[PPRAANet] SOTA Alert

[SkinnyFlea 262]

Thanks for the update/story! That sounds like quite the hike! Glad I was
able to make contact with you.
73!

Ben.

*Ben Anderson*
*73's   **N0BAA*



On Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 17:07 Raymond Gierlach <rgierlach at wowway.com> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
>
>
> This communication is meant for those of you who saw my SOTA Alert and were
> monitoring 146.52 MHz on Saturday, hoping to chase me when I activated
> Thorodin Mountain.
>
>
>
> Doing a SOTA Activation really involves two adventures.  The first is the
> hike or climb up to the summit.  The second adventure is what happens when
> you push your PTT button.  In both cases, even with lots of planning and
> preparation, you never really know what’s going to happen until you show up
> and do it.  Which keeps it interesting and a little unpredictable.
>
>
>
> In the case of Thorodin Mountain, I planned to summit with micro-spikes in
> about 2 ½ hours.  But when I showed up, and started up, my first adventure
> turned into a 4 ½ hour snowshoe hike with serious post-holing that wore me
> out and caused me to be almost 2 hours later than my alert time.  I didn’t
> get on the air with my first contact until 21:12 UTC (2:12pm local).
> Knowing how long it took me to summit I was thinking about how long it
> would
> take to get down, and if I could beat the dark (even though I had a fully
> charged headlamp with me, it’s always better to finish in daylight).  So,
> my
> focus was on a quick activation.  I made six contacts on 146.52 MHz in
> about
> 8 minutes, then headed down.
>
>
>
> To compound things, I didn’t have a cell phone signal most of the day.  So,
> I couldn’t call anyone who could have updated my alert.
>
>
>
> Hopefully, by the time I send out another SOTA Alert I’ll have my APRS act
> together, and you’ll be able to track my progress up a mountain via the
> aprs.fi website.  That will be cool!  My apologies to those of you who may
> have felt I left you hanging.  I didn’t mean to, but I had no way of
> letting
> you know about my delays.
>
>
>
> Until the next adventure…
>
>
>
> Ray / KD8EQA
>
>
>
> From: Raymond Gierlach [mailto:rgierlach at wowway.com]
> Sent: Friday, January 19, 2024 9:43 PM
> To: ***Reflector PPRAA*** (ppraanet at mailman.qth.net)
> Subject: SOTA Alert
>
>
>
> Hi everyone,
>
>
>
> I plan to activate Thorodin Mountain, W0C/SR-052, tomorrow (Saturday) at
> 19:30 UTC (12:30pm local).  I’ll be on 146.52 MHz, and 20 meters, ssb.
> Thorodin is located north of Golden, South of Boulder.  My line-of-sight
> tool and prior activators suggest it’s likely I’ll be able to work stations
> in much of the Colorado Springs area, especially areas to the east like
> Peyton, Falcon, Calhan, Ellicott, and Fountain.
>
>
>
> I won’t know until I arrive at the trailhead what snow conditions will be
> like, or if I’ll need to use snowshoes.  Translation; if it’s a snowshoe
> hike, I may need more time to hike up, causing me to be a little later
> starting my activation than my posted alert time.  In the future, I plan to
> use APRS, so chasers can track my progress.  But for tomorrow, I’ll just
> ask
> for your patience/forgiveness if I get delayed.
>
>
>
> I hope to work many of you who are available and able to monitor 146.52
> MHz.
> By the way, there is another SOTA activator, visiting from Seattle, who
> plans to activate Mt. Herman (on the west side of Monument) at 2:00pm local
> time.  I think he’s fairly new to the SOTA program.  I’m sure it would
> really make his day if you could chase him as well.  His callsign is
> WA7BEN.
> He’ll also be on 146.52 MHz
>
>
>
> All the best,
>
>
>
> Ray / KD8EQA
>
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