Monthly Archives: January 2014

250 unique summits certificate

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Also received my 250 Unique Summits as a Chaser certificate.

The SOTA Uniques Awards are a count of the number of different summits in an activator’s, chaser’s or SWL’s record.  It is purely the number of distinct summits activated or chased regardless of SOTA points.  Certificates are available for the usual thresholds of 100, 250, 500 and 1000.

I have a long way to go as an Activator.  I am sitting on 48 unique summits activated.

250 unique Chaser068

Propagation between here and the VK1 & VK2 SOTA activators has been very poor for a long time now.  Twelve months ago I was guaranteed of getting a contact with the VK1 fellas on 40m, even in the middle of the day.  Sadly that isn’t the case anymore, and there are sonly a handful of SOTA activators that try 20m.  So I decided to analyse the breakdown of my uniques.  Below is a chart with the results.  It clearly shows that the Victorian SOTA Activators take the biggest slice of the pie for me as a Chaser.  This is followed by VK2 and then VK1.

I have only worked a total of 21 SOTA uniques here in VK5.  I believe that is a combination of 2 factors.  There is only a handful of active SOTA activators.  And secondly we are a bit geographically challenged here for SOTA summits.  We have only 2 summits in close proximity to Adelaide.  The remainder of the summits require a minimum drive of 100 km ++ to get there.

What is pleasing is the number of DX activators that are now listening for VK SOTA Chasers.

MathWarehouse-pie

Silver Mountain Hunter certificate

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Last night I received my Silver Mountain Hunter certificate from the UK.

The Mountain Hunter and Mountain Explorer certificates were introduced by SOTA in 2010.

To qualify for the Mountain Hunter certificate, SOTA chasers need to contact (or SWl’s hear) at least 2 different summits in each of 5 Associations.  There are steps of 5 Associations for each award, ranging from Bronze through to Platinum, and then Worked All Associations.  Now that would be a mighty effort.  The higher level awards require that at least one Association claimed is on a different continent from the claimant’s normal residential QTH. Level 1 can be claimed with contacts only on the claimant’s own continent (1 continent) whereas higher level awards require intercontinental contacts.

Steps of 5 Associations for each award: 10 (including 2 continents), 15 (including 2 continents), 20 (and 3 continents), Worked all Associations (all qualifying continents)

Award No. of Associations No. of Continents
Bronze Award 5 1
Silver Award 10 2
Gold Award 15 2
Platinum Award 20+ 3
Worked All Associations ALL 4 or 5

At this stage, these are my qualifying Mountain Hunter Associations…..

Association(s) Chased All Bands Count
DM – Germany (Low Mountains) 3
EA2 – Spain (North) 2
G – England 4
HA – Hungary 2
OE – Austria 4
OM – Slovakia 2
S5 – Slovenia 3
SP – Poland 2
SV – Greece 2
VK1 – Australia – Capital Territory 26
VK2 – Australia – NSW 40
VK3 – Australia – Victoria 151
VK4 – Australia – Queensland 2
VK5 – Australia – South Australia 21

And I have worked at least 1 summit in the following Associations…..

Association(s) Chased All Bands Count
EA1 – Spain (North West) 1
EA3 – Spain (Catalunya) 1
GM – Scotland 1
GW – Wales 1
OK – Czechia 1
VK9 – Australia – Islands 1
YO – Romania 1

Mountain Hunter Silver069

Mount Gawler, VK5/ SE-013

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Yesterday (Sunday 12th January, 2014), my wife Marija and I headed up to Mount Gawler, VK5/ SE-013, which is just outside of the little town of Kersbrook.  This is about a 45 minute drive through the Mount Lofty Ranges ‘Adelaide Hills’ from our home at Mount Barker in the central Adelaide Hills.  The weather was beautiful….about 30 deg C…..not the dreaded 40 deg C temperature that we have today and for the next 5 days !

adelaide-map

I activated Mount Gawler summit in 2013, but this is a new calendar year, so I can start revisiting these summits for more activator points.  We drove through the Onkaparinga Valley and then on to Lobethal.  And from there up through the  beautiful Kenton Valley to the little town of Gummeracha.  As we were driving through this beautiful area I realised why I lived here and not down in the rat race of Adelaide.  From Gummeracha we headed to Kersbrook.

