Despite a propensity of warm sunny weather lately, Saturday brought dark overcast skies and the threat of rain in the northern Puget Sound for our Summit to Summit party. That didn't discourage our activators.
On Mt Erie W7W/SK-169, we had a team of four; myself W7TAO, Tom KI7KN and my two son's: Mason 13 and Tanner 10. Most of the contacts made for W7TAO were with Tanner or Mason at the mic. Tom made his first official SOTA activation with 100% S2S contacts. Not a bad way to start!
We had a flurry of activity shortly after 18:00 hours on 2 meters. Many teams brought 2 meter Yagi's and higher powered radios in attempt to reach the Willamette Valley S2S party, but I didn't hear any made.
Mark and Bob, K7NEW and KF7JQV, made a team assent of SOTA Hill, W7W/NO-192.
Fred, N7KRN, took a ferry ride to reach Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island, W7W/RS-065.
Peter, AF7GL activated two peaks, both W7W/RS-053 and RS-054. We had a 2 meter FM S2S with him while on RS-053. Our best DX of the day at 109 miles.
Darryl, WW7D made the first activation of, W7W/SN-171 Lobotomy Hill, but unfortunately, we had taken down our two meter gear by the time he was QRV as we faced a very crowded peak with students taking a rock climbing course.
Before packing up, Mason and Tanner were able to make 5 contacts on 6 meter SSB. We heard an opening into Colorado, KB0QC, but were unable to reach him. Before going QRV on 6 meters, I checked SOTAwatch and realized we had unfortunately missed K7ATN by about an hour. Bummer.
This S2S party was in perfect time for my boys. We hold radio class every day at 4:30 at the kitchen table and this was a great hands on experience for them, infusing further motivation to work towards their goal of a Technician license.
We capped the weekend with a nice family dinner, where the boys and I began selling Mom on the idea that we would soon be "needing" more radios and antennas for VHF multi-mode. And what Mom can say "no" to boys spending quality time with Dad?
I would love to hear other activation stories from Saturday, either in the comments below or a separate report. Did anyone in the northern Puget Sound reach the Willamette party?
73,
Todd
W7TAO