A radio amateur in the UK, Colin Evans, M1BUU, attained Summits on the Air (SOTA) Mountain Goat status on January 28 on the summit of Whernside, the highest peak in Yorkshire, but he took an unusual approach by waiting until after he reached the summit to construct his station equipment. He had taken along a 20-meter QRPme RockMite kit, a homebrew key kit, a vertical antenna kit, and a gas-powered soldering iron.

Conditions were not exactly ideal. Sheltering from wind, rain, and snow in a small tent, Evans was able to constructed the RockMite, key, and antenna in less than 4 hours. Better yet, his first contact with the 250 mW RockMite was with N1EU near Albany, New York, more than 3,000 miles away. He also completed three subsequent contacts with European stations, satisfying the SOTA requirement of four contacts to claim the activation points.

The SOTA Mountain Goat is awarded for gaining 1,000 SOTA Activator points.

“There’s a good chance that if you work me, I’ll be using a rig that I’ve built myself,” Evans said on his QRZ.com profile. He typically operates QRP and has been involved in the SOTA program since 2004. -- Thanks to Southgate Amateur Radio News