N4LA's .. " Radio-Active " Report: April 2013

Sunday, April 7, 2013

CQ SOTA >>>>> Summits On The Air !!

N4 .... LIVE ACTION !!!!

From Buffalo Mountain, Virginia

Hello this is Todd (N4LA) in Denton, NC.
Radio-wise, Saturday was a blast.
At mid-morning, my buddy Jack, W4TJE and I drove up to Buffalo Mtn with our backpacks
and portable radio gear, in Floyd County, VA. Jack and I are the same
age (49), from the same town originally in NC (Siler City), grew up together,
both learned radio together, and even have common relatives by marriage. After
school, he joined the Marines, while I joined the Navy, so it did my heart
proud today to show the Marine how a Navy guy humps to the top of a mountain
peak (SINGING ANCHORS AWAY WHILE CARRYING BOTH BACKPACKS).
So a full hour after I (USN) had made it to the top carrying all of the gear,
Jack (USMC) finally arrived, and we were ready to get on air. We set up at the
summit at 3970 feet, with me (USN) doing all the work, while Jack (USMC)
drinking coffee and telling Iraq war stories (LIES) about How he had trained Navy Seals
and physically beat the Taliban into submission !! (This guy can lie with the best of them )
It was then that I introduced him to the world of the Summits On The
Air (SOTA). IT WAS AWESOME.!! We operated both phone and cw and put that peak
on the air for only the second time. We had stns calling us from Europe to the
West Coast, and put over 70 of them in the log before shutting down and
climbing down the mountain ( I had to carry Jack, he had ran out of both coffee
and war stories ((LIES)) by then). Of course Jack will deny this day till the day he dies !!
I can't wait until the next summit ... but I hope jack lays off the doughnuts until then !!
By the way this was my very first SOTA activation .... it was also Jacks first activation.
So Thank you Jack for still hanging out with me, and the great friendship over all these years.
Also thanks to all the stations that showed up to work... without you guys it wouldn't have been possible!

Please Note: This story is not true !! ( Hi Hi ) .... but I wish it was !!

73 de Todd / N4LA