I’m back at my summer villa and I’m itching to get in a hike and play radio. I’ve done all of the summits near my place this year so I decided to just do one that I really enjoy as a first light hike, since this is my first day at altitude coming fom sea level. I won’t get any points since you can only collect activator points from a summit once per year but that’s not the objective today, this trip is for fun, exercise, and to do a little chasing of other activators for some summit-to-summit (S2S) points. I pinged a buddy that I hiked with before, Dale, AA7OY to see if he wanted to join me. Dale just bought a cabin in Alpine and was willing to join me.
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Executive Summary

SOTA summit: W7A/AP-020
Activation Date: 2020-Aug-29
Unique: No, activation 197
Call sign used: N1CLC
Portable operation: Yes
Radios: KX2
Antennas: K6ARK random wire 10 - 80
Band/Modes used: 20m, 30m, 40m, 10w CW (morse) SSB (voice)
Miles Hiked: 2.3 mi
Hiked Elevation Gain: 594’

We met at the trailhead at about 0730 local. I was a bit late and then I decided to rig my pack to hold a camera mount which took a little more time. I have a clip from Peak Design that attaches to the belt on the pack that the camera can easily clip in and out of to keep it from swinging. I want to start bringing my Fujifilm mirrorless camera with me on some hikes and this was a good short hike to test it out on. I used the device for my Grand Canyon hike and it was perfect.

The hike up was pretty quick. I was a tad out of breath since it was the first day at altitude for me. My objective was to concentrate on getting some summit-to-summits but to do that, I need data so that I can check SOTAwatch web site to see who is where on what frequency. My phone is on AT&T which doesn’t work in the backcountry in Arizona very often, this is a Verizon territory. I brought a small hotspot device with me that would use the Verizon service to give me data via WiFi to my phone. I got the super cheap plan to test it and see what the speeds are like at the villa, hoping I can improve my internet situation here. No matter what, I can turn the service on and off at no cost since it’s month to month contract.

Our setup was pretty quick, Dale took 40m and I started out on 20m working to get some contacts. My operating position was in the shade of a tree and I kicked back on my little chair. The Verizon unit had service, which meant I could chase other summits all I wanted. I worked about 20 stations with a couple of S2S contacts and then took a break to check out Dale’s setup. He hit a bonanza of chasers and had over 30 contacts I think. After doing a bit more chasing from my station, I ended the day with 28 contacts, six of which were S2S contacts. Dale ended up with ~40 contacts and about the same S2S contacts. We had a great time relaxing on the summit and goofing around with radios and pulled in a nice catch of RF.

Contacts

Date:29/08/2020 | Summit:W7A/AP-020 (Escudilla Butte) | Call Used:N1CLC | Points: 0

Time	Callsign	Band	Mode	Notes
16:23	KR7RK	18MHz	CW	S2S
16:27	K7III	14MHz	CW
16:28	ND0C	14MHz	CW
16:28	K9VD	14MHz	CW
16:32	N4LAG	14MHz	CW
16:35	AD5TF	14MHz	CW
16:36	N4HNH	14MHz	CW
16:37	K0EAP	14MHz	CW
16:38	N2ESE	14MHz	CW
16:41	VE4AKI	14MHz	CW
16:57	KA3NAM	7MHz	CW
17:01	KB7HH	7MHz	CW
17:02	KX0R	7MHz	CW	S2S
17:03	W0JAZ	7MHz	CW
17:04	NG6R	7MHz	CW
17:05	N8SMB	7MHz	CW
17:07	W8BUD	7MHz	CW
17:08	AG6V	7MHz	CW
17:09	K6TUY	7MHz	CW
17:09	K6QCB	7MHz	CW
17:11	W5ESE	7MHz	CW
17:12	K6LDQ	7MHz	CW
17:15	N6WT	7MHz	CW
17:17	WA5T	7MHz	CW
18:33	W5ODS	14MHz	CW	S2S
18:38	N7CW	10MHz	CW	S2S
18:41	K9IR/P	14MHz	CW	S2S
18:45	K0DAJ	14MHz	CW	S2S