Summits on the Air is an International program which encourages Radio Amateurs to operate from the top of designated summits around the world. I am the current area manager for VK5 SOTA which became active in the SOTA program 01/10/2012. I got so much help from Wayne VK3WAM to map and record the summits for South Australia and prepare the Summit List and local ARM. Because SOTA is now active in vk5 there is not much for me to do but report problems to the MT in the UK. I spend my time activating Summits On The Air and I have 50 Summits on my list to visit once a year. Recently Hugh VK5NHG has joined me activating summits and He has gained permission to access lots of the summits on our list. My kit includes a KX3 and Link Dipole, or an End Fed Random wire, 53 foot being my favourite end fed antenna with 9 feet of counterpoise wire . I have a You Kits HB-1B QRP 5 band CW only rig and the MT1 You Kits EFRW tuner . My high power rig is a FT 857 by Yaesu it weighs 3 kg and the battery I need to run high power is about 1 kg.
Summits I have been to so far, 205 km of hiking and 12 drive up summits .
| Number | Summit Name | Hike Distance | Date of First Activation |
| 1 | VK5/SE-012 (Mt Horrocks) | 5 KM | 01/Oct/2012 |
| 2 | VK5/SE-008 (Lagoon Hill) | 4 KM | 07/Oct/2012 |
| 3 | VK5/SE-014 (Illawarra Hill) | Drive Up | 20/Oct/2012 |
| 4 | VK5/SE-007 (New Campbell Hill) | 7 KM | 27/Oct/2012 |
| 5 | VK5/SE-013 (Mt Gawler) | Drive Up | 29/Jan/2013 |
| 6 | VK5/SE-015 (Bumbunga Hill) | Drive Up | 01/Feb/2013 |
| 7 | VK5/SE-017 (South Hummocks) | Drive Up | 09/Mar/2013 |
| 8 | VK5/SE-010 (Tothill Range) | 4 KM | 31/Mar/2013 |
| 9 | VK5/NE-010 (Mt Remarkable) | 12 KM | 16/Apr/2013 |
| 10 | VK5/SE-001 (Mt Bryan) | 2 KM | 27/Apr/2013 |
| 11 | VK5/SE-002 (Mt Cone) | Drive Up | 19/May/2013 |
| 12 | VK5/SE-009 (VK5/SE-009) | 4 KM | 19/May/2013 |
| 13 | VK5/SE-004 (Brown Hill Range) | 1 KM | 14/Jun/2013 |
| 14 | VK5/NE-058 (Mt Nadjuri) | 3 KM | 15/Jun/2013 |
| 15 | VK5/NE-055 (The Battery) | 11 KM | 29/Jun/2013 |
| 16 | VK5/NE-065 (The Bluff) | 8 KM | 07/Jul/2013 |
| 17 | VK5/SE-003 (Hallett Hill) | 1 KM | 27/Jul/2013 |
| 18 | VK5/SE-006 (VK5/SE-006) | Drive Up | 28/Jul/2013 |
| 19 | VK5/NE-050 (Stokes Hill) | Drive Up | 10/Aug/2013 |
| 20 | VK5/NE-068 (Oladdie Hills) | 5 KM | 10/Aug/2013 |
| 21 | VK5/NE-051 (Hogshead Hill) | 4 KM | 11/Aug/2013 |
| 22 | VK5/NE-049 (Maurice Hill) | 1 KM | 11/Aug/2013 |
| 23 | VK5/NE-041 (VK5/NE-041) | 11 KM | 20/Aug/2013 |
| 24 | VK5/NE-014 (Mt Brown) | 12 KM | 21/Aug/2013 |
| 25 | VK5/NE-089 (Richmond Hill) | 5 KM | 08/Nov/2013 |
| 26 | VK5/NE-080 (The Devils Peak) | 5 KM | 09/Nov/2013 |
| 27 | VK5/NE-107 (Pualco Range) | 4 KM | 17/May/2014 |
| 28 | VK5/NE-047 (Mt Jay South) | Drive uP | 18/Jun/2014 |
| 29 | VK5/NE-066 (Waite Hill) | 6 KM | 26/Jul/2014 |
| 30 | VK5/NE-028 (The Dutchmans Stern) | 13 KM | 26/Aug/2014 |
| 31 | VK5/NE-102 (Waroonee Hill) | 6 KM | 27/Sep/2014 |
| 32 | VK5/NE-104 (Karkala Ridge) | 4 KM | 27/Sep/2014 |
| 33 | VK5/NE-071 (Oulnina Hill) | 2 KM | 28/Sep/2014 |
| 34 | VK5/NE-088 (Coomaroo Hill) | 5 KM | 11/Oct/2014 |
