W6CMY

Flint Peak

2026-08-29T00:00:00+00:00

Flint Peak is one of those urban peaks with a shorter, but not short, hike. This was actually one of my first SOTA activations back in 2017 with my old call sign, KM6AKK. My reason for this peak was to ensure my 2m filter was working properly and that I didn't have the problems I experienced in my last activation.

This, together with the nearby Cerro Negro Benchmark (W6/CT-226), are probably the easiest activations in the Los Angeles area, and with the nearby large population, very doable with a 2m HT. I plugged in "1001 Marengo Dr, Glendale, CA 91206" and parked nearby. There is actually a fire road going all the way up but the gate to Marengo Drive unfortunately completely blocks this access.

The first part of the trail is a bit steep but over in about 5 minutes. Once you get through that you are greeted with a nice view of the L.A. Basin and it's easy to see the peak with its telco towers.

The trek to the peak is rather straight forward. Unfortunately it was August with a temperature in the mid 90s. I had a lazy morning and didn't start my hike until close to noon. Not the best for a hot day and this did slow me down. Still, it wasn't terrible.

Last time I was here it was easy to get to the southwest side of the peak. However, this has now been overgrown with thick vegetation and is no longer a viable option.

As this peak is the home of a telco site the very top is fenced in.

However, to the immediate right there is ample space towards the west to setup any antenna you want. As I only had my HT and a Yagi I simply used the fencing next to the gate.

Before I got that far I turned on my HT using only my rubber duck antenna and quickly got Phil (KI6PMD) on 145.58. We chatted for a bit and he helped me out by spotting me and later to point my Yagi in the right direction. I ended up with seven contacts on FM, including a site-to-site with Kelly (AJ6KZ) on Burn Peak (W6/CT-093) north of Castaic Lake.

I then switched to 144.100 CW and quickly realized while I did remember to bring my Morse key, I did not bring the correct cable to connect it to my Quansheng K1. While not optimal I do know how to use the buttons on the HT to send code, so that's what I did. It was nice to quickly get Jon (NT6E) followed by Mason (K6AFN) who I bumped into at the Pasadena SOTA meetup the weekend before.

At this point I was done and packed up my gear. At the last minute I managed one more contact on FM, my buddy Chris (KI6CR). All in all a nice little 20 minute hike to the top, probably less than 15 minutes in nicer weather.

Sulphur Mountain

2026-08-22T00:00:00+00:00

I was looking around for an easy, somewhat local peak to activate and came across Sulphur Mountain. Thank you Tom and Carol for a very helpful write up. Getting there was a rather easy hour-long drive from home. I plugged in "8183 Sulphur Mountain Rd, Ojai, CA" and let GPS direct me. After arriving in Santa Paula I drove north on Highway 150 past Thomas Aquinas College and about three miles later turned left onto Sulphur Mountain Road. This is a paved but narrow and twisty road serving ranch-style homes before it finally dead ends.

As this is an area filled with private property and, I'm assuming, people who enjoy living in a somewhat secluded area. I carefully parked my car at the side of the road taking care to ensure it couldn't be in the way of anyone. There are actually two adjacent gates. The one on the left is the one that takes you to the peak. It was at this point, as I started my rather short hike, I should have donned my mosquito net. More on that in a bit.

The hike itself took about five minutes or so. The trail is actually a somewhat disintegrating driveway. It also splits halfway but keeping left will get you where you're going.

Near the top is a telco site with some big microwave dishes.

Knowing how commercial transmitters can interfere with ham radio operations I made sure to put a few hundred yards between me and the antennas. Thankfully there's a nice area near the remnants of an old house well suited for activating.

Here I set up shop and got my 20-foot telescopic pole up with a random wire. As I got an early start from home I was on the air pretty much dead on 9am, just as I had set the sotl.as alert for the day before. It was at this point something became very clear to me. For whatever reason this place is densely populated by suicidal gnats. One successfully ended its existence by flying into the back of my throat. However, sometime last year I managed to buy a cheap mosquito head net for exactly this type of situation. I had left it in my backpack in the original packaging and almost forgot about it. After quickly putting it on I could finally concentrate on activating and not fight a battle with insects with nothing to lose.

