My SOTA Expedition Loadout

My SOTA Loadout options: (UPDATED)

Updated: 8/31/2026

 

A lot of people ask me what I am using for SOTA (Summits On The Air), so I thought I would describe my setup here.  Take a look and comment on your SOTA setup.

What follows is a rewrite in-place to take into account how my skills, knowledge, and equipment have evolving from 2017 when this was first published.  When it comes to radio gear for SOTA,  there are a zillion combinations that I and others have used from hauling an IC-7300 to a summit by N3XUL, to the heavy FT-891 by myself, a K3, or a postage stamp sized radio by K6ARK.  When it comes to antennas, choices are endless, something that I will barely scratch the surface.  Oh, and don't forget the possible paddle choices for CW.

One aspect SOTA is that it presents is a number of challenges associated with man portability.  Many times, it requires hiking up a mountain, sometimes a long ways, so weight and size really matter.  This is why so many SOTA operators learn CW so early in their radio adventure, it allows them to have great success with smaller and lighter equipment.  Sure, there are drive-ups, and I can tell you, it's a blast running 100w from a summit.  Given all of this, it's a never ending quest to try different setups to achieve your goals.  What follows is a non-exhaustive list of what I mostly use for SOTA.

(Click on images for larger.)

NOTE:  In addition to a radio or two, antennas and batteries, my pack always has the 10 essentials, including at minimum 2 liters of water which is covered below (see my list at HamNinja.com/safetytips).

I've slowly amassed a bit more equipment that changes based on mission. Below you'll see that I use different radios for given mission. I've been trying to lighten my load and go QRP with the KX2 and an ultra-light antenna, but there are times when I load up the heavier FT-857 and associated battery when I really want to punch some power out and see how far I can really go, play in a contest or challenge.

My full pack loadout ranges from 15 to 40+ lbs for a day hike depending on what's going on.  

One of the things that really helped me go QRP (lower power) and save weight is CW. Sending morse code over CW allows me to potentially get a lot more contacts farther away because the narrow band width it provides, and better signal to noise ratio. As I continue to learn about gear, make new antennas, learn CW, and experiment, I expect things will continue to change. Mission #1 is to have fun, and I seem to be nailing that. Pictured at the top of this article is a complete 10 watt station, radio, antenna, and keyer. The only thing not shown  is a way to get the antenna up in the air (tree or pushup pole) (it has a built in mic).(Note: Originally published Dec 31, 2017, updated Nov. 3, 2019)

For a full radio review, see my video series at HamNinja.com/radioreview and the slides with all the data I collected at HamNinja.com/radioreviewslides.

Every Day SOTA  (QRP)

My use of QRP might offend the purists since I consider QRP <10 watts

My default loadout as of 8/2026 is as follows.

• Elecraft KX2 HF Radio. This is an awesome little radio. I'm calling this my "QRP" rig. It's the most awesome radio I've ever had the pleasure to operate. It's small, light and wow, packs a tone of features. Because it's a software-defined radio, there are all kinds of filtering capabilities and other features.
  This is probably the most popular radio for doing SOTA and I think in general, the BEST.  It's light weight, has an internal battery, and the various filters and other features enable the operator to dial in CW to maximize range and clarity.  The single biggest feature though is the built in tuner.  You can tune almost any piece of wire and get on the air.  Tuning doesn't make the antenna more efficient, it just make the radio happy and you're almost guaranteed to get some contacts. 
  
  I'm still trying to memorize all of the features and how to use them.  It's not the easiest to use since every button and dial on it has up to 3 functions (short press, long press, and <function> press).  When I switched to this radio from the FT-891 and the K6ARK spider thread antenna, I probably shaved off 9 lbs!  One thing that I don't like is that in order to charge the internal battery, you have to remove the back cover, so I always use an external battery which gets me 6 activations per charge (great for multi-summit days).  There is a kit to remedy this but I really find that strange.  Out of all the kit that I have, I consider this is still the BEST radio for SOTA. It's multi-mode and covers most of the HF ham bands I want to use
  
  
• Elecraft KX3.  After using W6TED's KX3 for a week in 2025, I was talked into a small upgrade.  It's a tad heavier and larger than the KX2, but the CW filtering using band pass filters and a much better audio peaking filter make CW a much more pleasurable experience.  It covers more bands and it has the option of attaching a panadapter providing a real-time spectrum and waterfall displays of band activity.  I don't use the panadapter unless car POTA and that's been a long time. It doesn't however have a built-in mic.
  
