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Current Feature Articles   Nov 06 Surfin': Homebrewing Today   Nov 05 DX the Hard Way   Nov 02 ARRL In Action: What Have We Been Up to Lately?   Nov 01 It Seems to Us: It Doesn't Just Happen   Oct 30 Surfin': Mapping Up   Oct 27 Amateur Radio Quiz: Assault'n Batteries   Oct 23 Surfin': Remembering the Woodpecker   Oct 22 The Amateur Amateur: A Soggy, Foggy, Doggy Demo in the Park   Oct 17 Youth@HamRadio.Fun: A Scouting Marathon   Oct 16 Pizza, Macaroni and a Cheeseburger ARRL Products: Help for Beginners (More) Online Course: The ARRL Ham Radio License Course -- Prepare for your first Amateur Radio license! The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual -- All you need to become an Amateur Radio Operator. Get your FIRST ham radio license! Now including a guide for Choosing the Right Radio! Basic Antennas -- An introduction to antennas--basic concepts, practical designs, and easy-to-build antennas! The ARRL Operating Manual for Radio Amateurs -- Everything for the active ham radio operator! Explore new activities, learn new skills, find new references and more. Getting Started with Ham Radio -- Get on the air now! A guide to your first Amateur Radio station.

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This week, Surfin' takes you out the door and up the hill to make contacts for awards.

Summits on the Air (SOTA) encourages you to take your radio experience to a higher level.

Summits on the Air (SOTA) is an award for radio hams and shortwave listeners that encourages portable radio operation from higher elevations. There are SOTA awards for folks who ascend and operate from the summits and SOTA awards for folks operating from home, a local hilltop or are on other summits.

Diana Eng, KC2UHB, recently wrote about her experience ascending Mt Carmel in Connecticut with SOTA activists Tom Tumino, N2YTF, and Dave Clausen, W2VV. Her story appeared on the Make Magazine blog, Makezine and it is an excellent read. And for an excellent view, Diana mentions that there is a nice collection of SOTA photos on flickr -- 2944 photos to be exact -- that show the ham radio operators, their equipment and summits that they have ascended.

Another excellent read is Make Magazine, which bills itself as "the first magazine devoted entirely to do-it-yourself (DIY) technology projects." I subscribed to Make after receiving a sample of issue #1 at the TAPR Dayton Hamvention dinner four years ago and I have not missed an issue. Even though Make seldom covers radio projects, as a long time do-it-yourselfer, its excellent articles motivate me to DIY more often and I highly recommend it for all DIY hams.

Thank you Mike Staines, WM1KE, for alerting me to KC2UHB's story.

Until next time, keep on surfin'!

Editor's note: Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, plans to activate the summit of Compounce Mountain real soon now. To contact Stan, send him e-mail or add comments to his blog. By the way, every installment of Surfin' is indexed here, so go look it up.

Previous: ARRL Teachers Institute: "It Is Elementary, It Is Advanced, It Is Something for Everyone"

Next: The K7RA Solar Update