Kersbrook is a lovely little town, which is surrounded by the rolling hills of the northern Mount Lofty Ranges.  It was during the early 1830’s that settlers established farms in the Kersbrook area because of those relatively gentle slopes.   Having said that, Checker Hill is not all that far away.  This hill is extremely steep and is very popular with cyclists who like a challenge.

In 1841, John Bowden, manager of the South Australian Company’s dairy farm at Hackney, near Adelaide,  purchased a 32-hectare (79-acre) section in the Adelaide Hills, and named it Kersbrook, after the Cornish farm where he was born. By 1844, Bowden was recorded as having “800 sheep, 62 cattle, one horse, 13 pigs, 16 acres (65,000 m2) of wheat, eight acres of barley, plots of oats, maize and potatoes and a fruit garden”.

The settlement of Kersbrook was created by William Carman, a blacksmith working at a copper mine near Williamstown.  Carman took advantage of the area’s location on the busy road to the Barossa Valley.  In 1851  Carman built a travellers inn called the Wheatsheaf Inn. By 1858, a group of settlers had arrived in the area, and Carman gave some of his land to them to build a town.   Maidstone was the preferred choice of name for the settlement, after his home town in Kent in England.  Many years later, in 1917, the town was officially renamed to Kersbrook as this was the name used by local redidents and referred to the original ‘Kersbrook’ farm of John Bowden.

Mount Gawer summit is just a short drive from Kersbrook, out along Kent Road, and then south on Mount Gawler Road, passed Mount Crawford Forest.  Mount Gawler is 541 metres ASL and is worth 2 SOTA points.  The summit itself is nowhere really near the town of Gawler. In fact Gawler is about 25 km further to the north.  The summit was named after Lieutenant Colonel George Gawler, the second Governor of South Australia.

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As I have mentioned before in the post of my first activation of Mount Gawler, the summit is located on private property.  There is a trig point which is visible from the road.  However if you don’t want to annoy the land owner, Noel, there are quite a few points on the side of Mount Gawler Road that are well within the ‘activation zone’.  And that is where I decided to set up this time.  Smack bang, right out the front of Noel’s property.

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After erecting the squid pole, I had to take it down and move it a little further toward’s Noel’s fence line, because it was getting tangled in the gum tree branches overhead.  But I got that sorted and found some shade out of the warmth of the afternoon sun, and made myself comfortable.

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I turned the little Yaesu FT-817nd on to 40m and there was Greg VK2FGJW portable on Black Mountain, VK1/ AC-042, with a very strong signal.  This was a great way to start the activation with a summit to summit QSO.  I often struggle with hearing Greg from my home qty, but there were no problems at all with his signal on Mt Gawler.  The noise floor here was virtually zero, and Greg’s signal was particularly strong.

After speaking with Greg, I then moved down to 7.090 and put out a CQ call to be greeted by the usual hoard of hungry SOTA chasers from VK2, VK3, & VK5.  There were quite a few QRP callers in amongst this group, including Peter VK3PF, Tony VK3CAT, Kevin VK3VEK, Alex VK3AMX, Andrew VK3ARR, and Richard VK5ZRY.

I also spoke with Andrew VK1NAM and Al VK1RX, who were doing a joint activation of Bimberi Peak, VK1/ AC-001.  This is the highest mountain in the ACT, at a height of 1,913 metres ASL.  Although there was some QSB on their signal/s, Andrew and Al were a very good copy on Mount Gawler.  This is the first time that this peak has been activated on HF.  Wayne VK3WAM has activated it previously, but only on 2m.  Andrew & Al’s efforts are appreciated as I believe they had to walk about 25 km return on this journey.  Not a bad effort guys !

Glen VK3YY also called in, portable from Wilsons Promontory National Park in Victoria.  Glen was a good solid signal, and it was great to be able to work another Victorian National Park for the Keith Roget Memorial National Parks Award (KRMNPA).

After working a total of 39 stations on 40m SSB, I decided to head over to 20m.  But this meant a walk back to the car to drop off the FT-817nd and lug back the bigger and heavier Yaesu FT-450 with me, with my newly purchased 44 amp hour battery pack which is also heavy.  Mount Gawler is an easy summit to access, so I decided to take along this gear with me so I could operate with a bit more power.  I won’t be doing this again in a hurry.  My back is killing me !

