On July 21, 2008, I climbed Pagosa Peak in Colorado (W0C/RG-072). At the time, I had never heard of SOTA, but I had read of hams like Wes Hayward taking radios on summits. So, I took my FT-817 with me and managed to make a contact with Bob K7PVZ on 14.332 MHz - he was net control for the YL Moonbeam Net. I know that there’s no points for me since I only had one QSO, but do I qualify for being the first to activate this summit? It would be a nice souvenir of the hike, which remains my highest peak at 12,640 feet. I was still N5JKY at the time.
Hi Mike,
Even though the summit wasn’t valid in the database at the time, so you can’t record your activation, you might be able to help subsequent activators by adding a note (or a reference to a blog article) about how to access it, which route is best, where to park, etc. that way you can contribute to the body of knowledge in the summits site. Those following you will appreciate the info.
73 Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH