ACØPR, ham radio blog: All Time New One (ATNO) for SOTA, W7U/IR-044, nicknamed "Wild Horse Hill"

It's been a while since I've done a never-before-activated summit, but it's one of the more exciting types of SOTA activities. This one I've had noted to do for over a year, and finally did it. It has only a number designation (its elevation) 6890, but due to being in a horse/burro management area with TONS of horse sign everywhere, I dubbed it "Wild Horse Hill," It's also a POTA 2fer.

In the area:

Even though I dabble in Parks on the Air, I consider myself truly a SOTA guy, at least as long as I can physically get out there and do them. This is POTA K-6097 North Hills Horse/Buro Management Area as well as K-4395 Dixie National Forest as well as SOTA W7U/IR-044 and is located west northwest of Enterprise. Close to the NV border (7 miles away). It was raining the night before, so I was hoping the weather would be good in the morning and that the route wouldn't be muddy to the point of causing a problem. I got up early, checked the radar--all clear.

Going to a place that you've never been, that no one in SOTA has done before, has an extra element of excitement--of course that also means you never know what could cause an extra challenge. In planning the route, I knew I would need to use an OHV trail for several miles to get to the hike start point. I've not had great experiences with many OHV trails in Utah, most being very rough and quite challenging. This one was the best I had been on as far as quality and ease. It does go through a highly wooded area and the tree branches cross almost the entire trail in many parts. I missed my route twice, but luckily very quickly noticed I was off trail. Not really muddy either, just a few puddles once in a while.

It went very well and I reached the point to park the ATV and start the hike. It was heavily treed all
around so I was relying more on my navigation app than visually navigating using terrain association. Luckily it worked just fine (I have a GPS unit as a backup if needed). There was horse evidence everywhere. Not just droppings, but areas that horses had cleared for bedding down--I'm surprised I didn't see any.

I was sucking wind about halfway up--need to get out more--but I made it to the summit almost exactly when I had posted. The top was clearer than most of the route up, but only views to one side. I setup using a deadfall tree and put up my SOTA flag (which I only do with ATNOs--just my own personal thing).

On the air:

I setup and as is my routine, I started on 20m (14.059 is my go-to freq). On the way up cell service was very spotty, but I was able to spot via internet from the summit. The first minute is always interesting since it seems to set the tone and lets you know if you're going to get out and make some good contacts. After my first "CQ de AC0PR" I had two stations come back--an excellent sign of success. The first and loudest was NW7E in OR. Getting OR first thing on 20m means the band is short so getting lots from the east coast may not happen. I logged it at 15:14 UTC (I set 15:00 as my start time, not bad).

I did get FL, NC, WI, TN, besides closer stations, so I was getting out fine. by 15:16 I had the four I needed for a successful activation for SOTA. In six minutes I had the 10 needed for the POTA activations. I knew I wouldn't stay on long--it was going to be another very hot day. I stayed on 20 mins. total working 20m and 40m for 25 contacts. As is my custom, I called twice with no answer before shutting it down and packing up.

The hike down was easier of course, although I did follow a horse trail too long and had to adjust course. I always find it interesting finding the ATV in a highly wooded area. There's great satisfaction in navigating and coming up on where you want--of course it helps to have a red ATV that you can see through spaces in the trees. It was a good day.

Time	Callsign	Band	Mode
15:14	NW7E	14MHz	CW
15:14	N0IPA	14MHz	CW
15:15	KT5X	14MHz	CW
15:16	W0MNA	14MHz	CW
15:16	WY7N	14MHz	CW
15:17	W0ERI	14MHz	CW
15:18	K0LAF	14MHz	CW
15:18	W9MRH	14MHz	CW
15:19	KF7WI	14MHz	CW
15:20	W5GDW	14MHz	CW
15:21	K4MF	14MHz	CW
15:21	K9WO	14MHz	CW
15:22	K6EL	14MHz	CW
15:23	NE4TN	14MHz	CW
15:23	K6YK	14MHz	CW
15:25	W5ODS	14MHz	CW
15:28	WY7N	7MHz	CW
15:30	K7SO	7MHz	CW
15:30	KR7RK	7MHz	CW
15:31	WW7D	7MHz	CW
15:31	K6MW	7MHz	CW
15:32	K6QCB	7MHz	CW
15:33	NM5BG	7MHz	CW
15:34	AA7DK	7MHz	CW
15:35	KT0A	7MHz	CW