The J5T expedition says they will be on for ten more days. They were very audible for a long time yesterday on 17 metres from my favorite US west coast summit. Toward the end of their trip, they may run out of takers on some bands, a common occurrence, including FT8. Who will log them from a peak?
What rare DX have you already logged from a peak?
Elliott, K6EL
I’m not sure it was a ‘rare’ dx but it was, for me a best DX ever
Whilst operating 5w on CW from an English summit I got YB1TIA, a female SOTA operator from Indonesia. (NB she was operating from home - so no S2S )
My head was spinning for some days with surprise and amazement.
I’ve also had a couple of /MM ship to summit SOTA contacts, both involved ex ship radio officers who had retrained as deck officers and/or Captains following the fall from grace of morse code. One was off the coast of Senegal in West Africa.
David
Not rear, but ZL from a low DM/HE summit with 10w SSB on 20m in a small pile-up. (Not LZ hi hi ).
I think Hans is on the right lines for SOTA. 10,000 miles plus (specially if S2S!) gives a more solid feeling of achievement than a town in Italy, an island in the Baltic, a mountain in Greece or an uninhabitable reef!
Great question, Elliot.
I have been listening for J5, 3DA0 and S9OK, all of which I have heard from summits recently. But I didn’t try calling them. The next outing I’ll try catching them.
My two QSOs with YC2VOC, one from W6/CT-214 and one from W6/CT-225, both with 5 watts and wire.
My S2S QSOs with VK2IO, ZL1BYZ and ZL3GA from W6/CT-158 and JP3DGT/3 from W6/CT-163.
From the Caltech campus, using 5 watts and a half-square 20’ up in trees, I worked 6W on 20 during the 2019 CQWW CW contest. Last weekend I worked VK6 on 20 (LP?) with 5 watts and a hexbeam (friend’s station) during the CQP contest.
I get excited thinking of the possibilities as the solar flux rises.
David N6AN
I don´t know if ¨rare¨ but I was chased by FK8IK (New Caledonia) when I was activating JA/HG-252 Takatoriyama
Since Indonesia started SOTA, the activity from these latitudes has increased.
I have no clue which one is my best DX, other than to say VK2 is my longest s2s distance wise…
so here goes: the list of s2s and non-s2s I have worked from summits…
s2s DX worked by Prefix:…country Prefix and # of QSO’s to that prefix:
9A-1
DL-7
EA-1
G-5
GM-1
HB-7
KH6-1
LZ-1
OE-1
S5-2
ZL-3
VK2-2 (my longest s2s dx ever worked)
NON-s2s DX worked from summits: (prefix and qty)
DL-56
G-29
CO-1
CT-6
CU-6
EA-77
EA8-2
F-41
GI-2
GM-2
GW-2
HB-18
I-1
JA-3
KH6-7
LX-1
OE-4
OH-22
OK-12
OM-7
ON-15
OV-1
PA-5
S5-3
SM-22
SP-1
UX1-1
VK-3
XE-1
YB-2 (indonesia) long qso
YC-1
ZF-1
ZL-11
Best DX? Usually the one I am working at the moment!
73
Pete
WA7JTM
… good question 
No rare DX worked from a summit (as a true blue DXer would define ‘rare DX’) since most pile-ups are too intense to break through with QRP and a wire antenna.
But had some QSOs with JA, VK/ZL and NA West Coast which can be considered nice DX from central EU. Would be nice to work some Pacific islands one day, though…
73, Roman
I think the isles of Svalbard (JW) and Tasmania (VK7) are the “rarest” DX I’ve contacted from SOTA, but they are not that rare DX…
Working a rare DX from SOTA on QRP and a wire or whip antenna is something not impossible, but highly unlikely.
73,
Guru
The reason most activators don’t work DX from summits is they don’t go looking for DX. My normal operation is spot myself (RBN/SW3) and wait for chasers to find me. It’s much more fun being the DX and having people try to work me that sitting calling in to a pileup. In addition, I climb mountains when the time is right to climb mountains not when it is right for DX. Wandering up a pimple that takes 10mins in the dark for a number of prearranged scheds just proves what’s been known for 100 years, to work DX you need the right band, time of day and antenna.
Svalbard JW was something I specifically went chasing. And when we were running the 12m challenge chasing some of the a little more exotic calls was fun, 3DA0, 7Q7, VP2 spring to mind. But it’s much more fun to have these as random QSOs than arranging scheds.
I’ve worked quite a bit of rare DX, not sure if I hold the record for DXCC’s worked from SOTA summits, think it was about 170 last time I checked, my SOTA logs aren’t up to date.
I’ve worked all the continents from G/SP-070 Great Orme, Might be the only summit that this has happened.
Worked ZL1, ZL2, ZL3, ZL4, VK1, VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, VK6, VK7, VK8, (VK8 very difficult to find from Europe) Including over 100 summit to summits with VK.
Here’s a tricky one. Logged JA1, JA2, JA3, JA4, JA5, JA6, JA7, JA8, JA9, not even sure if there’s a JA0.
The list is endless. Mercifully, I’ve never needed to use FT-8 once.
2E0YYY
Fully agree!
Fully agree again!
I quit chasing DX from home with power and good antennas because I found quite boring spending much too long time calling to a DX among hundreds or thousands of other chasers, so it’s easy to understand that’s not something I’d be willing to do on QRP from a mountain top.
73,
Guru
Thats exact what I have. I do not look for DX, I am always in another country so DX is not for my DXCC list anyway. Much more than 95 % of the stations are worked many times before.
+1
It’s very exciting to see what I can occasionaly catch with my fishing pole and a piece of wire if conditions are right. BD7, KI6 and JA4 come to mind, ~9k km, all using no more than 10W SSB. And THEY were calling me!
I worked a few special calls, but real rare DX? I think I would never be able to get through the pile-up.
One of my odd DXCC from a summit was Iran with a QSO to EP2LMA - Callsign Lookup by QRZ Ham Radio
73 Joe
I have only been back in amateur radio for 3 years after a long long break.
For me, every DX is still enjoyable and exciting.
73 Armin
… I’m sure there are others 
Take HB0/LI-004 for one example.
73, Roman
Speaking of rising solar flux, have you seen the A and K numbers today? A=45, K=0. Noise S0/S1. Not something you see every day.
Elliott, K6EL
73 de Martin / HB9GVW