Stony Man (W4V/SH-002, 4012 ft) SOTA Activation

Headed out first thing Saturday AM to catch a SOTA summit. The weather has been so nice here in Virginia--70s and clear--that I just couldn't pass up the opportunity.

I would've loved to operate from the overlook, but wires and other hikers on a rocky summit do not mix. I went back down the approach trail, hung my antenna, and was operational in 15 min. 

View from Stony Man Summit

40M was pretty nice. Nothing but 559-599 there. I moved to 20M when calls fell off and grabbed Christophe in the French Pyrenees and two stations in Spain. One of those stations in Spain, EA2IF, was 229, but I could make him out.

Fifteen contacts in about 45 min to include 2 x S2S. I did, however, have a station that I just couldn't pull out. He kept on sending PASWG as his callsign. I definitely was missing a number, but it probably was a Dutch station. Couldn't log it as I couldn't verify the contact. Darn.

QSO Map

Made my way back to the car and was home by 1:15 pm. 

One of my Summit-to-Summit (S2S) contacts was AC1Z. Not my first with QSO with Bob Daniels out of NH. What I didn't realize, however, was how many summits he's activated. Look at his log over the past month or so. Looks like he's wandering through the Blue Ridge and Skyline Drive in Virginia. Now that's my idea of what I want to do when I retire....