SOTA Trip Library
SOTA (Summits On The Air) is an Amateur Radio program where hams climb to the tops of mountains, set up a radio station, and talk with people from around the world. The K4KPK SOTA Trip Library is a library of SOTA trip plans. The idea is:
- I think, "Hey! I'd like to do a SOTA activation next Thursday."
- I go to the SOTA Trip Library and pull out a trip plan, print it, and go.
These stories contain driving directions, trail directions, and a summary of what you’ll find on the summit (including whether or not cell coverage is available). I generally don’t publish until I’ve been to the mountain.
Click on the summit name to get my detailed guide to activating the summit.
Click on the summit ID to get the official SOTA page for the summit.
- Pair With = If you'd like to try activating multiple summits on the same day, here's a candidate to pair with this summit.
- Sometimes, I'll list a second summit that is near the primary summit. Other times, I'll list a secondary summit that you'll drive near on the way to your primary summit.
- Some of my pairings are "Atlanta centric" in that I'll assume you're driving from Atlanta to a primary summit.
- Note that not all pairings are orthogonal in that I'll list an easy summit as a pair to a hard summit but not vice versa, because you might do an easy hill on the way to a hard hill, but you'd never say, "Gee. I'm doing a 15 minute hike today, why don't I add on a grueling 8 hour bushwhack?"
- BW = Bushwhack required.
- PT = Points.
- SMS = SMS/APRS results: T=AT&T, V=Verizon, P=APRS. W=Worked (default), F=Failed, M=Marginal (some failed). Y = I did use SMS but did not record which carrier.
- e.g: "TM-2017, VF, P-2016" would mean AT&T was marginal in 2017, Verizon failed (year not documented), APRS worked in 2017
- Year (if provided) indicates the latest year I checked it.
Here is the official list of summits I have activated.
I'm particularly proud of the fact that I first-activated 7 of Georgia's 14 ten-point summits as of April 20, 2013, when I first-activated the last un-activated ten-pointer. I'm also proud of being the first activator to collect the "full house" of all 14 of Georgia's ten-pointers.
If you're looking for routes to summits, Patrick Harris has an impressive set of GPX files at his smokymtns.com web site.