Be sure and watch Mark's YouTube video "Gettin' my Goat (SOTA style)"
We welcomed Mark KD7DTS to the Mountain Goat herd, #48 in the W6 association, on 01 Nov 2025. He spent the day on W6/CT-025 Josephine Peak with friends Devin W6DVN, Ara N6ARA, Adam K6ARK, and partner Di KO6BTM. Mark loves to share his radio hikes with friends, and occasionally with Ormoo the cat. It is thus no surprise to find his signature on a summit registry log, along with a troop he gathered for the excursion. This passion for sharing is also evident in his YouTube channel SOTA+. Not only are his videos featured on his YouTube posts, but you may discover he is the videographer behind other posts, such as Ara’s “Introducing SOTA phone” posted earlier this year for April Fool’s day.
Mark has activated 202 summits since 06 Jul 2021. This journey to Mountain Goat is best explained here in his own words.
The Journey of How I Got Here
Way back in the late 90s, at the peak of Solar Cycle 23, a much younger Mark excitedly received his first Ham Radio license! Although radio started as a way to safely communicate with adult supervision during Boy Scout outings, the hobby quickly grew out of control. With a very indulgent set of parents supporting his nerdery (possibly as a way to delay dating?) that younger Mark dived into CW, building transistor radios, and setting up obnoxiously large antennas on the household roof.
Fast forward past all the distractions from radio - college, grad school, expat life - and my arrival in California renewed my interest in trail communications. I’d started volunteering as a Ranger with the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association, and I needed a radio capable of using the required forest service frequencies when I was transmitting as W444V (my volunteer callsign). MARS mod’ing my old Yaesu FT50R solved that dilemma. Soon, I was on top of San Gorgonio holding a ham radio and listening to a mysterious community of folks obsessed with “S2S”. Y’all know what happened next: shenanigans!
Hiking with radios, biking with radios, building radio kits, constructing antennas, relearning CW… and doing all of it within this fine community of Elmers.
Having so much fun, how could I not want to bring everyone with me? My partner Di KO6BTM got her license, our orange trash kitty Ormoo learned to hike, and we started a YouTube channel: SOTA+. Within a year, Di and Ormoo completed 10 peaks together… and the channel became a way to share her growing skills with CW, Ara’s creative pranks, Devin’s propensity for naps in the shade, and fun electronics builds and discoveries.
Each month, more of our on-air contacts became eyeball QSOs. Solo camping trips were interspersed with SOTA campouts. Birthday parties had more licensed amateurs than civilians. Turns out, the journey to Goat isn’t about the points - it’s about the brass pounders you meet along the trail.
The points have started to add up, though - and now it’s time to get this 1x Goat done! I hope you can chase me, and possibly raise a pint after, this coming Saturday, November 1st!
73 y’all, Mark KD7DTS
