SOTA

Hello and welcome back! As I wrote in my previous post, I need one more activator point to reach my goal of 100 points by the end of 2021.

I wanted this one to be fairly simple and fast so the mountain today is Maguire peak aka W6/NC-516 located in the Sunol wilderness - the backyard of Silicon Valley.

Besides the SOTA activation I wanted to visit one the first European permanent settlements in the Bay Area - Mission San Jose in Fremont, CA, about a fifteen minute drive from the trail head.

Hi there! As I had already mentioned one of the cool aspects of SOTA is that it gamifies hiking. I do think being outdoors is cool enough on its own but knowing myself I would just stay in my cozy comfort zone with a mug of hot chocolate in my hands and repeat the same hikes over and over again. Luckily each SOTA activation only yields points once per a calendar year so there is always an incentive to activate new summits. My goal this year is reaching the first milestone on the path toward the coveted ‘Mountain Goat’ status - getting 100 points activating on CW.

It is November already and I must hurry - higher mountains already have their first snow this season and I expect and hope for more soon-ish. This means activating higher value summits now until snow makes it more difficult or activating frequently which is not really an option because on top of a need to hold a paying job I am lazy as hell.

Welcome back! In my previous post I promised to test my new TR-25 in the field. Lo and behold Mount Konocti aka W6/CC-035 activation report!

I wanted to provide chasers with something juicier than one point summits around the Bay Area but at the same time didn’t want to go all in with a new transceiver. On top of that a friend was joining me for the hike which meant I needed to haul some additional food and water. Add a backup rig and you have yourself quite a hefty backpack.

Wrapping up a long-standing project - activating Mount Tallac aka W6/SN-036. As I’ve mentioned in my post about Mt. Umunhum activation earlier this year Tallac was on my list for a while. It is one of my favorite hikes in California, challenging enough but still doable as a day trip.

Initially my plan was to do a winter activation - I’ve been on the summit on the 1st of January 2019 after celebrating New Year with friends in a cabin near Tahoe lake. While definitely strenuous the hike didn’t throw anything at me I could not overcome.

In February 2021 things were different.

ARRL winter field day! Time to get out to the Nature and work portable! Which is how I do it all the time duh.

My initial plan for the field day was to drive to the Tahoe area and try activating Mt. Tallac. Weather made corrections - Northern California had been pummeled by rain and snow that week and I decided to wait for snow to set before making an attempt.

Safe and easy plan B I fell back to is activating Mount Umunhum aka W6/CC-052.

Due to the fact that the mountain had been closed to visitors until recently it is not featured in popular culture as frequently as other prominent Bay Area peaks.