Welcome to the W7O Summits on the Air Newsletter for Oregon. Please share this with others that might be interested.

Idea for Activators – a lightweight umbrella. It’s for you when hiking, but otherwise to keep the radio dry! The one I like is a lightweight version that also works as a sunscreen with the reflective shade -  the Chrome Dome Trekking Umbrella by GoLite.

Chaser Column by Phil-NS7P – for those that might usually activate, if the grim weather is keeping you away from the summits, try chasing others in parts of the country where they can still go outside without getting soaked. Here are a few hints for successful chasing:

•  For those of us on the west coast, east coast activations can be early in our time zone. Get in the habit of checking the alerts the night before so that you can be ready for those early summits in the morning.

•  Speaking of east coast activations, signals between the PNW and W1 through W4 summits will often be weak. Even the EU stations may be louder on the east coast than you are. Treat these summits like rare DX. Let the obviously stronger chasers get a QSO before you wade into the pileup, and then time your calls carefully – pausing a few seconds after the Activator stands by for the next chaser. This lets the number of simultaneously calling chasers settle down and gives you a better chance of being heard. For CW, try offsetting your transmit frequency a bit so your tone is slightly different than others to the Activator.

Bonus Season – Bonus Season for W7O starts 1-December and goes through 31-March. It applies to peaks four points and up. For W7W the bonus period starts the same day but ends on 15-March and applies to six point peaks up. Remember that bonus season is on UTC time…

Upcoming Events – Bridging the New Year. How about a 14 point activation? If you can find a minimum four point W7O summit that you can get down from in the dark, consider an activation that bridges the UTC New Year. (Or a six pointer for W7W.) The UTC midnight happens at 4pm, so it will be dark when you are done – so be sure you can gather all your gear after the sun sets. And have your headlight ready before it gets dark.

You’ll need to plan to get at least four contacts BEFORE the turn of the year and another four AFTER the clock strikes midnight in Greenwich. Many chasers will stick around and work you again, as they get double points also. Above all, be safe in your planning to be sure you can stay warm enough and can safely get down after your activation. This would be a good time to have company along. And you’ll be done in time to celebrate the New Year in our own time zone!

Resources – We are fortunate to have the best regional blog for activation trip reports anywhere in the World. Thanks to Dan-KK7DS and Jeremy-NH6Z, www.pnwsota.org is a great resource for regional trip reports…and it’s often entertaining reading. This would be a good time of year to make your own contribution – write a trip report! Reports are most useful for the next Activator when they give good directions to the trailhead and some information about the trail and the summit. Nothing fancy needed, but photos and maps are always appreciated.

This newsletter is brought to you by Etienne-K7ATN, SOTA W7O Association Manager. To subscribe or unsubscribe, please email climb2ski at gmail. Thanks.