  I've started using this radio most of the time but for air travel or when space is as a premium, or I don't want to carry that much $$$ in radio gear, I use the KX2.  Recently, N6MTB upgraded my radio to use a light weight LiPo battery with a custom built-in charger.  I can charge with any 15v power supply and I have a USB-C.  Dropping the external battery  making the full radio and power just a little more than the KX2.  It's .6” higher, 2” wider and .2” deeper than KX2 and only 5 oz more than KX2. (See Radio Review Slides)
  
  
• 
  For my QRP antenna, I use the K6ARK spider thread ultra-lightweight multi-band (10m to 80m) antenna.  This is absolutely the coolest antenna for doing SOTA.  Adam, K6ARK, built this antenna and gifted it to me. 
  
  Adam is a SOTA Yoda, and master antenna designer and builder in Ramona, CA.  He's into lightweight setup and has taught me a lot about amateur radio, SOTA, and he is a lot of fun to do an expedition with.  This antenna is a has a mini 9:1 unun soldered on right at the feed-point, feeding a 41 foot radiator and 17' counterpoise. KX2, KX3, and my Z-817 tuner can tune to ~1:1 on 60-10m. You might even get 80m in certain installations depending on the nature of the ground.  This antenna is the bomb.  The wire is so thin though, I'm afraid I'm going to break it.  Fortunately for me, K6ARK sickbay will probably give me a hand.  It's not as lightweight as the one Adam carries, he drilled a few holes in the winder to get the weight out :).   Adam tested it the night he gave it to me and given the sub-optimal solar conditions, he still had decent luck on it.  Get yours from K6ARK.com.  I've built several of these using the K6ARK kits and given them to friends.  It may not be as efficient as a linked dipole, but when all I need to do his change the frequency, hit the tuner and get to work, it's a lazy man's dream.  Does it make contacts?  Hell yes, I've made over 10,000 contacts from a summit with it and have worked New Zealand summit-to-summit several times all while QRP (< 10 watts).

Special Mission Kit

Radios

• 
  Yaesu FT-857, "Sparky".  I sold my FT-891 and switch to the 857 because I liked the more analog sound and it has VHF capability. 
  
  I picked up a used 857d which had the SSB filter installed and I added the mechanical CW filter. The filtering on this radio is a tad better than the 891, and it's easier to listen to.  Hard to explain but I like it better.  The 857 also has VHF capability which is fun if you really want to see how far you ran run 2m or run 2m CW.  BTW, this is the only radio that I have that does 2m CW QRO. 
  
  This radio has been a lot of fun to use for the 2m challenge in SOTA during 2026.  Ted and I have taken it up to summits in SoCal and just killed it SSB and CW.  I hauled it by myself with a pole, a vertical, and a log periodic antenna with large batter.  It was 45 lbs with water and the rest of  my loadout.  For HF, I normally use this with a random wire that I built with a LDG 9:1 UNAN or a chameleon vertical.  I also built a 10m dipole that I used for the SOTA 10m challenge and entered the 10m contest with it from a mountain top in San Diego.
  
  In addition, the 857 will also perform "shack in the box" duties at home, delivering 2m and 70 cm capabilities with SSB and CW, something that's been awesome during the 2026 SOTA challenge.  (My 7610 is a bit jealous when I plug it in).  BW
  
  
• Yaesu FT-817ND HF/VHF/UHF Radio  This radio, matched with the Z-817 antenna tuner, is the SOTA cult machine.  I love this little radio.  It got me into SOTA when I landed my first SOTA contact in Japan on my first summit! I've pulled this radio out of the bullpen several times in 2026 to use during the 2m challenge since it will do 2m SSB and CW and is a hell of a lot lighter than the 857.  It puts out a beautiful 5w signal on HF or VHF and is still fun to use.  With it's external battery, it's heavier than the KX3 but a hell of a tough little radio.  I put a Portable Zero Field hardening rack on it.  This is an awesome backup QRP radio.  The LDG Z-100 plus auto antenna tuner for the FT 817 is a must, allowing me to use my random wire antenna with it.

