Last summer, I had been seeing a pain psychologist. He told me to replace the things that I was no longer able to do since my brain injury diagnosis. Last summer I purchased an off road scooter to replace my mountain biking activities. The scooter has been a lot of fun and has taken me to areas I would no longer be able to experience. The scooter was first. Second, he knew of my involvement with my kid's sports activities. Now they are older and in college, those activities are no longer. He gave me a homework assignment over the winter of 2020/21 to replace those activities. I struggled all winter trying to find something I could do. I realized that I still had my ham license. The license level I had was a beginner level, Technician Class. I had limited access to certain ham activities. I began playing with the radios I had and quickly realized that I needed to upgrade my license to enjoy the hobby more. An upgrade would require me to study and pass a General Class test. The next level from Technician. The studying was very difficult for me. I could only study 1/2 hr per day. It was all my brain could handle. I started studying in early February 2021. By the 3rd week in March, I knew I had to either plan on taking the test or stop studying. I felt it was now or never. For several days, I took practice tests and was not doing well. But each practice test I did better and better. I finally got to a point I felt confident in taking the real test. I scheduled the online test via zoom with the VE's. Volunteer Examiners. Out of 400 questions possibilities, I would have to get 26 out of 35 correct to pass. When I finished the test and clicked the submit button I could not believe what the result was. I got 35/35. I cried. It was very emotional for me. The VEs were very excited and happy for me. They knew the struggle I had to get to that point. Passing that test opened many doors for me with the ham hobby. It gave me the replacement I needed to fulfill the request from my pain psych. I already had a ham call sign, but I wanted to change it. So I am known as W7RTA (Old call KG7IHK)
So what activities are now available to me? Ham operators are given privilege's to frequencies. As a Technician Class, I was only given a small portion of the frequencies available. Mostly local contacts. As a General Class, I can now access many of the frequencies used to talk the world. Computer data, Morse Code and Phone (talking) over all the newly available frequencies to me. Two of the activities that sparked my interest was Summits On The Air (SOTA) and Parks On The Air (POTA).
SOTA is where you hike up to a summit (hill or mountain top) and use a portable radio set up to make contacts with at least 4 other hams to gain the activation. At first I thought that would not be something I could do. But I quickly learned that there are many SOTA locations that I can use my van or scooter to reach. With none to minimal walking.
POTA is where you set up a portable radio set up in a designated State or National Park/Forest and make contact with at least 10 other stations to gain the activation.
Over the past couple of months, I was able to 'Activate' two summits in the Portland area. They were simple summits and it was fun to get my first summits activated. I began planning a camping trip to the Metolius River Basin for May 23rd. I had a goal of activating a summit in that area. I also planned on activating the Deschutes National Forest for POTA. Both were a success.
Now for the details of the SOTA and POTA activations.
I camped in my van near Camp Sherman Oregon in the Deschutes Nationals Forest.
The POTA activation on Monday May 24th was fairly simple. I use an 84' random wire with a 9:1 UnUn. I had it up about 40' sloped up facing the NW. I used my IC-7300 with a deep cycle marine battery charged via solar. All set up in my van. On May 24th, I was able to gain the minimum 10 contacts for the activation. 14 total. Throughout the week, I made an additional 50+ contacts. Including 2 in Australia and 1 in Lithuania.
SOTA requires me to be on a designated summit. Since I was in the Metolius area, I found a summit nearby W7O/CN-100. Each summit is given a code designation for logging. It looked very simple and had potential for my scooter to get me close. I reviewed maps and satellite photos in preparation. But neither would give me the knowledge to make a quick trip to the summit.
I attempted to get near the summit from the east from Forest Service Road 1270720. I found myself bushwhacking through very thick Manzanita bushes. There was a fire in this area (
B&B Complex) in 2003. The area was stripped of trees. The hills are covered in 4' to 6' Manzanita bushes now. I attempted to walk up the hill as far as I could and going very slowly. One because of the thick brush. Two, because of my brain injury. I turned back after about 100 yards. The Manzanita was like a cheese grater on my legs. Lots of scratches. I regrouped and studied the maps some more. I found there was a road on the west side of the hill that appeared to get me close to the summit. I road my scooter to Forest Road 1200700. I was able to get a little distance in and near the base of the summit. The road was primitive and rough. There were downed trees blocking me from getting close to what appeared to be another primitive road to the summit.
I walked up road 1200700 hurdling a few downed trees. I approached the location where the old primitive road to the top of the summit began. At first it looked somewhat clear of manzanita. But that changed quickly. The road still exists at the base of the bushes. Walking up requires bushwhacking. It was a tiny bit easier than the east side, so I continued. That changed quickly too. I was half way up going very slow and resting often. I had set my goal and I was not going to fail. I had lots of time to complete this. I muscled through the thick cheese grater brush. My legs were raw from the dry manzanita branches scraping them. Several times I could not find the primitive road. Which seemed to not really matter. But I used Google Satellite view to give me an idea if I was headed the right direction. After over an hour of pushing through the brush, I made it to the summit. If I wasn't so tired from the climb, I would have cried. It was very emotional for me. I haven't hiked in over 4 years. Of course, I had to pick a summit that was much more difficult than I should have attempted. I will not do that type of summit again. Lesson learned. I rested for a moment and found several ticks walking up my leg. Oh joy. I pulled them off. I have never experienced ticks in this region until now. I took in the scenery while eating a snack and drinking water. I set up my portable ham radio. A Xiegu G90, Miady 16ah battery and a 41' end fed random wire 9:1 UnUn. I had the feed point on the base of a 21' crappie pole and the remaining wire into an inverted L tied to a tree off in the distance. I was using SSB on 20m and 40m. My first contact was at 1:11pm Pacific Time to another ham on a summit east of Prescott Arizona N3BZ on W7A/CS-074. My second contact was a shock. The ham gave me S57S call sign. I repeated the call sign and he confirmed. He was in Slovenia! Here I am sitting on top of this summit with a wire talking to a guy in Slovenia. I only needed 4 contacts to activate the summit. At that point, I didn't care. Wow! I was so excited. I made 9 other contacts. I did not realize that one of the 9 contacts was in France. I wrote down all the call signs and when I was logging them on my computer back at the van, I realized I made contact with F4WBN in France! Sitting on that summit I made contact with folks in Slovenia, France, Alaska, Washington, California, Montana, Arizona and Utah. I stayed on the summit for a bit longer just taking in the beautiful views. I was successful in completing my goal, but without a price. My brain was hurting. I had to rest often on the way down as I was getting light headed and dizzy. I took it easy going back to my camp on my scooter. Would I do this again? Nope. But I had to do it to prove to myself I could do it. It does give me hope that some much easier walks to a summit might be possible. I will do much more homework in planning on doing future summits.
Failed attempt from the east side of the summit.
The west side which I hiked up.
My Xiegu G90 radio. (20watts)
Me at the summit after the successful activation.
The end of the road 12700200 and my scooter.
Three Finger Jack from the Summit.
Mt Washington from the Summit.
Mt Jefferson from the summit.
Black Butte and Three Sisters from the summit.
My SOTA contacts.
The entire week I was camping was very resting and fun. My dad and step mom came down and rented a house on the river. I visited with them several times. I have been coming to this area since just after I moved to Oregon. 40 yrs ago. It never disappoints.
73 W7RTA
