- I was into radio before I got into mountaineering.
- I was into mountaineering before I got into radio.
- My interests in radio and mountaineering were concurrent.
- Muffins.
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voters
6 Likes
I also love muffins
5 Likes
Some people like cupcakes better. I for one care less for them. 
3 Likes
Fun poll, but, not to be too pedantic, I wouldnāt ever call myself a mountaineer. I hike to summits and maybe scramble a little bit, but if it takes real mountaineering, Iām not going. Greatest respect, of course, to all the real mountaineers out there who activate. For me, being outdoors, hiking and backpacking came first, radio came second.
And a vote for muffins. Write-in vote for beer, too. Not at the same time.
8 Likes
Iāve been living and hiking in the mountains since I was born. Iāve always had a passion for electronics, and as a kid I remember playing with walkie-talkies, designing my own PCBs, and building FM microphone transmitters.
About 10 years ago, I became interested in āresilienceā and bought a UV-5R, programmed it, and then forgot about it in a drawer. In 2023, after moving from the city to the mountains, I realised I couldnāt contact anyone on 2m or 70cm due to my new topographical situation. To satisfy my curiosity (and gear acquisition syndrome), I impulsively bought an HF transceiver. However, I quickly got frustrated by my inability to transmit, so I studied for two weeks and passed the licensing exam.
Despite this, I wasnāt particularly interested in the conventional style of amateur radio and began exploring alternatives. Thatās when I discovered SOTA, and it was a revelation. It offered the perfect combination of authentic field radio practice and a new motivation for hiking and mountaineering. Since then, my radio activity has been exclusively focused on the SOTA program.
Bonus point for the much nicer community in sota.
14 Likes
I was about one-third of the way through the quest of completing the 58 14ers in Colorado when I got my ham license and wished I had done so sooner. Now, Iām doing peaks year-round, and every outing includes two adventures. Iām hooked!
Ray / KD8EQA
7 Likes
Is that obese cupcakes or English muffins (what we used to call just muffins)?
5 Likes
I got sick of yelling āON BELAYā into a yawning abyss and decided a radio was the way forward.
73 Matt
9 Likes
Started in amateur radio aged 14. Licensed aged 17. Started walking hills with friends aged 15, so for me quite a close run thing.
It was the school radio club that got me into amateur radio, way back in 1966. I spent many hours sitting in front of an Eddystone 840c which was teamed up with a Heathkit DX40, homebrew ATU and a 132 foot long wire atop the school roof. I bought an 840c as a nostalgia rig around ten years ago and use it regularly for listening in the evenings.
The licence (VHF/UHFonly) came in 1969. My first portable experience apart from National Field Day at the school, was in 1971 when I went to the island of Islay with Peter G3YCT. We climbed several summits including some of those which are now SOTA summits and to which I returned to over 40 years later to activate. When we werenāt climbing, walking or sampling a wee dram in a distillery, we were on the air with Peter on HF and me running 2m AM with an 8 over 8 antenna. Hardly SOTA, but still good fun.
5 Likes
While I certainly appreciate your humility Tom, I would consider you to be a ārealā mountaineer. Much in the same way that I consider a technician who only operates FM Phone on 2m a āreal ham.ā We are all on a continuum of knowledge and experience. As long as one is actually doing it and learning along the way, I think itās real.
Beyond that I think comparisons are odious.
Another country heard from,
73 Eric KG6MZS
5 Likes
Be aware that weāre not talking about the same thing. What Americans refer to as an āEnglishā muffin is not English at all, and not the same muffin you will find in British cafes, shops and homes.
The American muffin is obviously a cake, springy and soft but thereās nothing like the bite on a toasted English/British muffin with its crunchy semolina floured surface.
The English muffin is yeast leavened and predates the baking powder leavened American muffins. This produces a type of muffin with a thick, fluffy pastry and is usually baked as a disk typically about 8 cm [~3"] in diameter. Add butter and/or jam to suit.