QRO Field Antennas

• Packtenna, 20 - 40 linked dipole.  I got their standard package without a mast.  I normally set it up for 20 meter but it comes with clip-ons that allows you to turn it into a 40M antenna which I love.  It also has a matching unit on it allowing you to use it as an end-fed long wire.  The build quality is outstanding, customer service is second to none, and it’s lightweight.  It’s the Swiss Army knife for antennas with no compromise.  I also have the packtenna common mode choke when using the packtenna as a long wire or when using the CHA MPAS (below).  I highly recommend it!!!  I've actually started using the CHA MPAS more given that it's easier to setup on the terrain that I'm on.

• CHA MPAS antenna.   (Note: the link to this antenna is to the newer package with pack, I have older version, no pack)  The CHA MPAS has turned out to be an excellent piece of gear.  MPAS was coined by Julian at HO8STN as he calls it his "Man Portable Antenna System".  Although this was my alternate, I'm using it a lot given the terrain and high wind we are having.  I needed a vertical antenna for times that I’m going to summit a very busy mtn top here in San Diego, or I just want to do a quick deploy.  I picked up a Chameleon MPAS system after doing a LOT of research.  There were a lot of reviews that I looked at comparing the Alpha Antenna to this but Julian at OH8STN had the biggest influence on me in my choice.  Performance wise, I've done two articles on this antenna, an SWR performance, and practical testing article. I've made two contacts in Japan and one even farther in New Zealand (I think this thing works).  I don't think the performance is as good as the Packtenna but without more testing, or A/B testing, it's really hard to tell.
  
  One of the things I like most about the Chameleon MPAS is the quick setup.  I can be up and running in 15 minutes or less by myself after dropping my pack.  The reason for the easy setup is all of the elements unfold just like tent poles.  I'm using an extra CHA MIL extension (6.5 feet) to get the matching unit off the ground, think of it as the "mast".  I then mount the CHA Hybrid-micro matching unit (5 inches) on the mast and attach a second CHA MIL extension and the CHA MIL whip section (thinner tent pole)  (10.8 feet) to that.  I lash it to a tree or bush or use some small guy strings and guy the whole thing from the matching unit.  When setup, the total length is about 24 feet.  The last thing I do is  attach the 60 foot counterpoise wire to the base and run it out, which takes about 1 minute if you wind it up in a figure 8.
  
  I've been in high winds with the top section bent over pretty good with no damage.  Trying to setup the packtenna with a mast in high winds is just a huge pain!  The entire setup collapses down to 2.5 feet and easily attaches to my pack with rubber bungees.  I've been able to get my setup time to 15 minutes because I've marked the guy lines so all I need to do is attach them to the base, pull them out and anchor them and they are ready to be attached to the mid section.

Pushup Poles

• I use the SOTAbeams Tactical 7000hds Compact Heavy-Duty Telescopic Mast TAC7000HDS when using a much heavier setup for QRO, like the random wire.  I starte diw a MFJ-1910 mast but it sticks so fart out of the pack it makes even trail hiking a pain in the ass, and forget bushwhacking in the SoCal area.
  
  This unit collapses down to 2 feet is weights in at 3.64 lbs out of the box but I've lightened the load by taking the first two sections out.  It's heavy duty enough to handles the packtenna with ease.  The little loops you see on it is a K6ARK design that makes it super easy to secure with three guys.  It's held up well and comes highly recommended by other SOTA operators.  
  
  
• 
  My EDC is a crappie fishing pole, from Allie Express
  These pole are extremely light weight and amazingly strong.  I normally remove the top two pieces to get a little more strength and less bend.  Out of the box they can extend over 20 feet.  

• MFJ-1910 Telescoping Mast.  It’s the lightest weight one MFJ has.  I took out the smallest two sections and it extends to 26 feet.  Unfortunately, the height of this thing when collapsed is 3.8 feet and weights 3.3 lbs.
  
  

HT VHF/UHF Radios

• I'm currently using a Anytone AT-878UV.  This is an awesome little radio.  I'm big into DMR and with it's ability to do DMR, I have additional options when using a DMR repeater.  If available, I can coordinate a summit-to-summit on HF if the other operator has DMR and access to a repeater.  The battery will run this thing for over two days, including transmit use.  (DMR only uses RF out half the time you press the PTT due to the way DMR is designed).  For more on this awesome little radio, see my review of the 868, which is almost the same radio but without APRS.
  
  
• In 2026, I started using a Quansheng K1 with the NR7Y firmware mod for the 2m challenge.  It allows me to make contacts using SSB or CW.  For CW, it's fun to bash the ever living crap out of the PTT to send morse strait key but I got a dongle that plugs into the USB-C port from KI6CR that allows me to use paddles.  For one thing, the code I send isn't quite as nasty, and I can certainly send faster.

