About

Hello and welcome to Solder to Summit!  This blog is dedicated to outdoor human-powered adventures, operating portable amateur radio stations from remote locations, and designing and building radio gear to support those activities. The blog title is meant to highlight that there is joy in building your own gear and taking it to the mountains.   In earlier days, there was no other option than building your own gear. Today, however, there are a variety of commercially available lightweight radios to choose from along with a dazzling array of accessories.  Although the commercial equipment is very capable, there is still a lot of fun to be had in building your own gear.  Even a simple homemade dipole antenna will give good performance in the mountains, can be lightweight, and can be made with your own style and your own hands.  

My name is Mike, amateur radio callsign K6STR, and I’m the host of this blog. I welcome ideas, constructive criticism, and comments on your own experiences.  I also hope others (who may not have time or inclination for their own blog) will consider contributing articles. If this is you, please get in touch!

In the meantime, I hope you are able to get out in nature, do some outdoor radio, and consider building something to take with you.  Hope to hear you on the air!

73,

Mike K6STR


[1] White, M.P., Alcock, I., Grellier, J. et al. Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing. Sci Rep 9, 7730 (2019). 
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44097-3.pdf

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Winter SOTA on Lookout Mountain

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Emigrant Peak, Nevada - SOTA activation trip report

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