Hello everyone! New ham here in Pennsylvania, USA. Just got technician and general licenses in August, and am currently working with 5-10w handhelds, a N9TAX slim Jim, and a signal stuff signal stick, as available options. Don’t know CW and don’t have any HF gear.
I’m planning a trip to the Catskills in New York State in a couple weeks where I’ll be doing some hikes with 2k+ feet of elevation (regardless of anything to do with radio). It got me thinking, is it worth trying to do SOTA on 2m using the equipment above when I’m at one of the peaks if I spotted/alerted before hand? Or would it be mostly dead air?
The one I’m considering is W2/GC-102, Cornell Mountain
Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thank you and 73!!
Welcome to the hobby! You should absolutely do a SOTA activation if you’re hiking.
I’ve had a lot of success using my HT with the both my ZMB2 Whip and N9TAX antenna. Luckily the catskill are closer to a larger population center so you should be able to get it done with your HT. I’ve been able to make QSOs all the way to down to long Island and up into the Adirondacks with the same set up as you.
I would suggest some kind of mast / pole, or throw line, to get your antenna up a little higher. This has always been helpful during my Catskills activations with the HT. Spotting yourself ahead of time is ideal, but you could likely get away with just calling CQ on 146.52 and I’m sure you’ll get an answer.
When will you be hiking in the Catskills? I live up in Rochester, NY and will be down in the Catskills for Halloween weekend. I plan to activate Table and Cave Mountain. If we are there the same weekend, I’d love to try and help you make a S2S contact with your HT.
Cornell is a great hike Do you plan to hike from the Slide Mtn side or Wittenburg Mtn side?
Also you should join the North East SOTA group. We have a groups.io page and a slack channel. Letting the folks on the channel know you’ll be out will also increase your odds of being chased.
Wow, thank you for such a great and helpful reply! Great to hear from someone who has experience with not only the location but the same rig . I joined the groups.io, thank you very much for sharing!
Right now I am planning on doing this next Saturday (10/10) and will be hiking up from the Wittenberg Mountain side
No problem, definitely post on the groups.io page and you’ll be able to link up with some other SOTA enthusiasts in that area. We have a lot of good SOTA action in the North East. HF makes things a bit easier / more fun, but that can come when you’re ready.
Wittenburg is one of my favorite Catksill hikes. My in-laws have a house near Phoenicia and we try to get down there as much as we can.
I can’t comment on your part of the world, but in general the best way to get SOTA contacts is to alert in advance of your trip on Sotawatch, ideally a couple of days ahead. This will get chasers ready to listen for you. When you are on the summit post a spot on Sotawatch. This tells the chasers exactly what frequency you are on, right now. If you don’t have good mobile phone coverage there are a number of other ways to spot (SMS, APRS, FT8 over HF, satellite, RBNHole) but I wouldn’t worry about those right now.
And another tip is to check the summit details on either the SOTA Database or SOTLAS. You’ll find information about how often a summit has been activated, on what bands and how many contacts previous activators have had. As my financial advisor tells me, “previous performance is no guarantee of future returns”, but it does give you an indication. You’ll sometimes find other useful information there such as access issues
I also google the summit and find information on all the different routes. Often the details on the SOTA sites are for the shortest or quickest way up but it’s nice to make a decent walk out of an activation, or for variety. Not everyone going to a summit is a SOTA activator!
As others have said, try to ALERT ahead of time and don’t expect a pile of quick responses on 2M FM. From Cornell Mountain the least obstructed VHF path is easterly toward Kingston, NY. The Overlook ARC is active in that area so you may want to alert them on their repeater.
With respect to your planned hike, approaching Cornell from Woodland Valley and Wittenberg, be prepared to ascend thru the Cornell Crack.
Many years ago when I lived in Maryland and my call sign was KB3VDR, I started doing SOTA with a 2m handheld and an arrow antenna. I’ve found 2m activity varied quite a bit on region. Northern Virginia was pretty busy on 146.52 and 146.58, Maryland and Southern Pennsylvania less so. Alerting and spotting yourself on SOTA (and POTA, if applicable) might help stir up some dedicated chasers, but don’t be discouraged if things don’t work out.
SOTA is what motivated me to upgrade to Extra for HF privileges, and got me to travel to a lot of new places I might not have visited otherwise if I weren’t chasing that goat trophy.
Hey Nick - quick question for you about the hike. Am I correct in that there aren’t any views on Cornell summit, and that Wittenberg is not listed for SOTA? Would like to find a spot to set up with a view to activate, and it seems like all signs point to Slide Mtn. Though it looks like Wittenberg might have the best views. Would love any tips you have!
Correct, there is no view on Cornell and Wittenberg is not a SOTA summit.
There is a view on Slide, but its not as good as the view from Wittenberg IMO. Also the view point on Slide is smaller and can get a bit busy. I set up away from the view point when I activated Slide. When I did Cornell, I hiked in from Wittenberg, activated Cornell and then came back to take my break on Wittenberg because the view is so good.
Both are great hikes. Wittenburg is one of the best views in the Catksills. But if you want to activate with a view Slide might be the move.
Hi everyone - thank you all again for the tips and support! Happy to share I had a successful activation on Cornell Mountain (W2/GC-102) on Saturday 10/10 on 2m voice (146.52). I logged 10 contacts on the summit, including 1 over 95 miles away in Long Island and another 90 miles away in Connecticut (see map below).
Ran a 5 watt Tidradio H3 and a N9TAX Slim Jim (hanging ~10 feet overhead in a tree).
It was a ~9.5 mile out-and-back hike, with 2,800 feet of elevation gained over the first half (followed by a 2,800 foot descent on the return trip). It was a hard earned activation but all around a great hike and a great day!
Many thanks are owed to the local Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club whose repeaters kept me connected when the entire Catskills area has truly zero cell service to be found, and who gave me tips (and helped fill out my log). Check them out if you’re ever in the Catskills!
View from nearby summit Wittenberg Mountain (not activation point)
Happy to hear you had a successful first activation! It’s a very cool feeling knowing that you’re covering a lot of distance with just a wee 5W handy - really brings home the idea that the antenna and the height/position are really important when using VHF and UHF.
Aye, this is just the one thing to be aware of - just to remember that only Simplex contacts count for activations. It’s still good to have repeaters to “drum up some business” if you’re struggling to make your four contacts - you can put out a shout on the repeater and ask around if anyone’s available for a simplex QSO.
Good question! No, all contacts were on 146.520. I just used the repeater network to stay connected throughout the greater Catskills area since cell phones were out off the table in an emergency. @MM1ROS
. I joined the 
