The Road to Mountain Goat: A Retrospective

I've been working on making Mountain Goat since 2013, having only accomplished that achievement last month.  Many things occurred in that time, including a combat deployment to Afghanistan (N0PCL QRT during that time), re-learning CW, many antennas used and broken, many miles hiked, summits gained, and hours on the radio.

So, this happened.

So, having harvested the data on the SOTAData web site, my own logbook, and my own recollections, here's a bit of a look back.

Total QSOs:  1396
Total Points:  1005
Total Unique Summits where a QSO was made:  99
Total Summits (Includes summits visited more than once): 154
Total Failed Activations without a single QSO:  2 (White Mountain Peak, W6/CD-001.  Great hike, though, and Half Dome, W6/SN-040.  Half Dome was also an amazing hike.)
Total Summits with 1-4 QSOs (enough to activate, but not enough for points):  4

Screen-capture of my SOTA Goat App on my iPhone, showing most of the peaks I've activated.  A couple of the peaks have been de-listed for various reasons, so it's not a complete list.

A view of most of the summits in the Southern California area, from SOTA Goat.

View of the string of activated peaks along the Eastern Seaboard.  From SOTA Goat.

QSOs By Mode:

CW QSOs:  903 (65%)
FM QSOs:  183 (13%)
SSB QSOs:  310 (22%)

Learning point:  I started SOTA with SSB and CW, but my radio skill exponentially improved once I gave CW a go.  After MG was achieved, it made up basically 2/3rd of my total QSOs.  It also tends to be much more efficient at QRP power levels, and is generally much more unobtrusive on busy summits (you can sit there with a notepad, a key, and earbuds quietly hamming away without making noise or drawing attention to yourself).  It's also lots of fun.

Incidentally my longest-distance contact while activating a summit was from Middle Peak (W6/SC-024) in Southern California.  I had a CW contact with OH9XX on 12 meters using CW.  OH9XX was in Finland, 5583 miles away.  My power output:  2.5 watts.  Miles per milliwatt of power: 2.2.

So, from Southern California, I made contact with a man in Finland, by burning long-wave photons off of a piece of metal, bouncing those photons off the a section of the atmosphere that was ionized by the sun's ultraviolet light.  Those photons excited electrons on another piece of metal in Finland, where those electrons were amplified and converted to sound waves sufficient for two-way communications--using as much power as required to power a flashlight.

Amazing.

My shortest QSO was probably with WA6NVL, on Dictionary Hill (W6/SC-366).  He heard me on his HT, climbed up the hill I was on, and met me.  It was probably a contact that was less than a quarter mile.  It was on 2 Meter FM.

QSOs By Band:

80 Meters:  2 (<1%)
40 Meters:  177 (13%)
30 Meters:  136 (10%)
20 Meters:  621 (44%)
17 Meters:  100 (7%)
15 Meters:  44 (3%)
12 Meters:  101 (7%)
10 Meters:  30 (2%)
6 Meters:  3 (<1%)
2 Meters:  165 (12%)
1.25 Meters (222 MHz):  5 (<1%)
70 centimeters:  12 (<1%)

I've had the fortune of making activation contacts on every band from 80 Meters through 70 centimeters, except 60 meters.  My SOTA transcievers, an FT-817ND and a VX-8DR, both from Yaesu, allow exceptional frequency agility, which I have found useful.  The only reasons I haven't made contacts on other bands is because I don't have a radio that will support that (on frequencies above 450 MHz), or I don't have an antenna that allows it (on 60 and 160 meters).  I'll see about rectifying that in the future.

I was surprised at the amount of time I gave to WARC bands (30, 17, and 12 meters).  I actually made more contacts on each of those bands than 80, 15, and 10 meters combined!  This was, in part, likely due to the 12 Meter Challenge, which was popular some time ago in the SOTA world.  I also really, really like 30 an 17 meters, too, since those bands have many similar characteristics to the neighboring 20 and 40 meter bands, but they're never plagued with contest activity.  The WARCs seem a bit more gentlemanly.

All of my SOTA activations on VHF and up were FM or SSB.  All QSOs on 2 meters and up were via FM.

I'm becoming more and more interested in VHF and UHF operation, particularly weak signal and satellite work.  In the future, don't be surprised to see me try to activate some summits on those higher frequencies.

QSOs by Countries/DXCC Entities:

96.7% of all QSOs were with other stations in the continental United States.  1.93% were with Canadian stations.  The remainder were countries spread out in 11 other DXCC entities.

From Southern California, I managed to reach Canadian, German, and Finnish stations.  The rest of the DXCC entities were contacted from mountains along East Coast of the US.

Activators:

Phil, NS7P, Gary, W0MNA, and his XYL, Martha, W0ERI, were my top chasers.

