Fighting For Space on the Ham Band on SOTA Peak W6/CT-047 (Summits On The Air)

A 9-mile round trip hike up the Santa Ana Canyon and onto the Pacific Crest Trail. The trail was well maintained with some snow covering patches. The access to the summit is off trail, but there's no bushwhacking involved. I opted to find an alternate route down to the PCT once done and slid quite a way downhill and got banged up a little. Video on micro spikes and footwear is forthcoming.

The peak had some great views of San Gorgonio and down into the desert floor of Palm Springs. Access to the trail is off Forest Road 1N02 with plenty of space for parking and nearby HeartBar Campground.

This peak would require some significant effort to work as a VHF only summit for Summits On The Air (SOTA). I was able to get a spot out on APRS2SOTA but not on my iPhone app as cellular service was bleak. Once my spot was out I was able to make my contacts, albeit with plenty of QRM. In fact, I almost felt as if somebody was following me on the band and jamming me with data modes; or I was just unlucky and found all the data people where I was trying to work. Either way, I made my HF contacts on 20m and nothing on VHF before wrapping it up for the day.

Other than almost dying when traversing down the north face of the summit, this hike gave me a good amount of exercise, excellent views of the nearby San Bernardino and San Gorgonio mountain range within the San Bernardino National Forest. Hiking with my dog Tahyo in these hills is relaxing.

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