4 Likes
ā¦ very similar. Amateur Radio aged 14, Licensed age 16, when I was more into Cycle Touring, but did more hillwalking from age 17ā¦
4 Likes
I voted āradio firstā on the technicality that I got my licence about a year before I took up SOTA. And it was when I took up SOTA that I starting hiking properly - boots, poles, map, compass etc.
However, Iāve done both, enthusiastically as long as I can remember. My dad took me scrambling up Teggs Nose when I was about 8/9, and camping/hiking in the Lake District when I was 13. My mum would take me walking every day on the public footpaths in Mid/West Wales on camping holidays while my dad was studying his Open University books in the tent! My mum also took me on a multitude of walks around Macclesfield and Bollington.
Before I was licensed, I was a very active SWL on the amateur bands. Before that, I was keenly listening the short wave and medium wave broadcast bands for DX and international English programmes. Before that, as a teenager, I was compiling lists of what stations I could hear on the FM and MW bands. As an 8 year old I was tuning my clock radio into Radio Luxembourg each evening. My mum reckons it all started when she would put a transistor radio in my pram!
So what really came first, or what marks the start of either interest properly I have really no idea!
5 Likes
The muffin man is seated at the table, in the laboratory of the utility muffin Research kitchen.
2 Likes
Hi Andy,
I think thatās what I would call a Crumpet (but then Iām from the North of England). Of course Crumpet has another meaning in other parts of the world ā¦
Muffin to me is one of these:
Oh, Iām getting hungry - I wonder what is for tea?
73 Ed.
5 Likes
My earliest clear memory is walking with my parents and grandparents up to the summit of Gelligaer Common near Bargoed, though technically I was carried part of the way! This made such a deep and lasting impression on my 3 year old mind that I have loved the mountains ever since. A few years later I often roamed over what later got designated as GW/SW-024 as my Aunt lived at the foot of it - odd that I have never activated it! Radio was sparked by a crystal set when I was eleven and later a one tube TRF from a kit, so definately āmountaineeringā came first!
As for crumpets and cupcakes, I much prefer Welshcakes!
3 Likes
Late 80s: I have a very strong interest in anything radio. I collect catalogues, dream about buying a CB and a shortwave receiver (all way out of my budget).
Early 90s: I finally buy a SW receiver (Sangean ATS-909). I seriously consider taking the amateur radio licence and buy a couple of books to prepare for the exam (and a morse learning method on a CPC6128 floppy disk!).
1996: First access to the internet. I loose my interest in radio as I realize it is becoming trivial to communicate with people around the world; I guess I assume ham radio is dead.
1996-2019: I am into hiking. I hike dozens (if not hundreds) of SOTA summits without ever having heard a word about SOTA, in Ireland, France, Spain, Polandā¦ I donāt actually remember coming across ham radio in this period of my life.
February 2019: I ask a friend for advice on radios which would allow me to keep in touch with my son on ski slopes; he suggests a Baofeng UV-5R; I realize you need a license to operate it and I wonder what the state of amateur radio is. I spend a few weeks reading all about licenses, equipment, modes etc. I end up accidentally on the SOTA page. I have an epiphany moment (literally). I know this is exactly what I want to do. I focus all my free time on what it takes to get there.
June 2019: I have my license and I activate my first summit, without having spoken yet to any other ham. I learned everything from the internet.
The rest is history 
12 Likes
If itās baked and takes butter and or marmalade, Iām there for it whatever itās called!
2 Likes
Oh dear Ed, rookie mistake ā¦
Theyāre about the same size and have craters or holes. The differences are that crumpets are always made with milk (you wonāt find any milk in English muffin recipes) and are only griddled on one side, leaving one side toasted and the other softāthink sort of like a pancakeās texture, only a little more spongy. Crumpet recipes donāt require yeast, and they have a looser batter. Theyāre also served whole, while (English/British) muffins are split. As for English muffins, they have a breadier texture and are toasted on both sides.
[P.S. all info courtesy of the internet. I donāt make them, I only eat them]
6 Likes
A perfectly acceptable alternative topping to jam, especially at breakfast time.
4 Likes