Decades of prodding from Brian AB6D led me to finally get my radio licenses during Covid in 2021. I'm a Ham - now what? Brian quickly led me to one of his favorite SOTA summits, Willson Peak W6/NC-182, and loaned me a KX2. I was instantly hooked. For the rest of the year, I sporadically activated, mostly intersecting my interest in native plants (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&user_id=jeff_kowalski&verifiable=any) with hikes and activations. The following year, I set a goal of "a peak a week". Then in 2024, I challenged myself to 100 peaks, and made 113. Of course Brian was instrumental in several memorable trips: 7-summits-in-a-day, before-dawn and after-sunset headlamp'ed snowshoe'd adventures. I'm very grateful to Randy KE6X (no relation!) for some terrific FAs in the wild, and many adventurous hikes. This year started with no particular goal, but the season progressed, "Mountain Goat" was suddenly in reach. I had a lot of fun at the W7O campout, the SoCal fest, and several other expeditions. In September, an auspicious event arose - I brought my daughter to school in Seattle at the time of my 60th birthday, with 999 activator points. It seemed a perfect occasion to meet up with my two biggest chasers (and likely yours too!), Josh WU7H and Darryl WW7D. They graciously brought me to an outstanding summit, Naches Peak W7W/RS-022, in full view of Mt Ranier. Weather was beautiful, propagation was excellent, but I'm most grateful for the camaraderie of my supporters - Josh and Darryl who brought me up, and all who contacted me. What an incredible day!
That past Mountain Goat (and, as it would happen, simultaneous Shack Sloth) was all SSB-only, HF-only. I chose to go the "hard way" while the band conditions were still favorable. As a nod to all my future opportunities, that day I also had several 2m FM, 2m SSB, and my very first HF CW QSO. I'm looking forward to more flexibility in my next MG!
My favorite hills to hike are the ones with plants. That's most of them. If you haven't hiked with me yet, talk to someone who has to see if you want to hike with a radio nerd who is also a plant nerd.
My gear on a typical day: 20m-tuned EFHW with loading coil and K6ARK unun, good on 40/20/17/15/10; sometimes the "Alivert" vertical antenna and counterpoise array; KX2 radio with KXUSBC2 (thanks Miguel!), and, of course, my SOTAcat https://github.com/SOTAmat/SOTAcat.
What a fun sport/activity/pastime/hobby. What lovely friends I've met and what incredible places I've visited. I look forward to hiking with you all someday.
In Gratitude,
Jeff KC6X
Gabriel, AJ6X had this to say:
In the mist-shrouded high country of Washington’s Cascade Range, a rare and increasingly elusive creature has been spotted once more: the SOTA Mountain Goat. Believed to number only 1,102 individuals across the entire recorded history of the species, with no one quite certain how many still roam the ridgelines, this magnificent beast was observed attaining full Mountain Goat status on 26 September atop Naches Peak, W7W/RS-022. The newly minted specimen, known to field researchers as Jeff KC6X, was seen carefully unfurling his antenna-horns and emitting a series of distinctive CQ calls into the thin air, all while being flanked by two of the last remaining apex legends of the herd—DJ WW7D and Josh WU7H—who stood watch like grizzled sentinels against the approaching weather. Scientists note that successful propagation of this subspecies now requires not only vertical gain and radio contact, but also the rare social behavior of sharing a summit with other certified goats; whether this particular individual will survive the coming winter of paper chasing, log-uploading, and “just one more peak” remains, as with so much of this endangered lineage, an open question whispered across the bands.