Associations:

Here's a list of the associations and regions I've activated in:

890 QSOs (64%) were from the W6 association.  421 QSOs (30%) were from W4V.  6% were spread among K0M, W0C, W1, W3, W7A, W7W, and W9.

543 (54%) of my points were from W6.  394 (39%) were from W4V.  The rest, 68 points (7%) were from the other associations.

Personal Notes:

• Favorite QSO:  Mentioned above, with OH9XX.
• Favorite Hikes:  There are many.  My favorites are, in no particular order:  Mt. Badon-Powell (W6/CT-004), Alabama Hills (W6/SS-442), Robertson Mountain (W4V/SH-011), Rocky Mount (W4V/HB-035), San Gorgonio (W6/CT-001 & W6/CT-243), San Antonio (W6/CT-003), Thomas Mountain (W6/CT-016), Cahuilla Mountain (W6/CT-103), Knob Mountain (W4V/SH-017), and Pilot Knob (W6/SD-435).
• Least Favorite Hike:  Pt. 6020 (W6/SD-017).  This peak was a bushwhack through thorns and scrub.  It was barely doable.
• Easiest Hike:  Probably La Cumbre Peak (W6/SC-086), but there are others that are incredibly easy.
• Most Challenging Hike:  Pallett Benchmark (W6/CT-058), or maybe San Gorgonio (mentioned above).
• Most points earned in a weekend:  48.  From 18-20 April 2014, I activated Onyx Peak (W6/CT-044), Keller Peak (W6/CT-013), Delamar Mountain (W6/CT-050), Bertha Peak (W6/CT-054), Mount Williamson (W6/CT-011), and Pallett Benchmark (W6/CT-058).

My wisdom learned from the whole thing:

• Persevere.  Don't Give Up.  Mountain Goat is one of the most challenging amateur radio activities in existence.  It's very physical, demands, high levels of operator skill, is technically challenging, and can be frustrating.  Just keep improving.
• Analyze your failures, and be objective about them.  Need to improve your hiking shape, or learn CW, or find alternative methods of spotting?  Do it.
• Have fun.  It's immensely satisfying.

N0PCL and the XYL, on the summit of Alabama Hills, with Mount Whitney, in the background.

Double Activation Report: Pt 5764 (W6/SD-026) and Middle Peak (W6/SC-024)

I'll be spending a large amount of November and December in Southern California doing work-related things.  I'd be a fool if I didn't use these work trips as an opportunity to activate a few mountains in SoCal!  So, on 7 November (last Saturday), I activated a couple peaks.

First on the list:  Point 5764 (W6/SD-026), an unnamed hill along Sunrise Highway in the Cleveland National Forest on the way to the Laguna Meadows.

I had never activated this peak before, but a few others have.  A Google Map study revealed that there was a nearby parking area (the Pioneer Mail parking area) which would be ideal.  Oleh, KD7WPJ's, report said that there was no trail to the summit, though.  Gary, ex-KK6GXD (now K6YOA)'s report indicated likewise.  But a very close look at the highest-resolution imagery seemed to indicate a slight trail along the spine of the ridge which forms 5764.

Sign by the parking area.

Cross the Sunrise Highway from the parking area to the Pine Mountain Trail.

Sign marking the Pine Mountain trail.  Watch out for mountain bikers!

My strategy to hike 5764 would therefore be to basically follow KD7WPJ's instructions, but instead of hiking directly to the top, I would hike to the spine of the ridge and then follow the crest of the ridge up.  That's precisely what I did.

Once I hit the spine of the ridge, I noticed a well-worn path leading to the summit, making access much easier.  Later, I would follow this path down.

The summit is marked by an engineer stake pounded into the ground.

The summit.  This view is looking generally East.  You can see Sunrise Highway snaking along in the background.

The views from the summit were actually much grander than I expected.  To the north you could easily make out Santa Rosa, the San Gabriel, the San Jacinto, and San Bernardino mountain ranges.  To the northwest you could see the Palomar Range with its astronomical optical telescopes.  To the immediate west you could see the Cuyamaca Range (North Peak, Middle Peak, Cuyamaca Peak, and Stonewall Peak).  You could also see the environs of San Diego and the Pacific Ocean.  To the south lies several lower peaks (Viejas among them).  And to the east you could see mountains of the Lagunas (Laguna Mountain, Sheephead, etc.)  To the northeast lies the Salton Sea, Whale Peak, and Granite Peak, and the town of Borrego Springs within radio line-of-sight.

View looking West.  The highest peak in the distance is Cuyamaca Peak (W6/CC-014).  The two summits to the right of Cuyamaca are Stonewall Peak (W6/SC-029) and Middle Peak (W6/SC-024).

