I, OE5LXR, Mountain Goat

Today on 31st August, 2024, on DM/BM-271 „Eschenberg“ I have finally finished a journey which – starting with my very first SOTA activation of OE/OO-247 „Almkogel“ on 31st March, 2017 – has taken me exactly 7 years and 5 months to complete. During the course of all those years I have activated 194 summits (of which 85 where unique activations) having a total of 2940 QSOs.

A lot has happened in those years: I got married, became a father, became full-time self-employed, moved from our temporary lodgings in Linz to our new permanent residence in Pregarten, etc. One thing that has not changed though, is the fun of packing my family and a radio, driving to a mountain, going up, setting up a shortwave radio station and enjoying the thrill of a pile-up with my chasers, many of whom I’ve gotten to know on a first name basis over the years.

Looking back: 1st and 194th activation

It’s time to say „Thank you“ …

I’m grateful to

my family and friends, for coming on all those long and sometimes arduous tracks,

the nurturing OE5 SOTA community (Sylvia Auer-Specht OE5YYN, Peter Auer OE5AUL (SK), Franz Sonnleitner OE5FSL, Heinz-Dieter Huber OE5HDN, and many more) for helping me to get at least those 4 QSOs during my early pre-shortwave days with 2 m only,

Christian Hacker OE5HCE for inviting me to join his club AMRS ADL-055 Wels,

Martin Reiter OE5REO for ceding his barely used FT-817ND – which has not failed me once – for a very fair price,

Christian Hacker OE5HCE, Martin Reiter OE5REO, Joe Fellner OE5JFE for their services as past and acting SOTA OA5 regional managers,

Sylvia Auer-Specht OE5YYN for her service as acting SOTA OE association manager and finally

all those chasers who chose to dial-up my frequency, do not despair while being caught on the other side of the pile-up, patiently waiting to exchange a couple of friendly words in the service of gaining virtual points that have no relevance outside the SOTA community 😉

What’s next?

I don’t know. The only thing I can say for sure that I won’t put the radio in the closet and be done with it. I won’t deny that reaching 1000 points and obtaining the honorific title of „Mountain Goat“ was a motivational factor but ultimately what I enjoy most about SOTA is to be outdoor on a mountain combined with communication with like-minded individuals all across the world. Maybe I’ll get serious about learning CW, maybe I’ll give myself freedom to experiment more with my SOTA on-summit setup (risking failed activations in the process) or maybe I’ll just stick to the same old process.

Whatever the future may bring, I am looking forward to meet you on the bands!

vy 73 de Alex, OE5LXR

Update (September 5th, 2024) – I’ve just received a beautiful certificate commemorating the achievement of reaching ≥ 1000 points in the SOTA activator section sent by Barry Horning, GM4TOE, SOTA Awards Manager!

Update (September 13th, 2024) – I’ve received a beautiful glass trophy as well as some SOTA merchandise which I could not abstain from purchasing while ordering certificate and trophy 😉