Santa Ynez Peak x2

Here’s the 2m SSB station amid all the other communications infrastructure on Santa Ynez Peak.

19 MARCH 2026 W6/CC-036

Two Stars – a nice summit. I’d do it again. Recommended.

Elevation:	4,298′
Route:	Drive-up
Hike Distance:	n/a
Elevation Gain:	n/a
Navigation:	easy
Steepness:	n/a
Vehicle:	Passenger car*
Road:	Mostly paved. 1/2 mile dirt
Cell Coverage:	Excellent Verizon

*The dirt section is rough but nothing an average car can’t do.

I have been wanting to join in the 2026 SOTA Challenge fun with a 2 meter SSB activation for a while now, but patching together the suitable equipment proved to be a “challenge” in itself. Most of my radio gear is in our new temporary home in New Mexico. For this trip I brought my first-ever HF radio out of retirement: a Yaesu FT-100D. I’d never much used the VHF section of this little DC-to-light all-mode wonder, so this was something new for me. All I had to power the FT-100D was a hefty deep cycle marine battery and the only antenna that would suit was my old roof-top Comet CX-333.

This was obviously need to be a drive-up

In looking for drive-ups that might “see” a lot of Southern California’s robust 2m SSB community, Santa Ynez Peak seemed like it might work well. My only concerns were the RF saturated environment on such a massive “techno summit” and the somewhat precarious road conditions in the Santa Ynez Mountains as they had received a lot of rain this season.

Both concerns proved to be unfounded as the boulders and other detritus from the deluges had been cleared and the road was open. Furthermore, the venerable FT-100D’s front end did a decent job of rejecting adjacent signals. I only had a moment in a QSO with Darryl WW7D on 20m where a maelstrom of QRM made pulling Washington out a bit tricky.

The drive up was a joy with Santa Barbara County showing off her wondrous late winter, verdant beauty. The UCSB ROTC was running recruits to the summit apparently from Refugio State Beach. Yikes! I saw a few very exhausted young people with full packs.

I was thrilled to get my very first-ever 2m SSB contacts on a summit. Longest was K1CT in San Diego. Icing on this particular cake was a 2m sideband contact with David N6AN on “Mount Hodge” (formerly Flint Peak). This QSO entailed dodging some pretty large piles of dirt, namely Sandstone Peak, Cahuenga Peak, Simi Peak, Conejo Mt., Calabasas Peak, and the Verdugo Hills (see photo below.). … and no activation is ever complete without Jon NT6E in Torrance, on 2m sideband no less!