Some Of My Other Radio Kit

• LNR Par EndFedz® EFT-MTR 40/30/20m triband lightweight antenna.  This is a cool little off-the-shelf antenna originally sold by LNR precision and bought out by Vibroplex. 

• Viperade multi-size radio pouch.  This is the perfect pouch for not only the 878 but also my drone.  It's resizable so I've got one on each shoulder.

• Slim Jim dual band jpole antenna for my FT .  I thought I would get one of these, and if it doesn’t weigh too much, toss it in the bag for some 2m fun.  It works fantastic.  There are a lot of people that recommend his antennas.  I think the build quality is excellent and it looks like it’s done in a way to hold up under heavy use.  The first time I used it, worked fine.  It was mounted to my mast, up about 6 feet.  I was on the top of a pretty big mountain so the person I was testing with couldn’t tell the difference between the jpole and the diamond whip on my HT.  It's much better than a whip and the only thing that beats it is a 2m yagi, but just by a little.  I used this in Feb 2018 on a summit to summit at about 50 miles.  The operator reported about 2X signal increase. 
  
  
• Bioenno 12V, 12Ah LiFePO4 battery.  This fits perfectly in the bottom of the bag and will probably run the 891 all day at full power and 20% duty cycle.  It’s more than I need and I could lighten the load but it wouldn’t save me that much.  I bring a power distribution panel with me so I can plug other stuff in if needed.  The battery weighs 3.5 lbs.  I could probably shed 2 lbs by going smaller.  This is overkill but I had it so I use it.  
  
  I also have a little Bioenno 6.5 Ah battery for the KX2 that I take for multi-activation outings.
  
  I use the Bioenno 3Ah battery for 10w or less.  You'll get plenty of activations on one battery and save some weight.

• Easy Digi by KF5INZ PSK adapter.  This little guy allows me to do PSK31 from my iPhone or iPad.  So cool.  I mainly got it when I was having issues getting out on the 817 so I thought I would do PSK.  I got it working but have yet to use it on a SOTA expedition.  It’s super lite (if you keep saying “super lite” on everything, you end up with a 32 lb pack :) ).  It definitely works on the 817 and and I can think of no reason it shouldn’t work on the 891.

Backpacks

• Gregory Zulu 40 backpack. Although I liked my tactical field pack, it wouldn't sit on my hips, was uncomfortable, and the belt ripped off. I needed a pack that will ride on my hips as my full loadout is 35 lbs. The Gregory Zulu fits me, is a lot more comfortable, and shaves off 2.4.
  
  The DDT Ops Anti-Venom field pack had more compartments for organizing but most of the packs like this that you find in sporting goods stores aren't really designed for the load that I have. I put about 120 miles on the DDT before the belt ripped away from the pack.  If you want to go military cool, use a 511 Tactical...
  
  I'd highly recommend 511 Tactical.  I have one of their bags for ARES work but they are HEAVY.  Sure, they look cool, but they still aren't as comfortable as packs designed for hikers.  I highly recommend Gregory or Osprey packs or another brand that dedicates themselves to backpacking.  They are lighter, tough and really focus on backpacking, leveraging all their experience in materials and design for something that you will be using for hours on end over 100s of miles.
  
  
• 
  As of 6/17/2022, I've recently downsized to the Zulu 30 backpack from Gregory.  That's probably as small a regular pack as I'd ever be able to go.  I really like the Gregory packs.  I put over 1,000 miles on the Zulu 40.  I tore one of the side pockts and had to replease the waste buckle but never tore the pack.  It's put up with some very heavy loads, probably up to 40 lbs.  My current loadout with 2 L of water is 21 lbs.  That's pretty good for me.  It includes chair and external battery so I could easily drop those out and get under 20 lbs! 
  
  As you know, I've gone to a minimalist pack for short hikes with a friend.  If I'm paired up, I can drop a few things out, mainly layers and stuff like an emergency bivy incase I have to spend the night awaiting rescue.  (See HamNinja.com/safetytips for more on why I pack extra shit).  It will be an effort to shove gloves, beanie and my puffy jacket into this pack for winter hikes.  BTW, I've used the puffy once on a day hike.  By putting on the fleece pullover and then the rain shell, it feels almost as good as a puffy. 
  