View looking generally North.  Numerous mountains can be seen, especially the Santa Rosa range.

View looking South.

View looking East.  Notice Sunrise Highway and the Pioneer Mail parking area.  The Pacific Crest Trail can also be seen leading from the parking area to the left (north).

It was a bit windy on the summit, with temperatures in the 40s, so I hunkered down an an area a bit south of the actual summit that was sheltered from the wind.  I bungee-corded my crappie pole to the engineer stake and slung my EARCHI wire antenna as a sloping wire toward my operating position, and I proceeded to make contacts starting on 20 meters SSB, and then shifting to CW on 20 and 40 meters.  Later, I broke out my HT and made contacts on 2 meters FM.  I also tried to make contacts on 223.5 MHz and 446.0 FM, but not takes, as is usual in this area.  I had one summit-to-summit contact with Peter, WA7JTM, who was activating another unnamed peak in Arizona.

Bungee-corded fishing pole atop the engineer stake.  Antenna is an end-fed wire leading from the pole to my operating position.

The radio.  Somehow when I'm using it, there doesn't seem to be so many wires.

Overall, it was a good activation.  27 total QSOs in under an hour, pretty good for a SOTA activation.

My SOTA log from Pt. 5764 (W6/SD-026).

Ok...for the hike down:  I simply followed the trail along the spine of the ridge south.  This trail intersected the Pine Mountain trail, which is a charted, maintained, and groomed trail.  I built a cairn at the intersection to mark the intersection for follow-on SOTA activators.  I turned left at the intersection and followed the Pine Mountain trail back to Sunrise Highway and the parking area.

Use trail leading from the groomed Pine Mountain Trail up to Pt. 5764.  Notice the small cairn I built to mark the trail.

I highly recommend taking the route described here.  It's much less brushy and navigation is much easier.  The extra distance covered is negligible, too.

Beware of mountain bikers on the Pine Mountain trail.  Two of them came upon me at high speed from behind.  I was lucky to have stepped out of the way in time.  They apologized and continued on their way.  One things about people in California:  Everyone is always in a great mood and very friendly!


After having completed the hike, I did some additional research on Peak 5764.  A previous hiker had evidently summitted the peak while carrying a Garmin using the route I described.  The route is shown here.  Peakbagger.com profile for the peak is here.

Additional notes:  Peak 5764 has plentiful AT&T 3G access, SMS access, and APRS digipeater coverage.  Parking at Pioneer Mail parking area requires a National Forest Adventure Pass or Interagency Pass.  This peak has a summer seasonal bonus for being a desert peak, but given its elevation, I think it would be an easy bonus to get if you were to hike it in the summer.

After activating 5764 I decided to head to Middle Peak (W6/SC-024), the peak to the immediate north of Cuyamaca Peak.  It was perhaps a 15 minute drive to the Middle Peak trail head.  I won't belabor writing a description of Middle Peak or explain its navigation since it's basically a hike up a dirt fire road and is well-described here.  I will say that the peak's vegetation was destroyed in a fire back in 2003, and consequently it's dominated by burned-out timbers and very thick thorny bushes.  These bushes have grown a good deal in the last couple of years.  The final 200 vertical feet of the ascent requires bushwhacking through this nasty stuff.

Well, I bushwhacked.  And bushwhacked some more.  While there is a reforestation effort on Middle Peak, and some efforts to try to hold back the brush, the thorn bushes at the summit proved too thick to climb through.  I got to withing 45 vertical feet of the summit though, and that's in the activation cone.  Satisfied with my effort, and also satisfied that I had activated this peak from the summit in years past, I decided to set up my station on a rock on the western side of the mountain.

The road near the summit of Middle Peak.  That wall next to the road is thick thorny bushes, easily 7' tall.  Nasty stuff.

One of the trees planted as part of the reforestation effort.

My operating position.  What a mess.  But it worked!

This activation also went well.  I activated on 30, 20, 12, 10, and 2 meters, mostly CW.  I completed about 29 QSOs, with one summit-to-summit QSO.  I also attempted to make contacts on 223.5 and 446.0 FM, with no takers.  (You might think it's futile to make contacts on these bands, but believe it or not, I have made SOTA contacts on them.  This only happens very rarely.)  K6HPX chased me on 30 meter CW while mobile, which is notable too.

Middle Peak activation log.

After about 1.5 hours on the summit I came down.  The hike back was unremarkable save for the fact that I saw a small herd of deer on the way down.

Two deer, with Stonewall Peak in the background.

Additional notes:  AT&T 3G data, SMS, cell phone, and APRS coverage are all reliable.


It was a good activation day.  Two six-point peaks activated, with two summit-to-summit QSOs.  I was happy to work so many stations.  As always, thanks chasers!  73.