Goals

KX6A Amateur Radio Goals – 2018

1/16/2018 by Michael — 1 Comment

My 2017 goals worked out well, so I’ll be continuing the program again this year by posting my Amateur Radio Goals for 2018.

1. 1000 SOTA Activator Points – Mountain Goat

I am starting the year with 608 total activator points. Last year I earned 396 of those. Now that I have another year of experience and familiarity with the local peaks etc., I aim to earn 392 more points this year. This is a real stretch, this year I have some competing time demands with training for a trail race and leading a Philmont Trek with our Boy Scout troop. I don’t have quite the free time I did last year when I racked up 396 point so I’ll be curious to see how this develops. However, that is the goal: Mountain Goat by end of 2018.

KX6A Radio Goal Results for 2017

1/15/2018 by Michael — 5 Comments

Once again I am posting my results for the previous year’s goals. I’m pretty satisfied with my results, but my “we’ll see, might as well add it” goal from last year – Goal #5 – became my obsession in the latter part of the year.

1. 500 SOTA Activator Points – Half Way to Mountain Goat – ACHIEVED!

As of the close of 2017, I have 608 activator points. This took some work, but I more than exceeded my goal by accumulating 396 activator points over the year. This was a lot of fun, and resulted in some interesting days, including the Big Bear 6 Pack of SOTA Peaks in one day: W6/CT-051 Arctic Point, W6/CT-060 Pk. 7940, W6/CT-054 Bertha Peak, W6/CT-009 Butler Peak, W6/CT-050 Delamar Mountain and W6/CT-013 Keller Peak. That was a long day and made for a memorable adventure.

KX6A Amateur Radio Goals – 2017

1/18/2017 by Michael — 2 Comments

My 2016 goals worked out pretty well so I am continuing the program and posting my Amateur Radio Goals for 2017.

1. 500 SOTA Activator Points – Half Way to Mountain Goat

SOTA_small_x I am starting the year with 212 total activator points. Last year I earned 211 of those. Now that I have some experience I am going to aim for earning at least 288 more points this year. My goals is to be halfway to Mountain Goat by 2018.

KX6A Radio Goal Results for 2016

1/15/2017 by Michael — 1 Comment

When I got excited about ham radio again I decided to start setting some goals for myself. Time to review my goals for 2016.

1. Earn 100 SOTA Activator Points – ACHIEVED!

My 2016 total for Activator Points was 211. I had a terrific time activating with my sons Nick N6NGG and Will N6WMG. Avid mountain hikers, we were not shy about going for some of the tough summits locally including Iron Mountain W6/CT-056 and San Gorgonio W6/CT-245. I also met some of the folks who are involved locally with SOTA here in Southern California. Finding like minded peak bagger/radio enthusiasts is great and I even ended up doing some joint activations with Paul W6PNG. I look forward to doing more in 2017.

One of the highlights of 2016 was activating Mt. Whitney W6/SN-001 with my sons.

KX6A Amateur Radio Goals – 2016

1/3/2016 by Michael — 3 Comments

While I have been licensed for years, the bug never really bit me as far as radio was concerned. That changed a few months back. Since then my wife and two of my sons (14yr and 11yr) got licensed and radio has become a bit more interesting. I say this just to set the level of expectation, I am a newbie when it come to most everything radio. The good news is I have no bad habits to unlearn; everything is new for me.

Given my situation I thought outlining some goals to work on for 2016 would be appropriate. Five seemed the right number to start.

1. Earn 100 SOTA Activator Points

SOTA_small_x My recent interest in radio was spurred when I learned about Summits on the Air (SOTA). I enjoy hiking and peak bagging so it is a perfect match. In fact, I have previously bagged many peaks that are listed as “not yet activated” in the SOTA database. That has me excited about heading back so I can get the first activation in. My only real constraint is that I am often leading groups of Boy Scouts and Scouters who might not want to sit around a mountain top while I “play radio.” I have some ideas on how to handle this and constraints aside, I’d like to achieve at least 100 Activator points this year.