Sheep Mountain (W7M/LM-074) SOTA

Horrible Selfie! I had to get a photo with the SOTA flag so
here it is hanging on my Arrow Beam Antenna.

Peyton and I traveled to Montana on Friday, June 10th. I had hoped to do a lot of SOTA on the way, during and on the trip home. The weather did not cooperate on Friday and family and friends kept me occupied on Saturday. I did make it to Sheep Mountain (W7M/LM-074) on Sunday though. The weather was perfect. I set my alarm to get up at 4 but did not get out of the house until a little after 5; arriving at the trailhead and starting my hike at 6:38. It took me approximately 1 hour to drive to the trail head. See below for driving directions. My parking coordinates were 46.989753, -113.751113. The hike up was 5.15 miles and took me 2 hours and 14 minutes at an easy and steady pace. The first three miles of the hike were easy but the last 1.5 miles is where most of the 2,200 ft of elevation is gained. It had me breathing hard at the top. During the trip I was transmitting APRS and was getting confirmation that my packets were being received. I took a short break at the summit and then began to set up my radio. Today I used the Yaesu FT-817nd, 41' random wire, Elecraft T1 Tuner, and my Palm mini key.

Trip Data for the Hike to the Summit

My trip data on the way up. You can find my GPS tracks at Peak Bagger http://www.peakbagger.com/climber/ascent.aspx?aid=664624 or Everytrail http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=3432600 All of these tracks are recorded by my FitBit Surge. I have found it to be very accurate and gives me a very detailed map when I return home.

SOTA Log

I have went back and forth with ideas for what I would use for my permanent SOTA equipment but that is still to be determined and will likely not be decided in the near future. I love the fact that I can use the 817 for all modes/bands and it has a external speaker. The weight is a little more at 40 oz (I think) but it is not too bad for a day trip. I do not have a CW filter in the 817 but I am still able to make it work. I think that the only time that I would have an issue is if there was a contest going on but then I would just have to settle with other bands and

probably would not have issues. I have many SOTA radios, tuners, keys, and batteries for different conditions, distances etc.

After getting the equipment set up I turned the GoPro on and started to call CQ. I used my Kenwood TH-D72 to send an APRS to SOTA to spot me. I did have full 3G signal from my Verizon cell phone at the top of the peak and could have used SOTA Goat to spot but I always like to stay fresh on different ways to spot myself. The APRS packets were going out well and I was getting confirmations back that my spots had been posted to SOTA watch. I had a total of 17 contacts, 15 of them were on 20m SSB and CW, and 2 of them were VHF contacts. I did try 7mhz but did not have any luck after calling CQ for about 20 minutes. My CW skills were a little rusty and I learned that I need to get back into doing a little more practicing when I am not on the summits. The CW helped though as the conditions were not good enough to pull in N4EX on SSB but was able to make the contact on CW. See the video below to hear the difference.

Summit to Summit Contacts

On Version 1 of the Blog I neglected to mention my Summit to Summit Contacts. These contacts are awesome and no better feeling then working from one Summit to another. Eric (KG7STN) let me know that I had neglected to mention them. Thanks Eric! Where AE7AP was a great contact on VHF, KG7STN was a great 817 to 817 contact with 5 watts SSB! Michael (N1IDN) It was also great working you on CW. See you all on the next one and I look forward to many more S2Ss!

Photo of Rob, AE7AP, near the summit of W7M/HB-039
Rob is a very active SOTA activator in and around Helena,
MT. You can read his blogs at http://www.pnwsota.org/users/ae7ap

The highlight of my day happened just as I was packed up and starting to leave the summit. I had all my equipment packed up and myYaesu VX6 on my belt when I heard AE7AP, Rob, call CQ. I was very surprised to hear him on VHF as I knew that he was planning on being on a summit near Helena. We made the nearly full quieting summit to summit contact and later found that it was 104.3 miles from our locations. I was pretty amazed as I only had the rubber duck on my VX6. I talked with Rob for about 10 minutes and then began to make my way off the mountain.

Radio path for Summit to Summit with AE7AP

We had amazing line of sight for this S2S!

104.3 miles on a rubber duck. Awesome.
I use "HEYWHATSTHAT profiler" for
this information.

