Another great SOTA (Summits on the Air) activation in the books! Today I left my beloved HF radio (Elecraft KX2) at home and went light. Despite it being April, this was only my second SOTA attempt this year, and first successfull one.

What a day to hit the trail for a strenuous (for me) hike. It was overcast, cold in the shade but warm in the sun, and toward the top I went into the cloud cover. It was fantastic - keep scrolling for a little look around.

A Look Around

That's the US Forest Service's Josephine Peak site supporting the Angeles National Forest. As you can see microwave downlinks (to Clear Creek and... somewhere else below) but I suspect this one's backhaul from Lancaster is VHF

Hiking Stats

Round trip stats - the timer only counts moving time

Anytone D890UV

This new radio continues to impress. It's done great going everywhere with me over the past month plus, and did great today to, from, and on the mountain! Turbo (max TX power) warmed up the radio a little but no issue there with constant QSOs for half an hour or so. This radio is worthy of its own blog post, and it'll get one soon!

I'm in love with this little powerhouse! No clue why the screen looks so dark here - it's plenty vibrant in daylight

QSO Log

Successfully QSOed with many SoCal favs:

  • KO6DVZ
  • W6XC
  • NT6E - I always say "there he is - NOW it's an activation" and I always mean it. Thanks for the spot too, Jon!
  • KE6TH
  • KK6WT
  • WC0O
  • WB9RKN
  • KI6CR
  • KO6HRN
  • KJ6EUW

Until next time, 73! 👋