By the time Lupe and SPHP arrived at grandma’s house, Joe and Dusty were ready and waiting. Joe had already entered an alert on Summits on the Air! Joe, Dusty, Lupe and SPHP lost no time leaving for Boulder Hill (5,331 ft.).
At 8:19 AM (71°F), Joe parked the G6 at the high point of the saddle on USFS Road No. 358 near the Boulder Hill access road. A cool N breeze could be heard in the pines. Lupe and Dusty were soon racing through the shady forest. Joe and SPHP took the access road.
Rain had finally arrived the day before – the real deal with thunder, lightning, small hail and at least an inch of moisture. Lupe found big tan mud puddles on the access road. She plunked herself down in several of them. She emerged with cool, tan mineral water streaming from her fur.
The access road was only 0.375 mile long. It ended at the base of the big rock outcropping at the top of Boulder Hill (5,331 ft.). A spur of Flume Trail No. 50 wound up among the rocks to a small, shallow saddle between the N and S high points at the summit of Boulder Hill. Good! No one was around. Joe would have his choice of sites to set up his ham radio equipment.
Two days earlier, Joe had had such a good time with his first Summits on the Air (SOTA) experience “activating” Custer Peak (6,804 ft.), that he wanted to try activating another peak in the Black Hills before he and Dusty had to head home to Arvada, Colorado. SOTA is “an award scheme for radio amateurs that encourages portable operation in mountainous areas”. Naturally, Lupe, Dusty, and SPHP had all wanted to come along again, too!
Joe decided to set up the radio equipment at the N end of the N high point. He taped a 12 foot fishing pole supporting an antenna wire as high up in a pine tree as he could. SPHP then helped Joe set up 4 lateral wires near the base of the antenna. Lupe and Dusty supervised, while guarding against intruders.
Pretty soon, the radio was ready. This time, Joe had a much better idea of what to expect once the radio was on. Before “activating” Boulder Hill, Joe gave SPHP the log book and a pen. SPHP received a 5 minute crash course on how to log the contact call signs, and other data Joe would call out while operating the radio.
Set up had gone smoothly. AA0Q was ready to go on the air 5 minutes before the alert time Joe had posted on the SOTA website. As soon as Joe started transmitting, the same thing happened as at Custer Peak two days earlier. Within seconds of turning the radio on, a contact “spotted” AA0Q on Boulder Hill on the SOTA website. Moments later, Joe told SPHP that it was another “pileup”. Joe said it sounded like 30 hams were trying to contact him at once.
It was impossible to respond to them all, but Joe was better prepared than last time. SPHP logged the contacts, while AA0Q “worked” them using Morse Code. Joe recognized some of the contacts as repeats from his SOTA activation of Custer Peak. Others were new. The most distant contact was in Great Britain, which Joe said was very good for transmitting only 4 watts.
Lupe and Dusty helped, too. At one point, three hikers arrived up on Boulder Hill while AA0Q was still transmitting. Both Lupe and Dusty barked a warning. SPHP stopped logging long enough to point out the lateral antenna wires, so they wouldn’t trip on them. SPHP also took a couple of group photos for the hikers using their camera.
Once again, Joe was rather amazed at the terrific response. His Summits on the Air activation of Boulder Hill was a big success. In roughly an hour, AA0Q worked 33 contacts by Morse Code, and one by voice. By activating Boulder Hill, AA0Q had earned 6 more points toward the SOTA “Mountain Goat” award. Including the 8 points earned on Custer Peak, he was now up to 14 points. SOTA was fun and added a whole new dimension to AA0Q’s amateur radio hobby!
When Joe was done transmitting, it was time to take down the antenna and pack up all the radio gear. When that was complete, Joe, Dusty, Lupe & SPHP went to explore a slightly lower high point a short distance to the N.
Of course, the peakbagger in Lupe wasn’t about to leave Boulder Hill without a visit to the S summit area, too!
By noon, Joe, Dusty, Lupe and SPHP were back at grandma’s house. Joe logged in all the QSO’s (contacts) he had made on the Summits on the Air website. All the contacts earned points toward the SOTA “Shack Sloth” award.
After lunch, Joe & SPHP went with other family members off into the hills again. SPHP wound up at Rushmore Cave, and Joe wound up at an antique shop in Keystone.
Lupe, Dusty and Maya (another dog in the family) were left behind with grandma. SPHP had given all three dogs water and a Beggin’ Strip before leaving. Grandma later reported that all the dogs spent the entire afternoon snoozing on the soft carpet in front of the fan. Being a “Radio-Active” Carolina Dog can be a tough life, but someone’s got to do it!
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