Great news for fans of our SOTA / POTA hikes. If you made it to our June membership meeting then you already got the lowdown but for anyone that might have missed it then I’ve got the schedule here for you and it begins in just a few short weeks. Covid is mostly in our rear mirror so we can finally meet in groups and start having some fun.
What’s that you haven’t heard of SOTA and POTA well then you should put July 13th, 2021 on your calendar and plan to attend our Tech Night. Jamey AC1DC will be our guest speaker and his presentation will be on Mountain Topping and Portable Activations. Summits On The Air (SOTA) and Parks On The Air (POTA) are point schemes to make participating in ham radio in the mountains and parks more enjoyable.
ok with that primer out of the way let’s get to the main thrust of the article. July 17th, 2021 we will be going to Mount Kearsarge in Warner N.H. We plan on taking the auto road from Rollins State Park 1066 Kearsarge Mountain Road.(let’s plan to meet at 10:00 am at the start of the auto road) The 3 1/2 mile auto road terminates at a parking lot and picnic areas. You can choose to operate here or hike a .5 mile to the summit. If you’re a purist you can start on the other side of the mountain at Winslow State Park and hike the whole mountain with only modest effort and meet us.
As far as operating from Kearsarge you can operate anything from an HT to the newest and best that is commercially offered or your own home-brewed rig. Seeing the range of what others brought is part of the fun of these activations. I’m hoping to be able to have the time to cobble together a 6meter Moxon antenna that I will pair with an MFJ QRP rig. I’ve run this rig before but haven’t had any luck yet so I’m hoping to have better luck with an antenna with some gain to it.
Here is the rest of the SOTA / POTA scheduled for 2021
- August 14 – Pitcher Mtn.
- September 11 – Mount Kearsarge
- October 9 – Pack Monadnock
- November 6 – Kidder Mtn.
Hope to see a lot of you on Kearsarge in a couple of weeks!
Jim Lajoie K1BRM