Not only did Rex cross over 1,000 activator points to achieve Mountain Goat status, he did it with a "first activation" on W6/NE-174, Sheep Rock, just north of Mt. Shasta.
From QST Magazine:
Rex Vokey, KE6MT, is a web developer, a trail runner, a ham, and the W6 coordinator for Summits on the Air (SOTA). He grew up with and around electronics in his father’s Seattle store called Video Tech Services. “Lots of childhood memories there,” he recalled.
One memorable electronics experience came in the form of a Science Fair 150 in 1 Project Kit from RadioShack. On the 150 in ONE board, he wired together a diode, capacitor, resistor, and antenna, and heard distant stations through the speaker. He recalled, “It wasn’t a transceiver or anything, just a receiver, but it really stuck with me, just how cool radio is.”
It wasn’t until 2015 that Rex’s radio fascination led him to ham radio. He was in Yosemite, running a trail from the top of the valley to the bottom. He carried a Family Radio Service (FRS) radio with him so he could keep in contact with his family, who were taking a road down the mountain in the car. Rain set in and didn’t let up. The little FRS radio he had couldn’t get through to his family. “So, I was trying to figure out where the heck they were,” he recalled. After he found them and made it home, he started looking for a new radio, and he “ran across this Baofeng thing, and I was like, oh, yeah, that requires a ham license, and I have to learn Morse code for that.” Later, he discovered the code requirement had gone away. “So, I jumped all over that,” he said.
HF and SOTA
His first ham radio was, in fact, a Baofeng, but he quickly upgraded to a Yaesu handheld transceiver. At that point, HF seemed out of reach. He juggled living in the Bay Area with two small children and an extremely limited “fun budget.” But in 2016 somebody got extremely grumpy with him on a repeater, which spurred him to really dive into HF. About the same time, he discovered SOTA, and he thought, “Oh my goodness, I love being outdoors, hiking, running, summiting, mountaineering. And you get up onto a summit, set up your radio in a perfectly RF-quiet environment, and make contacts.” His initial SOTA activations relied on a handheld, but he eventually transitioned to a Yaesu FT-817 (which, for 5 W on SSB, is a lot of radio to be lugging up a mountain!). Even that extra transceiver weight couldn’t hold him back though, and he continued to explore SOTA.
That time and effort culminated in him becoming the SOTA W6 Association Manager. He was hesitant at first, but after learning about the role and the time commitment, he decided he could hack it. Mostly, he fields questions about SOTA and connects new participants with more experienced operators.
These days, he has transitioned away from the FT-817 to an Elecraft KX2 while SOTAing. He hoists a random-wire antenna on a lightweight, telescoping fishing pole and matches it with the KX2’s built-in antenna tuner. His home station consists of a KX3 and a 40-meter horizontal loop at about 15 feet,
which he uses to chase SOTA and POTA operators.
SOTA Adventures
SOTA has led Rex to bushwhacking, poison ivy, and mountain biking on summits, but probably his most harrowing adventure involves mountaintop snow camping. After hiking up a mountain, he and his companions set up a makeshift tarp shelter and tent. Snow began to fall, a little at first, and then faster, until thunder cracked in that way it does when it’s nearby — not the distant rumble of shockwaves combining and canceling as they roll over miles, but the concussion of hundreds of millions of volts ionizing nearby atmosphere. After one near miss, Rex and his companions collapsed the tarp shelter, threw all their stuff into the tent, and descended as quickly as possible. Needless to say, Rex didn’t make many contacts on that hike. His trusty random wire would’ve been more liability than lifeline!
A note from Rex
It was a long journey - over 9 years! Early on, I tried doing every summit I could. This evolved into doing summits I enjoy, while trying to maximize points when possible. But my primary drive through the years was simply to enjoy the activations and try to help others enjoy them as well. The radios and techniques evolved over the years, but the purpose stayed the same: have fun with radios on summits! One of the best unexpected benefits from all of this, however, has been the community. I absolutely love being part of these like-minded SOTA people. Not only that, doing SOTA has brought me to some amazing places I never would've otherwise seen.
73, Rex KE6MT
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