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I plonked myself on 14.300 and put out a CQ call.  My first contact on 20m was with Ed VK2JI who was on SOTA peak, VK2/ HU-093.  Nice to get a summit to summit with Ed, on 20m this time.  To my surprise, my 4th contact was with Paul KI4MNZ in Kentucky, USA (5/8 both ways).

I then was able to make contact with both John VK6NU and Mike VK6MB over in Western Australia.  Both were down a little bit in signal strength, but I was able to copy them both well through all the European QRM.  It is always good to get John and Mike in the log, as they often miss out on all the Australian SOTA action on 40 m SSB.

Max IK1GPG then called in with a good strong signal.  And this was followed by Manuel EA2DT who was a little weaker, but still very workable.  But things then dried up as far as the DX was concerned, and some QRM came up on the frequency.  I later found out from Adam VK2YK that it was a European SOTA activator looking for me.  Sadly their signal was 3/3 at best for me and they were totally unworkable.

I QSY’d to 14.263 and again put out a CQ call.  Paul VK2HDX responded with a beautiful 5/9 signal from Sydney.  I was Paul’s 1st ever SOTA contact.

I worked a little bit more DX including Franc ZL1SLO in Auckland NZ, Clay I4LEC in Italy, Joe HL5KY in Korea, and Jim JA2NCVM.

The sun was setting, my stomach was grumbling, my wife was getting impatient, and I was in desperate need for a beer, so we packed up the gear and headed for home.  Making sure we dodged the kangaroos and emus on the way back home.  There are a lot through this area, and we certainly saw a lot as we drove back home at dusk.

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I worked a total of 61 stations on 40m & 20m SSB.

The following stations were worked on 40m SSB:-

Greg VK2FGJW/p (SOTA); John VK5BJE; Peter VK3PF; Nev VK5WG; Tony VK3CAT; John VK2YW; Phil VK3BHR; Amanda VK3FQSO; Peter VK3FPSR; Glenn VK3YY/p; Andrew VK1NAM/p (SOTA); Al VK1RX/p (SOTA); VK3FB/p; Peter VK5KPR; Brian VK5FMID; Ron VK3AFW; Warren VK3BYD; David VK5NQP; Nick VK3ANL; Allen VK3HRA; Joe VK3YSP; Adam VK2YK; Wolf VK5WF; Gerard VK2IO; Kevin VK3VEK; John VK5FTCT; Larry VK5LY; Mark VK3PI/p; Alex VK3AMX; ANdrew VK2UH; Jeff VK2XD; Ed VK2JI/p (SOTA); John VK5DJ; Andrew VK3ARR; Matt VK5WMT; Richard V5ZRY; Ian VK5CZ; Tom VK5EE; and Stu VK5STU.

The following stations were worked on 20m SSB:-

Ed VK2JI/p (SOTA); Paul VK2KTT; Marc VK3OHM; KI4MNZ; John VK6NU; Mike VK6MB; Max IK1GPG; Ernie VK3DET; Manuel EA2DT; Adam VK2YK; Paul VK2HDX; Gerard VK2JNG/p; Roger VK2GHB; Brian VK2UT; ZL1SLO; Andrew VK1NAM/p (SOTA); Clay I4LEC; Joe HL5KY; Iva VK4HG; Kevin VK6GT; Phil VK5SRP; and Jim JA2NVM.

Chasing European SOTA activators

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Last night I had a case of insomnia, so I headed to the ‘shack’ to hopefully work some DX.  What happened was beyond my expectations and sent me off to bed some 4 hours later !  I managed to work a handful of new countries for particular bands, and a few new USA States for particular bands.  I also managed to work a couple of European WorldWide Flora Fauna (WWFF) activators in Poland.  This is never easy because of the European pile up, so I was really happy to get the contacts in my log.  But the cream on top of the cake for me, was bagging 5 European SOTA activators.  And it could have been a few more.

My equipment was a Yaesu FT-2000, with a Heil Pro 4 headset, 100 watts, and a Hy Gain 3 el yagi @ 16 metres, on a small tower in my backyard.

