2. Ham Radio

NA SOTA Day Overnight 4-summit Trip Sept 2012

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Set up and ready to roll with the KX3. This was my first activation with the radio. All I can say is... wow, what a radio!
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Set up and ready to roll with the KX3. This was my first activation with the radio. All I can say is... wow, what a radio!

  • Topo map showing the four summits that I activated, along with some of the dirt roads and motorized trails in the area color-coded for difficulty. Green is easy, blue is less easy (high clearance vehicle required) and red is even less easy (rugged 4x4 vehicle required). The paved road from Highway 89 to Jackson Meadows reservoir ends at my UnloadATV waypoint. The purple dashed line is the Pacific Crest Trail which happens to pass by Lacey Benchmark. You can get to the west end of the green road (Forest Service 41) via Bowman Lake Road from I-80/Hwy 20, but you'll need a high clearance vehicle for the last part of Bowman Lake Road. I activated the summits in the following order:<br /> <br /> Lacey Benchmark (W6/NS-156)<br /> Pt. 6522 (W6/NS-273)<br /> Pinoli Ridge (W6/NS-223, camped there overnight)<br /> Findley Peak (W6/NS-213)
  • My SPOT track log of the same area that better shows the terrain features.
  • Standing on W6/NS-156 (Lacey Benchmark) with the camera looking southwest. Fordyce Lake is in the background. The summit on the skyline behind the lake is Signal Peak (W6/NS-179, see <a href="http://www.grizzlyguy.com/HamRadio/SOTA-Activation-842012-Signal">my activation album for it</a>) and the one to the right of it is Old Man Mountain (W6/NS-184). The Pacific Crest Trail passes by about 75 yards from where I'm standing. More detailed maps and directions for Lacey Benchmark are available in <a href="http://www.grizzlyguy.com/HamRadio/SOTA-LaceyBM-W6NS156-2013">this album from a later activation</a>.
  • A closer shot of Signal Peak (left) and Old Man Mountain (just left of center). Some people say that Old Man Mountain looks like a mini Half Dome.
  • With the camera looking northwest, <a href="http://www.grizzlyguy.com/HamRadio/SOTA-Activation-9202012-Sierra">Sierra Buttes (W6/NS-139)</a> is visible on the skyline near the right edge of the photo.
  • This tree looked like a great support for the center of my 135' doublet. It also had some nice shade in front of it.
  • My doublet up in the tree. As usual, I tossed my Zing-it throw line up into the tree using a rock in a small ditty bag.
  • Set up and ready to roll with the KX3. This was my first activation with the radio. All I can say is... wow, what a radio!
  • The short piece of RG-58 coax runs to a W2AU 4:1 current balun, and the doublet's 40-ish feet of 300-ohm twinlead (the el-cheapo type made for TV antennas) takes off from there. I used a dual banana plug and banana jacks to allow the twinlead to be easily disconnected from the balun for transport. The balun was designed to be at the center of an antenna and is also designed for high power, but it's all I had on hand when I decided to toss together the doublet a few days before heading out on this activation trip.
  • Here is a photo of the actual Lacey Benchmark. If it looks like it was taken at night, you're right, it was. Back before I knew about SOTA I went up there with a friend at about 3 AM and we actually managed to find it in the darkness.
  • <a href="http://www.grizzlyguy.com/HamRadio/SOTA-EnglishMtn-W6NS151-2013">English Mountain (W6/NS-151)</a> to the west-northwest.
  • <a href="http://www.grizzlyguy.com/HamRadio/SOTA-Activation-W6NS159-Pt8166">Pt. 8166 (W6/NS-159)</a> is a short distance away to the north and the Pacific Crest Trail runs up and over it as well. The saddle between it and Lacey Benchmark is about 800 feet down below me and not visible in the shot.
  • W6/NS-156 (Lacey Benchmark) logbook page 1. I started out calling Phil NS7P for a summit-to-summit QSO on 40m, hopped over to 20m to work Fred WS0TA (a.k.a. KT5X) for another one, then went back to 40m to call CQ. Todd W7TAO called me for summit-to-summit #3. The nice thing about the KX3/doublet combination is that it lets me get on all bands with just a quick poke of the ATU button the first time I move to a different band. This is a lot easier and faster than changing bands with my 20/40m link dipole, and having the all-band capability is neat too.
  • W6/NS-156 (Lacey Benchmark) logbook page 2. Over on 20m CW, VE7DB (running 1W) called me for my 4th summit-to-summit QSO of the activation. I was prowling 40m SSB looking for some of the SSB activators so as to get even more, couldn't find any, but did find Route 66 special event station W6A. This ended up being my only SSB QSO of the entire trip and I didn't manage any summit-to-summit QSOs from the other three summits.
  • I ran into a couple of friends near Meadow Lake on the way from Lacey Benchmark to Pt. 6522 (W6/NS-273). They brought along their dog who enjoys ATV riding as much as the rest of us.
  • The summit of Pt. 6522 (W6/NS-273) is out there somewhere. My hike ended up being longer but flatter than I had planned. There is no trail and you just make your way through the forest and old logging slash. It's not the most scenic summit and has limited views due to all the trees.
  • This tree worked well to suspend the center of my 20/40m link dipole. I didn't expect many other activations at this time of day, so I switched from the band-agile doublet to this antenna. I can get this coax fed antenna up faster and easier vs. the longer doublet with its twinlead and balun.
  • A closer shot of the dipole hanging in the tree.
  • I tied one end of the dipole off to another tree, and a crack in this boulder made a nice place to cram in and secure my cardboard line winder on the other end.
  • Time to hook up the KX3 and get cranking! From the looks of those soles, it's also time for me to buy a new pair of hiking shoes.
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