Might have a day or two in Vancouver and hoping to get in a SOTA. Suggestions for nearby peaks welcome! Also, this is my first time operating in another country is there any red-tape to deal with licensing-wise?
73
Erik
KE8OKM
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Hi Erik,
We visited the area in 2019, as part of a trip heading from Vancouver up to Squamish and then Whistler.
Not sure how close to Vancouver you need, but there are lots of un-activated summits in VE7/SL just off Highway 99, if you fancy having your name as a first activator 
. These may be too far North though…
There are also loads in VE7/GV, but the ones at Cypress Mountain range look to be accessible without too much travel from the town centre. VE7/GV-013 looks a reasonable option. This range was on our to-do list, but thanks to Air Transat we were so delayed getting to Canada from London that we ended up skipping Vancouver city altogether…
This site seems to answer your question about licensing: Canada-United States Reciprocal Operating Agreement (rac.ca) I just used VE7/my callsign, in line with CEPT. This site suggests KE8OKM/VE7
Despite summitting many SOTAs on our trip, I think I only managed to activate one; VE7/SL-129. John @VE7CUU kindly replied to my call. I really struggled with just 2m FM, even with spots/alerts in place. I would recommend HF if you can take it. 
Good luck. We really want to return, but there are loads of parts of the USA that we want to visit as well. Too many awesome places and never enough annual leave!
73, Simon & Nic.
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I have operated in BC several times. No issues with bringing in the radio. As for hills in the area I was on Vancouver Island in the town of Sydney and operated on Mt Work. Easy destination in a heavily wooded park region. Bring a copy of you license just in case there are any questions.
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Clues to the easily activated summits can be gleaned from sotl.as where the summit markers on the map indicate the activation count. This is a good shortcut to the summits with open or easy access. Then I would look at the summit info page and read any notes placed there by previous activators.
Info on the bands used can be found from the logs of previous activators. If they didn’t log any contacts on 2m fm that could mean it’s not a good option.
For the best outcome for least effort, which is necessary if you have limited time, I suggest it’s always best to contact the locals in advance and get their advice and ideally their company on a joint activation.
Hope this helps.
73 Andrew VK1DA/VK2DA
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Burnaby Mountain (University site) was only a short bus ride from Gastown.
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