My first SOTA contact was with Zoltan, OM/HA5CQZ/p on top of Velky Inovec, OM/ NR-001.  This peak which is located in the Nitriansky region of the Slovak Republic, is 901 metres and is worth 4 SOTA points.  Translated to English, Velky Inovec means Big Inovec.  The summit is located in the central part of the Pohronsky Inovec mountains and is the highest peak of the entire mountain range.  Pohronsky Inovec is volcanic in origin and is composed of the volcanic rocks andesite and rhyolites.  The southern portion of the mountain range is covered in deciduous forest, predominantly oak.  There are very good views of southern Slovakia from the summit, including the Danube River and the mountains beyond.  Below the summit is the Grand Inovec tourist lodge.

24540307Courtesy of http://www.panoramio.com

Photo courtesy of 2005_01010015

Photo courtesy of http://carovidieku.blogspot.com.au

I saw Zoltan spotted on SOTAWatch, so I tuned to his operating frequency on 20m, and there he was.  Zoltan had quite a good signal coming in on the short path.  Because it was early in the morning here, the noise floor on 20m was very low.  No plasma TV noise or solar inverter interference.  Heaven !  Zoltan  had quite a few European chasers calling him, but I perservered and got through (5/3 sent and 5/7 received).  Zoltan was QRP and he was using just 5 watts and a simple dipole antenna.

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Photo courtesy of Zoltan, http://www.flickr.com

My contact with Zoltan spurred on my enthusiasm and I kept a close eye on SOTAWatch, whilst I kept tuning across the 20m band working a few DX stations.

My second SOTA contact was with Franz, OE5FSM/p, who was on Hohenstein, OE/ OO-134, at about 1400 UTC (12.30 a.m. SOuth Australian local time)

Hohenstein is 526 metres ASL, and is located in the Oberosterreich region of southern Austria, and is worth 1 SOTA point.  It is located neat Wilhelmsburg.  According to Peakery.com, Hohenstein is the 454th highest mountain in Austria.

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Photo courtesy of http://www.panoramio.com

Again, Franz had quite a few European chasers, so I was patient, and waited for an appropriate spacing between all the callers, to slip in the VK, in the hope that Franz would hear me.  It took quite a few attempts, but finally I made it (5/2 both ways).  I was Franz first ever VK contact during an activation.

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Courtesy of Franz OE5FSM QRZ.com page.

I then saw a spot for Eloy, EA1IEH who was portable on a summit in Spain.  Eloy was actually stronger than Zoltan and Franz.  He was about 5/4 and perfectly readable.  But he had a really big pile up from Europe and it was impossible to break through.  Sadly, Eloy QSY’d to 40m before I was able to work him.

However I was called by Manuel EA2DT, who had heard me trying to get through to Eloy.  Manuel tried calling Eloy, but he had already gone.  Thanks for trying Manuel.

My third SOTA contact came as a bit of a surprise.  It was following my chat with Manuel, that I received a call from Vlado, OM1AX/p, who was operating from Devinska Kobyla,  OM/BA-004.  Initially I didn’t realise that Vlado was on a SOTA peak, because he had such a strong signal.  Vlado was running 50 watts and a dipole, and was a solid 5/5 signal.

Devinska Kobyla is the highest peak in the Devin Carpathians, which are part of the Little Carpathians mountain range.  It is located in the Bratislavský region of Slovakia.  The summit is 514 metres above sea level and is worth 1 SOTA point.  It is a treeless summit and contains an abandoned military rocket base.

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Photo courtesy of http://www.wikipedia.com

From the top of the summit there are open views of Bratislava, Austria, Hungary, the Danube River and Morava River.  There is a 4 km instructive path that leads through Devínska Kobyla, with one significant area called Sandberg.   This is one of the most important palaeontological localities in Slovakia.   The yellow faces of the old sandpit has remnants of rocks of the tertiary sea with horizontally deposited layers, and there are still fossils of sea fauna to be found there.  The age of these rocks is estimated to be between 14 to 16 million years old.

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Photo courtesy of http://www.wikipedia.com

My fourth SOTA QSO was with Miro, S52ON/p on Gora Oljka, S5/KS-051.  Again I had seen Miro spotted on SOTAWatch at about 1530 UTC (2.00 a.m. South Australian local time).  I had just finished working a European pile up on 20m, when I saw Miro spotted.  Fortunately for me, the callers had ceased, so it was a good opportunity to slide up to 14.290 and have a listen for Miro.  And to my surprise again, I was able to clearly hear Miro’s signal coming into South Australia all the way from the top of a mountain in Slovenia.