I left the summit at 11:50 a.m and made it back to the truck in one hour and fifty minutes which made a faster trip than on the way up. Even on the way back to the trailhead I still had an elevation gain of nearly 500 ft to get up and over a small ridge. For you mountain bike enthusiasts this hike is a also a very popular biking route starting at the Rattlesnake recreation area and on the woods gulch trailhead. There was sign of some bikers making the trip but there was still a little bit of snow and 30-40 blowdowns that would make it a little difficult. One of these days I plan to make the trip in from Rattlesnake and have someone pick me up on the Gold Creek side.

Trip Data for Hike Down

You can find my GPS tracks at Peak Bagger http://www.peakbagger.com/climber/ascent.aspx?aid=664624 or Everytrail http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=3432600

Driving Directions: 

Take I90 east from Missoula for approximately 4-5 miles to exit 109 (MT200). Stay on Montana 200 for approximately10 miles and look for a road sign for Gold Creek. Turn Left on Gold Creek Road. Watch for mountain goats in this area! There is signs for them but keep your eye out because you will see them quite often. Drive approximately 3.5 miles and watch for an un-named left turn. As soon as you make this left you will see a sign "Private Property for 1.3 miles, stay on road." Continue on this road for approximately 7.3 miles until you arrive at a marked trailhead from sheep mountain. 

CLICK HERE FOR GOOGLE MAPS LINK.

Equipment Used: 

Yaesu FT-817nd

41 ft random wire antenna

Elecraft T1 antenna tuner

Palm Pico Paddle

Zippy 4200 4 cell LiFe Battery

Kenwood TH-D72
Arrow 146/437-10 WBP 

I did setup the Arrow antenna and tried to make a few contacts but did not have any luck on 146.52. I put this information here because I think that it is a great antenna and was part of a 61 mile QSO that I had with Doug (KY7S) from an unnamed peak in Capital Forest to Mount Zion. The Antenna weighs 19 oz. complete but I have been leaving the 440 elements at home and just using it as a 146mhz 3 element beam. It is a great antenna. You could also use it to do satellite contacts which I have been told count for SOTA now. It is a lot of fun. (You can see my Arrow antenna with the SOTA flag hanging off of it on the top picture).

Cell Signal (Verizon)

I had full 3G cell reception at the summit but none shortly after descending or on the drive up to the trail head.

APRS - (Automatic Packet Reporting System)

My Kenwood TH-D72 was working great all the way up the trail. I was hitting APRS nodes in Gold Creek, on Patrick's Knob, and on University Mountain at different times during the hike.

For those who have not used APRS to send a packet to "SOTA" it is a great function to have when there is a possibility that you will not have cell signal at a summit. APRS has worked on about every summit that I have been on. It is a great primary tool and only use a cell as the backup for familiarity. In the video sometimes you can hear a lot of beeping...this is my Kenwood receiving packets from the APRS digipeaters.  The other good thing about using APRS is that family members can use it to track you when they are at home and could be used as a location element in case of an emergency.

Other Miscellaneous Information

A pass is not required at the trailhead.  The trail was in pretty decent conditions after the winter. There were a few places where the trail was difficult to see but with some minor trail finding experience you should have no issues. There were 30-40 blowdowns along the trail but they were easy to bypass by either going over or around.

Activation Video

This is my first attempt at a video on the summit. This one is kind of long but does have a recording of all the chasers that I worked. The only ones that it does not record are the two VHF contacts which is a shame, it would be awesome to see how excited I was to talk to Rob (AE7AP) at 104 miles on VHF! I learned a lot about video blogging by messing with this raw video. I do need some work on editing videos.

As always thanks to all the chasers that work hard about hearing my tiny signal from mountain tops. Without you all I would just be hiking, only about 10 pounds lighter! Thanks again.

73,

Matt (KF7PXT)

Stuart Peak (W7M/LM-056) SOTA / Backpacking trip

On the 1st of July, Delma, Charlie and I headed out to conduct a SOTA activation of Stuart peak. This was more then just a SOTA activation as we were going to backpack in with our dog Charlie into the Rattlesnake Recreation Area and wilderness north of Missoula, MT. We had my mom drop us off at the Ravine Trailhead which is about 5 miles from I90 intersection up Grant Creek Road. We unloaded our stuff and headed up letting mom know that we would contact her in a few days for pick up, most likely at the rattlesnake main trailhead which is in the next drainage to the East. We hiked up the ravine trail and passed SOTA W7M/LM-147. I originally had a plan to activate this on the way in but decided against it so that we could continue to make time towards our camp for the night. We passed a few other hikers and bikers along the trail and Charlie was enjoying his time running around