| 35 | VK5/NE-034 (Mount Arden) | Drive uP | 28/Oct/2014 |
| 36 | VK5/SE-016 (Black Bullock Hill) | Drive Up | 21/Nov/2014 |
| 37 | VK5/SE-005 (Mt Lofty) | Drive uP | 22/Nov/2014 |
| 38 | VK5/NE-095 (VK5/NE-095) | 5 KM | 17/May/2015 |
| 39 | VK5/NE-069 (Eke Hill) | 6 KM | 27/Jun/2015 |
| 40 | VK5/NE-043 (Marchant Hill) | 10 KM | 27/Jun/2015 |
| 41 | VK5/NE-035 (Black Rock) | 2 KM | 28/Jun/2015 |
| 42 | VK5/NE-048 (Depot Hill) | 4 KM | 28/Jun/2015 |
| 43 | VK5/NE-031 (VK5/NE-031) | 6 KM | 01/Aug/2015 |
| 44 | VK5/NE-013 (Mt Plantagenet) | Drive Up | 01/Aug/2015 |
| 45 | VK5/NE-062 (Black Hill) | 6 KM | 02/Aug/2015 |
| 46 | VK5/NE-081 (Nackara Hill) | 6 KM | 11/Sep/2015 |
| 47 | VK2/RI-025 (Mount Flakney) | Drive Up | 24/Oct/2015 |
| 48 | VK5/NE-083 (Mount Benjamin) | 5 KM | 20/Aug/2016 |
| 49 | VK5/NE-056 (Prince Hill) | 8 KM | 18/Nov/2016 |
| 50 | VK5/NE-098 (Peaked Hill) | 4 KM | 19/Nov/2016 |
Typical SOTA shack .
We see some special views and countryside from Summits
My vehicle for go anywhere places, Holden Colorado LX .
Rigs ic 706 for HF ic 2720 for VHF.
You get to suffer butt rot in some amazing places, air cushion essential kit.
Most “Recent Posts” can be found Top Right Hand Corner Of This Page .
Click on Post Title.
I Hope you enjoy reading them .
Cheers Ian vk5cz ..
Nice QSO today Ian, and I’ll definitely be looking for you when I make my SOTA debut. It will be the first activation from Okinawa of any summit AFAIK. Steve JS6TMW
G day Steve thanks for the qso today and hope you enjoyed my war stories here on the Blog.
Hello om Ian, very glad to meet you last sunday, 27.03.2016. We had a Summit to Summit QSO. I am surprised first contact in SOTA with Australia and this in S2S! CUAGN and good luck Thomas (TOM) / HB9CLT.
Thanks Thomas yes I have you in my log mate
Good to work you hope you enjoyed my blogs about my SOTA activity.
Cheers
Ian vk5cz ..
Hi Ian
Those head phones look pretty good. I am looking for a pair (16 ohms impedance) for my MTR three band Mountain Topper which is on the way from the USA. I wonder what they are and how do you find them. There is no volume control with the Mountain Topper and the idea is if a signal is really loud you just move the headphones a bit away from the ears. I wonder whether they are really easy to slide about like that?
Cheers
John D
VK5PF/VK5BJE
Sorry John just saw your question
They came from Mr H Norman and they are Sony.
They are good on windy summits much better than ear buds.
Cheers
CZ e e
Hi Ian
Thanks.
John D
G’day Ian, thanks for a great day on Saturday, very enjoyable and I hope there are lots more. I certainly don’t question your sanity, do sometimes question Hugh’s but thats another story, as I think any day out in that country is great and always interesting to hear from where other radio enthusiasts reply. Thanks for including me on your blog. Cheers Kate
It was a good time for sure, I am just over half of a goat so bound to be more summits like 120 more activations to go for me then getting Hugh up to Goat will take more after that. This could go on for the rest of out lives.
Sounds good to me