the last one. The data all seems to be in the ADIF for the 13th but I had to add it manually later. Thatâs very easy but have no idea what I could have done wrong.
Iâm only posting this here and wonât look for the âcorrectâ place unless I mess up next time.