in the woods. These trails are dog friendly for the most part but check the changing regulations before heading up. After cresting the ridge the trail dropped steaply down into the Rattlesnake drainage area and then headed back up to the North towards Stewart Peak. After a couple of miles we were able to cross a small stream and fill up our water bottles using a filtration system for the rest of the trip. This was the last water until getting to the summit. By this time we had hiked approximately 8 miles and we were looking forward to finding a place to sleep for the night. After walking up the trail for about 1/8 mile there was a perfect camp site complete with leveled out sleeping area, small fire pit, and a great tree to hang the solar panel on for recharging. We decided that this would be our camp for the next two nights and provide us a good base camp to make the 4 mile hike to the summit and back the next morning. We could

also stash some of our gear in the woods and not have to make the trip with such heavy packs. We slept here for the night and then woke at 0530 for a 0600 step off to try and avoid the heat. The temperature was supposed to be close to 90 on the 2nd and 95 on the 3rd of July. We kept it simple with a old military poncho and our hiking poles for our shelter.   Pretty nice considering water was so close also. The next morning we woke up as planned to a nice sized mule deer doe standing just up hill from our camp. We ate or Mountain Meal breakfast using our Jetboil to heat up the water. After Breakfast we stepped off in the cool mountain air, about 45 degrees. This was very

refreshing for the steady uphill climb that we had up to the summit. At the wilderness boundary we hit our first sign of snow. After the crest over the ridge the snow started to show up more consistently. At about 1.5 miles before the summit snow was a very common site and was starting to slow us down considerably. As we approached the saddle to head up the last .5 mile to the summit the wind started to blow over the ridge. It was a very refreshing breaze to keep us cool as we started to make the climb along the snowy ridge to the summit. We slowly made our way up the ridge and then made the summit about 1 hour after planned. For the next few hours Delma and I enjoyed the views and operated SOTA at  intervals rotating between napping, climbing trees, taking pictures, napping, enjoying the view and oh did I mention napping? The napping could have resulted in us both getting a little bit of a sun burn. The weather was amazing! I also had a great opportunity to meet, on the air, KG7KGL, Doug, from Montana. By some stroke of luck Doug was activating two Ravali county summits and using his 2m rig. Both Delma and I were able to work Doug on both of his summits. His first contact on SOTA was a S2S! He is very motivated to continue on and is planning on a summit every Tuesday. At this time Doug is only using VHF but has interest in moving up to HF one of these days. There were plenty of very friendly VHF operators on 146.52 to help him get his first two activations in the book. 

                         

 

After all of our activities at the summit we started to make our way down the summit but decide to head down the Southwest side of the summit and try to avoid most of the snow. The forest is very open with hardly any undergrowth making it easy to move cross country. We intersected our previous trail avioding most of the snow with no issue. On the way off the summit we moved pretty quickly and

decided to grab a geocache that was hidden right at the wilderness boundary. This geocache does not get much activity as it is way off the nearest road. According to the log it had only been found about 5 times prior to our find and had not been found since 6/27/12...a good find. Somehow we forgot to get the one that was on the peak. I guess we will just have to go back!

We made the trip back down to camp easily. We sat at camp and talked about all that had happen and then started talking about our options and the idea came up to return to town. Afterall a big cheeseburger did sound really good! I checked out the map and figured that we were about 6 miles from the nearest trailhead where we could be picked up. We discussed it for a little and decided that we would rest for about the next hour and then head down. This ended up being the longest 6 miles of our trip and we both wished that we would have waited until the next day to make the movement. We did not get to the trailhead until about 2300 at night and were both very tired. We took it easy on the 3rd and then on the morning of the 4th I made a quick trip up to activated the missed summit. 

Here are some links to additional information:

PNW SOTA Blog: http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/kf7pxt/2014-july-06/stuart-peak-backpack-sota

Flikr Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/96800739@N08/sets/72157645534082601/

Everytrail GPS Tracks: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2852916

SOTA Summit Site: http://www.sotawatch.org/summits.php?summit=W7M/LM-056

My Wife Delma and the best trail dog ever, Charlie!

I want to thank everyone who makes this hobby so much fun. I am not sure that without SOTA that I would be so much into amateur radio. Without the chasers who consistently watch APRS to see when we are about to make the summit (Thanks Elliot!) and to those who patiently wait for us to get our antennas set up. Also those who are right there waiting for a quick activation when the weather is not so great. I look forward to many more years of this great hobby!