  The one thing I am going to miss is the side loading of the 40 L model.  The new pack has better belt padding and I feel like it will grip my skinny waste and zero butt just a tad better.  I'll update if I run into problems but I've been so impressed by the Zulu 40's ability to put up with everything I've I put through I decided to stick with Gregory on the pack refresh.  Lastly, the new bag is a little harder to pack.  The smaller bag does force me to think more about putting stuff in there.  Obviously, I wasn't filling up the Zulu 40 so I had some slack, but I have a lot less now with the Zulu 30 making it a bit of a pain to refill water, etc. (sniff sniff).
  
  
• For overnight or multi-day where I need to bring shelter, cooking and more, I have a Gregory Baltoro 65.  It's the most comfortable large pack I've ever owned. 
  
  
• Lastly, make sure you try multiple manufactures and models of pack at a good outfitter.  They all fit differently.  It just so happens that Gregory fits my body better than the Osprey.  REI has people that know how to fit a pack, use them!
  
  
• I did a full review of backpacks at HamNinja.com/choosingabackpack

Other

• I’ve setup several 50’ paracord lines with ratcheting ends that I found at REI to tie off the mast and antenna ends when setting the antenna up as an inverted V.  Don’t forget stakes.

• 50’ of RG58 allows for the 26’ mast and I can move away to shade and operate like a boss.  There's one down side, weight... so I now use about 25' of RG-174u that I picked up from the new owner of LNR, It's about the size of the wire on the anteanna and my latest activations show it to be just as effective in the field as the RG58.... check it out.  I rarely use that now.

• Carbon Fiber Hiking Poles.  I got a set of carbon fiber hiking poles from REI.  I’ve never used them in all the years that I’ve hiked.  I’ve gotta tell you, these are awesome.  When you have a load on your back and are having to climb a steep area, they are FANTASTIC.  I just got them and used them on a particularly difficult section of trail that I’ve done before.  WOW, I used 30% less energy and moved at twice the speed.  Steep descents with a 30lb pack on is made a lot easier.  The carbon poles are quiet.  I avoided getting them because of the noise from my wife’s poles but these are quiet.
  
  
• Delorme Inreach (now called Garmin Inreach) satellite tracker and communicator. I got this to use on remote hikes so that if I bite the dust, Jeanette knows where to find the dog. It uses satellite (Iridium) and drops my location on a website about every 10 minutes. As a bonus, I can send text messages, email and spot myself on sotawatch. A lot of hikers are now going to the Inreach Mini.  Update: I switched to the mini and love it.

•  A new addition to my pack are CW paddles. CW (stands for continuous wave using morse       code). 

Yup, this is radio being super geeky now.  Most people thought morse code went the way of the steam engine but it's actually still very popular.  Part of the resurgence is from guys like me that do summits on the air.  It allows us to carry smaller radios with lower power and go farther.

The reason I learned CW is that I wanted to “chase” other SOTA operators while they are on a summit somewhere around the world.  Many of the operators that I’d like to contact on a mountain top are using CW, forcing me to learn it.  The other reason is that 5 watt on CW goes a lot farther than using voice, so I dropped a lot of weight by going to a smaller radio and battery, and do CW from a summit as well.

Pictured above are the two keys that I have for SOTA (click on them to see a larger view).  The first one is a custom wine cork paddle custom made for me by Adam Kimmerly, K6ARK which I used to make my first ever CW contact.  It's super light weight and fits my personality.  The second is one from American Morse.  I've just upgraded from the "Porta Paddle" to the "Ultra Porta Paddle" and it was definitely worth the upgrade.  The ultra is an enclosed design and uses stainless steel.  I'm hoping that both of these features reduce the number of times I have to take emery paper to the posts and contacts due to dust and corrosion.  The ultra is smaller and probably the same weight but quieter (like comparing a SLR camera to a mirrorless).  The build quality is A+ on both paddles by the way.  I have their leg plate that straps to my thigh.  This allows me to hold my phone for logging while sending without dropping stuff into the dirt, which I manage to do regardless.  

The best key (paddles) I've ever  used for SOTA is the Begali Adventure.  The feel and build is incredible.  I mounted it to a plate so I can strap it to my leg but you can also mount direct to a KX2 or 3 if you desire.

• Misc:  I keep emergency food, First Aid, space bag (incase I need to remain overnight), flashlight, batteries, and a camelbak 3 liter water system that goes in the pack.