I started on 40m and got two pretty quickly, Derrick (K6SPX) and Ted (W6TED) who I almost ran into at an earlier activation. Then I started struggling getting more. I dialed around and got Bud (N7CW) doing an activation in Arizona. Then nothing. I switched to 30m and still nothing. Finally I moved to 20m, my favorite band, and got just one more contact, Gary (W5ODS) in Oklahoma. For whatever reason that was it for HF.

I needed to start going back home soon but quickly got my Quansheng K1 and Yagi antenna out. Here's what I likely did wrong: I thought I didn't need the 2m filter that had enabled me to activate Occidental Peak earlier. I called and called and heard nothing. Only later did I learn that multiple people did indeed reply. Maybe the nearby microwave antennas desensed my HT or something else. Regardless, the big lesson is to use filters if you have them, so the N6ARA Tinyfilter will be on my HT permanently from now on.

I packed up my gear, quickly got to my car, and headed home. Four contacts is enough for an activation but it's a lot more fun when you have a bunch. It's also more fun when you don't have gnats trying to fly away with you but I am very grateful to have been prepared for that.

Now back to researching what to activate next!

Úlfarsfell

2026-08-10T00:00:00+00:00

During my visit to Reykjavik, Iceland for the 2026 solar eclipse I started looking for any local SOTA peaks I could activate. Obviously I found one as I’m doing this activation report.

Úlfarsfell (TF/SV-041) is located about 5 miles (8 km) or so east of Reykjavik and is readily accessible for a half-day activation. To get there I walked from my hotel to the bus terminal at Skúlagata and there jumped on bus 18.

Some 40 minutes later I got off at Skyggnisbraut, a quiet suburb filled with modern condos and apartments.

When you get off the bus you can actually easily spot the peak, just look north and you’ll see the telcom mast at the top.

I walked straight east on the Úlfarsfellsvegur road until I got to the trail head and from there it was a fairly straight shot towards the top.

This area is popular among the locals for a quick and easy hike. If the weather is good you will likely have plenty of company as I did during a sunny and clear August day. Being on vacation I decided to take my time and thoroughly enjoy the walk to the top. To be honest this is a rather picturesque and beautiful part of the world so don’t rush it unless you absolutely have to.

I took my sweet time and spent about 45 minutes to get to the top. The trail is rather wide but rocky in some parts. Still, I used regular shoes and didn’t have any problem. If the weather is wet I would definitely use proper hiking shoes though.

At the very top there is a rather neat lookout platform with seating.

As previously mentioned I had plenty of company during my visit there so I decided to set up shop a bit away from the muggles (non-ham hikers). The night before this trip I had thankfully managed to realize I forgot to pack the straps for my antenna pole and quickly threw those in my suitcase. Of course, when I left the hotel earlier that day I promptly forgot to move those from my suitcase to my backpack. But as a resourceful and plucky ham I knew where there is a will there is a way. While I couldn’t easily use the viewing platform to support my antenna pole I used rocks from a nearby cairn to build a small support structure that actually worked out just fine.

I usually set an alert before these activations and rely on the reverse beacon network for spotting. This time I did exactly that and, as I had cell coverage, was able to confirm this. With my 41-foot random wire in the air and my QMX plugged into an AT100M tuner I easily got on 20m.

Chris (F4WBN) was my first contact. I was rather pleased with that as I’ve almost worked him before in California so it was good to have this one in my log. From there followed a total of seven more stations, including Alex (S57S) which, I must admit, I struggled a bit with all the dits. At one point I even had somewhat of a pileup. Being a not-very-good-CW-op that was a bit of a challenge but I got through it. I switched to 30m, spotted myself manually, and got Miche (F4HZR) outside of Paris. This was the last HF contact as I got no more on 30m or 40m.

