by Randy (K7TQ)

On Friday, October 16, 2026, I headed out for a SOTA activation at Kamiak Butte (W7W/WE-022). The day before, I had used a SOTACat to spot me at Spring Valley State Fishing Lake (US-11542). There I ran the KH1 at 5 W to a 20 m Hamstick mounted on the roof of my 2002 Ford Ranger pickup. At 5 W and FT8, the KH1’s battery icon quickly drops from full to half during the FT8 transmit cycle. I wanted to see how well the SOTACat and the KH1 at the LOW power setting would perform. What better way to find out than actually at a SOTA or POTA location?

The SOTACat is a companion hardware module to a SOTAmat cell phone app.

Together they can control an Elecraft KX2, KX3, or KH1 from a web page on your cell phone. Control means you can change frequency, send canned messages, send text you enter, and see and click on spots, just like if you had a laptop computer. They can also self-spot either SOTA or POTA activations using FT8. This self-spotting ability is very handy for summits or parks that don’t have cell phone service.

Kamiak Butte is located in Whitman County, Washington, which claims to be the “Nation’s Leading Wheat Producing County.”

The butte rises 528 feet, or so my GPS said, to an elevation of 3,641 feet. From the parking lot at the base of the butte, a 3.5 mile loop switchbacks up the north facing side to the ridge, along the south facing side, to the summit, and back to the parking lot.

The north side of the butte receives fewer hours of sunshine and is wetter. It is coniferous forest home to ferns, trilliums, and orchids.

After several switchbacks, one gets to the south-facing side, which is a dryer open pine forest.

There are glimpses of Steptoe Butte, both a SOTA and a POTA, in the distance.

It took me just short of an hour to leisurely hike up to the activation zone at the halfway point on the loop.

Once there, I got out the KH1, four-foot whip, and 13-foot counterpoise, dropped the KH1’s power to LOW (2 Watts), and made a SOTA spot on 20 m FT8.

In less than three minutes, three PSK Reporters in the San Francisco area, 700 miles away, picked up my FT8 transmission, relayed it to SOTAmat, and my spot showed up on SOTAwatch3, so the LOW setting on the KH1 was good enough. I upped the power to HIGH (5 Watts) and began CQing on 20 m while standing facing south with a great view of the Ponderosa Pines and the agricultural fields below.

In twelve minutes, I had the required four Qs to achieve the activation. One of those four was a S2S from KX0R who was on W0C/FR-095 in Colorado. In the hour and a half of standing to operate, I got Qs from CA, UT, WY, and MO all on 20 m, although I did try 17 m, but without any luck.

Here is what this five-watt, eight QSO, 20 m activation looked like when plotted by QSO Map.

I had read that Wayne (N6KR), wrote that operating with the KH1 on a metal picnic table would affect the SWR. There was one of those at the summit, so I tried it for myself.

Yup, he was correct. What had been an SWR of 1.2:1 on 20 m went to 2.2:1 with the KH1 near the edge of the picnic table and the counterpoise wire well away from the table. On the positive side, even with that SWR, I was able to hunt N0EVH, who was in Missouri at POTA US-3339 near Kansas City, MO.

My major takeaway for this activation was that the KH1’s LOW power setting was fine for making FT8 spots using the SOTACat. Also, the KH1, whip, and counterpoise are sufficient for SOTA activations. I had tried a POTA activation a month before and really struggled to get the required ten Qs.

Finally, an hour-plus hike plus another hour-plus of standing while operating really makes you appreciate having a picnic table to sit at for a spell. Should have been able to have figured that one out in advance.

• SOTACat and SOTAmat: SOTACat and SOTAmat
• Radio: KH1 Edgewood Package
• Bipod: Right-Angle Whip Mount for the KH1

A fun day, indeed!