On Wednesday, Sept. 11th a small, but intrepid group of MIRA members braved the mid-September weather (possible rainshowers and/or thunder :-0 ) to activate a park and a summit on Hornby Island. As part of the Parks On The Air (POTA) and Summits On The Air (SOTA) initiatives to get hams out of their shacks, Don M (VE7AX), Don T (VE7ATJ), Rodney J (VA7FB) and Greg H (VA7GMH) headed out early Wednesday morning to catch two ferries to get to Hornby Island. The goal was to activate Mount Geoffrey (SOTA ref. VE7-CS/582) and its attached provincial park (POTA ref. CA-3837).
We arrived at the trailhead just after 9:30am and were met by Ron T (VA7ZLE), a good friend of Don M and a resident of Hornby Island. We were really glad to have Ron along with us, as his local knowledge of the trails (coupled with the Alltrails app on his phone) helped us find the right route to the summit.
After we found the right trail, it was well marked and easy to follow. The hike up the moutain was slow going (as you’d expect) and took us about an hour and 45 minutes. The distance was just over 4km. Most of the uphill climb was in fairly dense forest and the summit itself is completely covered in trees. (Sorry Ron, no real hope of an AREDN node up here….)
Once we got there, it took a few minutes (or so) to set things up and get on-the-air. Don T brought along his POTA setup — way too much equipment and waaaaayyyy tooooooo heavy — but it gets going pretty quickly.
After Greg contacted Ron VE7RQX, who was monitoring our progress, to let him know we had arrived safely, we found a usuable frequency and started making the calls. Don T focussed mainly on voice communications on 20m and 15m — giving credit for both the SOTA and POTA references.
Don M and Ron T went off the trail a bit to avoid interference and found a suitable location to set up Don’s K3 and wire antenna.
They were up and running shortly after Don T, mainly acquiring CW contacts on 20m.
Rodney got his rig going and took over on 20m voice.
After about an hour and a half of operating and accumulating 28 contacts, it was time to pack up and start heading back down the mountain. The team are very appreciative and greatful to the MIRA members who fired up their HF rigs and contacted us on the mountain. It was great fun to talk to them!
For the walk down, we took a different trail which follows the ridge along the moutain which faces the inlet. It actually turned out to be easier than the trail we used on the way up and provided some spectacular views of the inlet.
As expected, the walk down was a little bit shorter (just over 1 hour and 20 minutes) and we all breathed a sigh of relief as the trailhead marker came back into view.
All in all, the team had a great time! A few sore limbs the next day 🙂 , but all of us are looking forward to the next SOTA/POTA adventure!