At this point the breeze at the top was starting to get to me but I got out my HT and started calling on 145.500 FM. Jonas (TF3JB) got back to me and we chatted for a bit. Always great to connect to local hams during these micro-DXpeditions!

I packed up my gear and headed down. On the way I did make a slight detour to the nearby Hákinn vantage point where you actually have a better view of Reykjavik below.

Then it was just a matter of backtracking to the bus stop and take route 18 back into town. Overall this was a rather enjoyable trek outside the city and, as an American ham, work a lot of strange call signs from France, England, Ireland, Belgium, Sweden, Slovenia, Austria, and of course Iceland.

73!

Occidental Peak

2026-07-11T00:00:00+00:00

Today I went back to Occidental Peak (W6/CT-098), the one peak that I failed to activate last time I was there. Occidental Peak, or Satan’s L.A. Condo, as I now call it, was challenging, to say at least.

Since I’ve been there before I had an idea what I was up to, but honestly when it’s been five or so years some of the details do fade from memory. I always do research before activating any peak. The good community of SOTA folks is a wonderful treasure trove of advice, experiences, and all around great information. This looks like an easy peak. Only a mile from the road to the top and with barely 300-some feet of ascent. Here’s the real story.

Despite Google Maps insisting the road was closed it was not. I left home in Santa Clarita around 7am and got there just over an hour later. You park at the side of the road to the one big tower before you get to Mount Wilson. This is the KCBS tower and it’s thoroughly fenced in. The next step is to find somewhere to walk between it and Red Box Road. This isn’t too terrible and getting past the tower site to the old concrete pad isn't bad. However, at this point you discover something important. Despite what others have posted there are no real trails here. Anywhere. This will turn into a painful problem.

Just when you pass the fencing you arrive at a concrete pad. Here you have a wonderful view down to Pasadena and surrounding areas. Between here and the peak lies nothing but pain. Let me explain.

What you are walking on is a rather sharp ridge. Or more specifically, you are walking between the top of the ridge and Red Box road. This is the north slope and, honestly, it’s dangerous. The top of the ridge is effectively impassable due to vegetation forcing you to navigate an area with a 45-degree slope, very soft ground, and if you stay too far north the slope turns into a drop onto the road below. Throughout the hike you are constantly trying to make out the safe route while battling tree branches that are constantly in your way. To top it off there are several false peaks along the way. This is not a 45-minute easy hike but a two-hour bushwhack with terrain that is actively trying to kill you and drop your remains down on the road below.

Eventually I got to the peak and, honestly, I was just tired at this point. I got my chair out, ate some snacks, and realized I did not bring enough water (more on that later). Thankfully Chris (KI6CR) had pulled some strings and gotten me an N6ARA 2m filter. This actually was a great help. My Quansheng reported -55 dB of noise without the filter and -80 with. Although I had brought my HF gear with me I wasn’t keen on getting a tall antenna up so I stayed with my HT.

I made contact with Jon (NT6E) in Torrance on 146.58 first. Jon turned into a wonderful help for my activation and provided valuable information. He told me others were trying to return my call but I wasn’t able to hear them. At that point I switched to 144.200 SSB and was able to get a few more contacts. Jon at this point got back to me and let me know even here there were stations he could hear but I could not. The 2m filter was helping but it wasn’t a magical fix being this close to L.A.’s most powerful transmitters. I moved myself to the very western edge of the peak and tried to get as much dirt between me and the transmitters by sitting on a ledge. That allowed me to get my last contact.

At this point I had successfully activated the peak and decided to head back. Without going over the same pain points as before I will only say it wasn’t any easier. It was frustrating to go up and down hill to try to find a path back. To add to the misery I was getting dehydrated at this point. However, the thought of a cold gatorade in the trunk of my car did help, at least psychologically. Eventually I got back to my car, happy I not only had activated the peak but did so exclusively on 2m. Then I promised myself to never, ever go back here.