• Jetboil MicroMo cooking system.  Sometimes, I’ll use this for the colder expeditions, like the one I did to Escudilla Mountain in AZ.  At 10,800 feet, it’s nice to have a cup of hot tea, warm up and enjoy the view!!!  I normally leave this behind unless it's really cold or I want a hot lunch.

• For drive-ups and some special expeditions, I'll haul the Yaesu 857 to the summit to run QRO.  I also use the MFJ-939Y (auto antenna tuner for 891).  I don’t need this for the Packtenna but I do need it for end-fed mode or the CHA unit (below).  I tried the LDG for this radio and it just didn’t seem to work right. What I love about it is that it will kick-off a tune when the 891 tune button is pushed.  When the LDG guys have one that does that and works like the Z-817, I’ll consider it. This thing is too heavy to haul up the mountain but if it's a drive up, I prefer this as it's a much better tuner than the LDG and it supports a full interface into the radio.
  
  
• MFJ MFJ-1714 144 MHz 1/2 Wavelength Antenna for my HT. This antenna, when fully extended, adds at least 6db to the receiving side. I did a test with K6ARK and he reported two full S-unites of improvement (which in theory is 12db). The Smiley antenna works just as well.

SOTA-lite:

I've recently built a QCX Mini, 20m radio.  The station with QCX Mini, 3AH battery,  tiny paddles from N0SA, and a custom 20m end-fend antenna with the croppy poleAlliExpress, case and a buy line weighs in under 3lbs.  Sure, it's only one band but small enough to put in your pocket.  But... I still carry lots of water and safety kit. Use a smaller battery to save weight.   I'll weigh the pack next time I use this.

• The most reliable QRP mini CW only is my Mountopper MTR 3B.  

Home Station

• In 2024, I upgraded to the Icom IC-7610.  Like the  Icom IC-7300, they have kicked their competitors ass regarding usability via the touch screen, DSP, bla bla bla.  You can get better reviews from others than a beginner like me.  I will say, the 7610  filtering capability on CW is worth it if you want to chase weak signals.  The audio peaking filter, along with the tweaking you can make on APF is awesome.  As you can see, I enjoy SOTA more than sitting at home but I do use it and it’s a hell of a radio.  Given all the functionality, like full spectrum scope, built-in antenna tuner, etc, it’s a hell of a rig.  It’s small and I got it on-sale to boot.  I had to purchase a LDG Z100A to help bring beat both sides of 40m into submission on the R-8.

I've played with several different antenna setups in my little back yard including a cool little rigid 20 m dipole that I built. I've recently put in a Cushcraft R-8. I don't have room for anything larger unless I bolt a tower to the side of my house to get up and over the homes here. The R-8's getting it done. Maybe I should have gone with the R-9 but honestly I was trying to keep the wind loading down and height as well. I live in a very high RF noise environment on 40 during the day. I can tilt this guy down by myself for when I'm traveling or high winds are predicted.  The R-8 has impressed me. I'm in San Diego and can easily get the east coast during the day, and south America and virgin islands during the evening. Sure, the other stations have huge setups, but full US contacts are no problem. I've chased QRP in Colorado but it's tough.  I've worked two China stations during the SSB contest, so that was cool.


• Trying a lot of other antennas including a cool home made 20m rigid dipole.

Vehicle

AnyTone AT-D578UVIIIPRO DMR/Analog radio.  

I took a Diamond Antenna K412CNMO and modified it to mount onto an unused factory hard point on Margaret my new Subaru Outback Wilderness.  I load it up with a Anytone 578, tri-band, FM and DMR radio.  I like the Anytone 878, mainly because it supports named groupings of channels, (Yaesu calls these groups, Antone calls them "zones") which I really like.  I live in San Diego but also have a summer place in the mountains of Arizona.  In addition, I work with the ARES team in San Diego and go up near LA for SOTA.  Having a "zone" for each of the areas that I operate or in, and in the case of ARES, a set of channels for a drill is awesome.  You can read my review of the AT-578 HERE.

