Click to see the larger panorama photo (In-camera stitch on my Android phone)

As part of the 2012 Salmoncon event in North Bend, WA several of us crazy hams made the trek up Little Si to do make some SOTA contacts. SOTA = Summits on The Air (Aka: QRP contacts from mountain peaks)

Jeremy NH6Z is in the lead followed by Curt WR5J and of course me in back taking the photos.

We arrived at the summit around noon to a mix of fog and brightning skies... aka typically morning in the NW pacific area near the coast.

Jeremy NH6Z supplied the Elecraft KX3 and the antenna system. He was the first on the air to make some contacts.

The KX3 was a real joy to operate. The audio was great and the simplicity of the radio made it extremely easy t operate for those of us that have never used it before.

We found some comfortable rocks and enjoyed a quick snack while we rotated through operating.

Jeremy had a nice SOTA log book with him for the event.

Curt WR5J was the second person to operate while Jeremy took a break.

I (NG0R) was the third operate for the day. I borrowed some paper and then proceeded to call CQ SOTA and put about 10q's into the log. (I will try to get them posted to the SOTA database soon and update this post.)

This was my first SOTA activity and it was a blast. I can easily see how people get hooked on activities like this. I wish that we had the numerous peaks in Minnesota that places like Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington have so that I could do this more often.

Thanks to Jeremy for the use of his gear and to Curt to being a great trail companion during our 1/2 day playing radio and hiking.

73 de NG0R