People who wish to receive the PNW SOTA Newsletter

WX7OR's picture
Jeff McKinnis
W7O/WV

I have been licensed since 1994 and climbing mountains since 1997. Other hobbies include camping, kayaking, and canyoneering. My wife and daughter both have their license and mostly enjoy accompanying me on my adventures.

My portable equipment includes HF and VHF/UHF radios and antennas- IC-V86, KX2, FT-891, and IC-705. I prefer to find remote peaks that require some fun driving and/or bush whacking. My wife (KE7HUP) usually joins me on my adventures and will provide an extra contact for those in need.

I started re-learning Morse code in November ‘23. Mostly using CW as a chaser, but I plan to try some all CW SOTA activations soon.

My first taste of mountaineering and radio was a VHF contests from Mt Hood and South Sister, but that was before SOTA was started.

KK7NLA's picture
Mark Denny
W7W/LC

Outdoor interests include hiking, fishing, sailing and recently added SOTA & POTA.

Getting started with FT5D and IC-705 with EFHW antenna. Recently completed first activation at LC-103, Larch Mt.

N7KOM's picture
Tim Sherry
W7O

Mountaineer / cyclist

SOTA by bike, ski, foot, and truck.

K2VFZ's picture
Scott
W7W

Graphic Designer for a rafting/kayaking/paddlesports company based in Idaho.

New to SOTA (and HAM in general). Avid hiker, backpacker, cyclist—looking to incorporate SOTA into outdoor experiences throughout the PNW.

KK7WUY's picture
Robert Riedl
W7W/KG

Recently licensed (November 2024). I like to explore the PNW on foot or Jeep to find things: bugs, birds, plants, rocks.

Just starting. Will be using a Yaesu FT-65R...

KU7PDX's picture
Chris Arnesen
W7O/WV

I'm interested in getting into the microwave bands and activating summits in the area.

K7MAS's picture
Mark Sandler
W7W/KG

Amateur Radio Operator since March 1995.
Mountain Climber Since 1972.

Activator - Since 2011

KK7MJD's picture
Steve Ignell
W7W

I became a ham for the third time a year ago. I was previously licensed in Alaska as KL7GSU in the late 60s and WL7QD in the mid-90s.

My current ham radio interests are HF DX and, more recently, SOTA. I am a retired fishery scientist/administrator who enjoys hiking so the SOTA activity fits well with my outdoor activities.

I acquired an Elecraft KX2 this summer and have had two SOTA activations so far this fall. Several more are planned for 2024 and I'm looking forward to next summer's hiking season to activate higher elevation peaks.

W7EEE's picture
Tim Smith
W7W

Activated my first summit in May 2020 and had a great time. SOTA is a wonderful part of the world's greatest hobby!

Activated first summit in May 2020. Gear is KX3 or MTR3B with SOTABeams linked dipole or end-fed wire antenna.

N3DPQ's picture
Bill Mackey
W7W/SO

Long-time ham who also enjoys the outdoors. In recent years, I have been combining these two passions and I'm enjoying the new dimensions of both hobbies.

I recently discovered that there are SOTA summits in Capitol State Forest, a short drive from my home which I can access by car: Message Peak W7W/SO-078 and 1380 Callsign Peak W7W/SO-104. Since my backwoods roaming occurs by car these days, I'm excited to find other vehicle accessible summits.

ND7Y's picture
Tyler Ward
W7W/LC

New ham but experienced outdoorsman. Grew up in the woods with the Scouts, and now enjoy back-country camping and travel. Any day I can get out in the woods is a good day!

Shack: IC-735 w/ OCF dipole @ ~25', IC-2200 w/ Diamond X300A @ ~30'
Mobile: Xiegu G90, FT2DR

KX6I's picture
Jeff Isaacson
W7O/WV

Traded SoCal summits for the PNW, Oct. 2024.

I activate predominantly CW using a plethora of QRP rigs.

K7VKK's picture
Rob Stites
W7O

I am just starting to activate POTA and SOTA locations. I enjoy working in locations with no noise floor.

I have chased a few activations but I plan on activating summits this year.

WA7MPC's picture
Mark Cohen
W7W/KG

I'm new to SOTA, but for now I'm focused on 2m FM around the Puget Sound :)

KK7ER's picture
Mike Deisher
W7W/LC

I'm an speech/audio signal processing and machine learning engineer, husband, and father.

I just started with some activations in the Indian Heaven Wilderness.

KK7MRC's picture
Hank Yates
W7W/NO

I'm Hank!

Been active in the Northern Olympics.

KD7QOW's picture
Josef Hoffman
W7W/LC

I'm an avid mountain biker and backcountry skier and sometimes I go hiking if I'm under duress. I have a YouTube channel dedicated to mountain biking called Voice Over Trail Reviews. I will add SOTA content to the channel as appropriate.

I've activated a few summits now. I like to ski to summits in the Winter and mountain bike to them whenever possible in the Summer. I work SSB and digital modes to activate. Often I can be found with my FT-891 blasting 100 watts from my summits to ensure success. If it's a distant summit, I'll bring my IC-705. If I know there's folks out there listening, I'll even bring my yagi and activate 2 meter SSB.

KA7WYR's picture
Chuck Dorsett
W7W/KG

Hi I'm KA7WYR, licensed back in the 1980's along with my entire family, earning my Novice and Tech (with code) licenses. This year 2024 upgraded my license to General and have started doing more HF ops. Living in Western Washington I wanted to become more active and combining hiking and radios seemed like a great combination! My full QRZ bio at https://www.qrz.com/db/KA7WYR.

QTH is Issaquah, WA and starting (in 2024) to activate local peaks in W7W and branching out from there in terms of difficulty. For equipment I have a 2m/70cm HT with rollable j-pole antenna, and also recently build a packable HF rig based on FT-891 and either EFHW or simple dipole.

KN6NVO's picture
Hailey Clark
W7O/WV

I'm a few years into having my license and am making an effort to do more ham stuff now that I've gotten more involved in the local community and enjoy outdoors and summits and having a reason to be ontop of a mountain longer than just to look at the view.

I like FT8 and digital modes such as APRS and maybe 2m fm if I am limited in equipment. I plan to start out with some local summits to get a feel for what I still need and getting a highly portable low powered QRP setup that I can carry entirely on my back. Am starting with places relatively easy to get to but I'd eventually like to graduate to doing multiple day excursions with what can be hiked into an area with me and a friend or two. (They're really just porters after all for batteries!) I've only really been on one summit with the radio on Mt Tabor this last weekend and had great results on FT8, its very encouraging and has me totally stoked for the possibilities that are available to me now that I've gotten to learn enough to really understand some of the capabilities that a qrp hf radio with a good antenna can get you. I've been really enjoying making antennas so, I feel antennas are gonna be something I'm going to be dealing with a lot and have tons of possibilities and challenges figuring out the best setup for a given summit.