Brian AB6D was one of three SOTA operators who earned the title of Mountain Goat during the recent June 2026 PNW (Pacific Northwest) SOTA campout near Bend, OR.  He says it took him five years to earn this title, as the summits near his home on the San Francisco Bay peninsula are typically 1 point.  Brian got started in amateur radio back in 1985, as joint venture with his dad.  In 2021 his interest in Amateur Radio was rekindled through SOTA.  Since then, he has activated in 8 US Associations.  What Brian lacks in time, he makes up for in effort.  He, along with Rex KE6MT, were to first to activate Kuna Peak at 13,000 ft, and this was after a long day via Parker and Koip Peaks.  He frequently goes on point-run activations around Lake Tahoe in the winter and Yosemite in the summer.  While he has made CW and FM contacts, he operates almost entirely via SSB on his KX2, and has enjoyed experimenting with digital modes.  He earned his Mountain Goat title on Mount Bachelor (W7O/CM-005) on 11July2026.

Brian supports the SOTA community through his popular SOTAMAT set of services (https://sotamat.com/), allowing you to self-spot on SOTA or POTA in seven different ways (including an HF method that doesn’t require internet, or via SMS, eMail, Garmin InReach, and more). He invented and open-sourced the SOTACAT hardware module for Elecraft radios, which KC6X and K5EM have popularized.  There are an amazing number of features to this app (weather reports, band conditions, hiking time calculator, etc.), so go visit his site.

Congratulations Brian on completing your first 1,000 SOTA points.  I’m sure there will be many more to follow.