Gora Oljka is 733 metres above sea level and is worth 2 SOTA points.  It is situated in the KamniÅ¡ko – Savinjske Alpe region of Slovenia.  Gora Oljka translated to English means Olive Hill.  Standing at the top of the summit is the Church of the Holy Cross, which was constructed in the middle of the 18th century.

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Courtesy of http://www.siol.net

Miro’s signal was not strong on the S meter on the FT-2000 but he was perfectly readable.  I called him and got through almost straight away (5/3 sent and 5/9 received).

And last but not least, I had a QSO with Roberto, EA2DXY/p on Murugain EA2/ SS-030.  I had just finished a QSO with Norman ZS5JY in South Africa, when I saw a spot come up on SOTAWatch for Roberto.  This was about 1550 UTC (2.20 a.m. South Australian local time).

I tuned to 14.288 and heard Roberto coming in with a 5/3 signal with his QRP operation.  Although not strong, he was perfectly readable.  Again, I waited for an opportune time and gave Roberto a call and got through (5/3 sent and 5/5 received).  Unfortunately, IZ0UYB came up in the middle of our QSO, just 2 kc away, calling CQ DX with a very strong signal.  This made things really difficult.  Fortunately Roberto was in the log.  I was ‘unlucky’ 13th Chaser for Roberto on this peak.  Not so unlucky for me !

Mururgain is 778 metres ASL and is worth 1 SOTA point.  It is situated in the Gipuzcoa region of Spain.  Gipuzcoa is a province in northern Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country.

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Photo courtesy of http://www.panoramio.com.

Prior to heading off to bed I saw a spot come up for Jon, N7AZ on W7A/ MN125, so I headed up to  the top part of 20m to have a listen.  Although not at all strong, I could hear Jon coming in to VK5 land on the short path across the Pacific.  It was not easy…it was a struggle.  Jon’s signal report was 3/3.  I heard him working USA Chasers and tried getting through, but couldn’t make the journey before Jon went QRT, on his way to his next summit.  I thought about hanging around for another 90 minutes, waiting for Jon, but tiredness got the better of me.  And after all, I do need my beauty sleep !

Although I have worked European SOTA activators before, this was the first time that I had worked so many in the one day / night, and especially on the short path.  I thank all the SOTA activators who took the time out of the pile up to listen for my signal from down here in Australia.  This was a really good fun night and well worth staying up into the wee hours of the morning.

References.

Panoramio

Wikipedia, http://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veľký_Inovec

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pohronský_Inovec

Wikipedia, http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC15W4H_velky-inovec?guid=a9d92329-e2eb-4202-9d8d-6075d7dc3969

Peakery, http://peakery.com/hohenstein/

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dev%C3%ADnska_Kobyla

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gipuzkoa

“Up in lights”

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I checked my emails this morning only to find an e-mail from Ron, KI4JHP, to let me know that I had been featured on QRZ.com.

Quite a surprise.

I see that there have been quite a few hits on the page, using the visitor globe as a guide.

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Mount Lofty summit VK5/SE-005 and Cleland Conservation Park

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Yesterday was my 49th birthday, so after a Sunday morning sleep in, and then watching the V8 Supercars in bed, I surfaced from the bedroom and had a magnificent roast lamb lunch with the family.  This was followed by a few beers on the couch watching the Aussies smash the English in the cricket.  This was a bloke’s heaven !

My wife Marija then asked what i would like to do for the afternoon !  Bad move.  Never give a bloke an option.  Especially when he is a keen portable amateur radio operator.  I told Marija that I would like to do my first SOTA activation for 2014.  Fortunately my son Jake was at lunch and he offered to drive me over to Mount Lofty, a short 15 minute drive from home.

I have operated from Mount Lofty Summit a number of times previously because of its close proximity to home.  But because it was a new year, this meant some more SOTA activator points for me.  And the added bonus is that the summit is located within the Cleland Conservation Park, so it qualifies for the VK5 National and Conservation Parks Award.

Jake dropped me off at Mount Lofty, and I headed to my favourite operating spot on the eastern side of the summit and the obelisk, away from the tourists.

