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1. SOTA Activation of Vollmer Peak, W6/NC-298

   The San Francisco Radio Club organized another Summits on the Air event on 23 April 2022. For this "Simul-SOTA" event, there was 11 amateur radio operators activating 9 summits around the Bay Area. Steve W1EGG made a handy map with who was activating each peak:

   

   I activated Vollmer Peak, which is at the southern end of Tilden Park in the hills above Berkeley. Parking at the trailhead was easy in the morning, but by the time I left parking was nonexistent.

   The hike up was short, and the views were excellent. I could clearly see Mt. Tamalpais across the bay, which was activated by Vlad K6VVP.

   

   A lot of the other peaks that were activated that morning were visible from from the top, including my previous activated San Pedro Mountain.

   HF Radio

   This was my first HF activation. I borrowed a Xiegu G1M radio, which is a small QRP SDR. I also borrowed a lithium power pack, and a 49:1 balun for an End-Fed Half Wave antenna. I cut a piece of two conductor zip-cord 33 feet long, which ...

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2. W6PW SOTA Activation of Mt. Davidson, W6/NC-423

   After my very successful SOTA activation of San Pedro Mountain the previous weekend, and the San Francisco Radio Club Angel Island expedition at the same time, the club decided to do another SOTA activation on Saturday November 14th. Antonis AA6PP, Jeff KK6JJZ, Rick K6TOR, David KN6HFV, and myself went up to the top of Mt. Davidson and activated the peak under the club's callsign W6PW.

   It was a beautiful day, very clear after the rains the previous evening. We had a total of five stations. Antonis AA6PP and Jeff KK6JJZ ran the HF voice stations, trading off on 40, 20, and 15 meters during our activation. Rick K6TOR ran HF CW, and Dave KN6HFV ran the UHF station on 445.525 MHz with his HT and an Elk Antennas 5-element log periodic antenna.

   Here is Antonis AA6PP running one of the HF SSB stations with an Elecraft KX2 transciever, AX1 multi-band whip antenna, powered from a Bioenno 4.5 Ah LiFePO4 battery. Notice the antenna counterpoise on the ground, stretched out in front of him.

   

   I was using the same ...

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3. SOTA Activation of San Pedro Mountain, W6/NC-410

   Summits on the Air (SOTA) combines two of my favorite pastimes, amateur radio and hiking. The objective is to climb to a nearby peak, then contact as many people as you can on the radio. While most SOTA peak activations are on HF, my only portable gear at the moment is a few HTs.

   On Saturday Nov 7th, I activated San Pedro Mountain, which is 1058 ft tall. It's located in Harry A. Barbier Memorial Park in the hills above San Rafael, next to China Camp State Park.

   I took the Knight Dr route, from Tom AI6CU, hiking along the Ridge Fire Road. The hike up took about 45 minutes, and some sections of the trail were very steep. I arrived on top about 12:30pm, ate a quick sandwich, and cooled off.

   

   The radio equipment I was using was a 3-element Arrow II yagi antenna, and my trusty Icom IC-T7H handheld transceiver. RF output was about 1 watt, and the gain of the antenna was about 5 dB. Unfortunately, I only had a metal broomstick to hold the yagi ...

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