OK, What Is The Pack Weight

As of 6/22, my current SOTA loadout weight is under 21 lbs which includes:

• 1 pound chair 
• 2 L of water - minimum (4.4 lbs)
• spare battery (prob 1 lb). 
• KX2 or 3 kit
• Two antennas
• HT
• Fleece
• Rain shell
• Some miscellaneous like flashlight batteries, one extra HT battery and a few nick-nacks.
• Snacks
• Safety 10 essentials includes first aid bag and health related stuff. 
  Please check out my SOTA Safety Tips at HamNinja.com/safetytips

I could drop the chair and battery for 2 lbs getting me to 19 lbs.  I have room in the water bladder for another liter (2.2 lbs).  I'm pretty happy with this loadout.

Conclusion

The cool thing about SOTA is that there is no right way to do this.  This is some of my kit, and it's probably been tweaked by the time you read this.  There are so many cool options to try, so little time.  Combine this with drive-up SOTA, and we can break out W6TED's BuddyHex multi-band hexbeam on a rotating support.  

I'll try to update this with new cool kit as things progress.  I hope this was helpful along with some of the reference links below.

OLD  LIST:

Item	Notes	Weight in LB
Gregory Zulu 40 backpack.	The Anti-Venom pack went full failure so I switched to a Gregory Zulu 40, plenty big enough.	2.7
3L Water	I could pull one liter out.	6.7
Fleece, gloves & shell	The current weather demands this. At minimum, I bring a fleece for use when I summit. Windy conditions require the shell.	1.65
Emergency thermal cover, first-aid, compas, flashlight	Part of my 10 Essentials	1.15
Food	Man's gotta eat	0.5
Heil Pro Micro Headphones	Awesome setup allows me to use VOX	0.3
KX2 Radio		1.1
Anytone 878 Radio	My handi-talki everyday carry	.6
LNR Endfedz		0.5
K6ARK Antenna	The K6ARK ultra lightweight antenna 2oz	0.1
4 small (green) guy lines	(.7oz ea)	0.187
2 ea. 50 ft guy lines	Not required for MPAS but need three for packtenna I've used one to string up Jpole (.45 ea.)	.9
Yaesu FT-2DR	HT with APRS	.68
Slim-Jim rollup JPoll		.625
Logbook, batteries, ...		.7
Headphones	Heil Pro Micros	.55
Pushup Pole	SOTABeams pushup pole	3.63
Mic	I don’t always bring since I have the headphones.	.35
JetBoil	I don’t always take this, just when it’s super cold or I want lunch	1.8
Mic & various cables		0.3
Keyer	(5.5 oz)	0.3
Other	I’m missing a bunch of other stuff like spare batteries, cables, and other stuff.  So let’s toss in 2lbs of other misc to get the pack to what I really haul.	2.0
Total		27.6
Alternative	Item
Optional Bioenno 4.5AH battery	Would need to buy this and the max discharge rate is 12A vs. current battery that has a rating of 20A.	1.3
MFJ-1910 Telescoping Mast	My alternate antenna mast.	3.3
Packtenna 20/40 meter	currently not using (balun 2.6 oz, UNUN 4.4 oz, wire and winder 10.1) There's no savings here since I need to bring the mast.	0.8
Yaesu FT-817ND	Yaesu 5 Watt radio coving HF and VHF and battle hardened for SOTA.	2.95
25 ft coax
MPAS Antenna with stake but not clamp and bracket	Stake (.75lb), 2 ea mil-ext, cha-mil, counterpoise, matching unit.	4.7
Yaesu FT-891 and acc	Could save 1.53 by going to FT-817	4.9
Bioenno 12ah Battery	Could save by 2 by going to 6ah (below)	3.5
MFJ-939Y Tuner	I only need this if NOT doing 20M, 40, or 17, which isn’t very often.	2.1
30' coax		1
CHA MPAS antenna.	Verticle multi-band antenna	4.5
LDG Z-100 Plus tuner	Needed for reliable multi-band antenna tuning.  I take this one because it’s lighter	1.4
Helinox Chair Zero	Lux item	1.2
DJI Mini 2 QCX Mini BioennoPower	Use for great drone pics. (Weight with 1 2oz battery) 20m CW rig 3Ah battery	1.5 0.5 0.75

Also have a Helinox Chair Zero Ultralight Compact Camping Chair.

Also added a DJI Mini 2 drone for photo.

REFERENCE

• For more info on SOTA, rules, etc, go to the homepage HERE.
• Ham Terminology
• SOTA Specific Links
• SOTA Radio Reviews
  
• Radio Review Slides!!!
• Choosing a Backpack!!!
• Safety First

73,

-- Chris Claborne, N1CLC