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I started off on 40m first with a contact with John VK5BJE who was portable in the Mount Richmond National Park in Victoria.

I then QSY’d down to 7.090 to call CQ, but when I asked if the frequency was in use I was greeted by John VK2YW, who advised Bernard VK2IB/3, was on the frequency on a peak in Victoria, but he was fixing his antenna which had blown down.  So I placed John in the log and went a bit lower to 7.085 where the pile up started.  This included 2 Summit to Summit contacts.  The first with Greg VK2FGJW who was on One Tree Hill VK1/ AC-035, and then Bernard VK2IB/3 who had followed me down.  Bernard was on VK3/ VE-189.

QRP callers included Col VK5HCF, Peter VK3PF, Nigel VK5NIG, Andrew VK3ARR, Nev VK5WG, and Peter VK3NAD.

After working 21 stations on 40m SSB, I headed up to 20m, hoping to get the two hungry VK6 SOTA Chasers in the log, Mike VK6MB and John VK6NU.

My first caller on 20m was Andrew VK4OZY and this was followed by Matt VK2DAG, Rod VK5VRB, and then Gerard VK2IO.  And then came to the two VK6 boys.  Firstly John, followed by Mike.  It was hard work with John but we got there (5/3 S and 4/1 R).  It was a bit easier with Mike (5/3 S and 5/1 R).

Things slowed down after this on 20m, so I tuned across the 20m band to find very little activity.  I did hear Stuey VK8NSB calling CQ and I tried calling him, but I just couldn’t quite make it.  So I decided to check into the ANZA DX Net on 14.183.  And this was a good move, because I had 3 great DX contacts.

I am trying to get DXCC on QRP 5 watts and portable, and I am currently sitting on about 30 countries since March last year.  So I was very excited when on the net I was able to make contact with Andy E51AND from the Cook Islands, who had a booming signal.  I then received a call from Dom 3Z9DX in Poland, who was running qrp as well, just 5 watts (5/3 sent and 5/0 received).  And finally Maurice FK8HZ from New Caledonia gave me a call (5/8 sent and 5/5 received).

I then went back to 40m to hopefully get some more of the regular VK SOTA Chasers in the log.  I worked a further 18 stations in VK1, VK2, VK3, & VK5.

QRP callers included Nick VK3ANL and Ron VK3MRH.

I then went back to 20m to have a quick listen before Marija arrived.  I managed to sneak in another QSO with John VK6NU.  Conditions had improved between the two of us.  John was up to a 5/7.  The 20m band was not all that busy as far as DX is concerned.  But there was a lot of activity from a Russian contest ? which made finding a clear spot very difficult.

Thanks to Rod VK5VRB for passing the message onto my wife to come and pick me up, after my mobile phone went flat.

The following stations were worked on 40m SSB:-

John VK5BJE/3; John VK2YW; Brian VK5FMID; Tom VK5FTRG; Col VK5HCF; Ron VK3AFW; Greg VK2FGJW/p; Peter VK2NEO; Bernard VK2IB/3; Peter VK3FPSR; Phil VK3BHR; Peter VK3PF; Nigel VK5NIG; Andrew VK3ARR; Nev VK5WG; Ian VK5CZ; Keith VK5OQ/3; Marc VK3OHM; Allen VK3HRA; Peter VK5KPR; Peter VK3NAD; Tom VK5EE; Terry VK5ATN; Kevin VK3VEK; VK3XY; Bernard VK3AMB; Nick VK3ANL; Len VK3FB; Ron VK3MRH; Joe VK3YSP; Peter VK5PET; Ian VK1DI; Matt VK1MA; Julie VK3FOWL; Steve VK3VM/5; Mark VK3YN; Mark VK3PI; Rod VK5VRB; and Paul VK2KTT.

The following stations were worked on 20m SSB:-

Andrew VK4OZY; Matt VK2DAG; Rod VK5VRB; Gerard VK2IO; John VK6NU; Mike VK6MB; Andy E51AND; Col VK4CC; John VK4LJ; Dom 3Z9DX; Lynne VK4SWE; Maurice FK8HZ; and Terry VK4HQ.

Thanks to everyone that called.  It was a good fun activation.  And thanks to everyone who passed on birthday wishes.  I think next year for my 50th I will probably be tied up with a bigger celebration….so no SOTA or Parks.  Maybe ???