2. Ham Radio

Peavine Peak, NV (W7/WC-011) SOTA Activation with K6MTT - 1/7/2012

Jan 7, 2011 activation of Peavine Peak with Dave, K6MTT for ham radio's Summits On The Air activity.
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At the end of the yellow brick road (er, coax) is Dave's Outbacker vertical antenna. It's sitting at a great spot for working stations to our east.
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At the end of the yellow brick road (er, coax) is Dave's Outbacker vertical antenna. It's sitting at a great spot for working stations to our east.

Outbacker

  • Dave, K6MTT loading his Grizzly for our trip up to the peak. "Let's see, I've got my battery, antenna, helmet, coax (bright yellow)... but where'd that radio go?"
  • Off we go! It's about a 7-mile ride up to the spot where we'll park, unload and do our final climb to the summit on foot as per SOTA rules. Note the lawn chair on the back of Dave's Grizzly. The Beverly Hill Billies ain't got nothing on us... ;-)
  • A quick stop just to make sure we haven't lost anything yet.The tripod base for Dave's Outbacker vertical antenna is tied onto the cargo box on the front rack of his Grizzly. Peavine Mountain is in the distance, we'll be heading to the peak on the left.
  • The view from the top looking east. Reno, NV stretches out before us. This is one of the few summits where you can operate your radio in the morning, then head down and lose it in a poker game later that afternoon.
  • Dave decided that his lawn chair would be best used as a radio desk. He is making some final adjustments to his Yaesu FT-897 radio and confirming that his Outbacker antenna's SWR is within limits. He's sitting at the base of my Buddipole mast that is supporting my dipole (wire) antenna. Note the sign in the background, more on that later.
  • At the end of the yellow brick road (er, coax) is Dave's Outbacker vertical antenna. It's sitting at a great spot for working stations to our east.
  • With the cold north wind blowing, Dave makes his first CQ on 20 meter SSB (voice) while running about 15 watts out of his FT-897. I'm ready with my cellphone to spot him on SOTAWatch.org so that the summit chasers will know where to find him. When I found out that his first QSO was with SOTA uber-chaser Dennis, WA2USA... I knew that spotting him wouldn't be required!
  • With Dave knocking out QSOs on 20m SSB, I fired up my radio on 17m CW (Morse code). The black building I'm sitting against houses an FAA antenna system and is working as a great wind block. Its black sides are absorbing the sunshine and radiating a teeny-tiny bit of heat back at me. It may look like I'm sleeping, but I'm actually in the middle of a QSO (conversation).
  • The spots on SOTAWatch.org. As I expected, Dennis (WA2USA) spotted Dave (K6MTT) immediately after he worked him at 2015z (11:13 AM local time). My first QSO was with Rich, N4EX out in North Carolina and he promptly spotted me at 2023z. VE2JCW (in Quebec, Canada) stopped by to work me as he had on each of my prior SOTA activations, and added another spot at 2029z. Thanks guys!
  • The peak is in Toiyabe National Forest and is open to the public. The U.S. government's "No Trespassing" sign refers to the inside of the locked building. The orange string is tensioning one end of my wire antenna and is tied off to a grounding cable for the FAA's antenna system.<br /> <br /> As we were setting up our equipment, two FAA Radio Technicians emerged from the nearby building where their radios are located and asked us what we were up to. We told them about SOTA, explained that we would only be running low power way down on 14 and 18 MHz (their radios operate up around 120 MHz), and we all agreed that it would be very-very unlikely that our transmissions would interfere with their system. Thinking that they were leaving, I offered to give them my cell phone number so that they could call if there was any problem and we'd shut down immediately. Their response was 'that's OK, we'll be right here and we WILL let you know if there's a problem!'
  • Dave listens intently with his hands clapped over his earphones to block the wind. "Hey Dave, are there any ticked-off airline pilots or air traffic control folks on frequency yelling at us?" ;-)
  • The wind was cold! I've got my fur-lined Elmer Fudd hat on over my NCCC cap and mini headphones. Do I look goofy or what? And no, I'm not diddling with myself, I'm ditting and dahing Morse code using the mini keyer paddles that are in my hands. <br /> <br /> Unfortunately the FAA guys weren't up there to test the building's air conditioning system. Warm exhaust air blowing down onto my head would have been sweet!
  • My rat's nest of a radio station sits beside me.
  • My final log, the year should be 2012 and not 2011. Dave and I each made five QSOs then decided to get the heck down off the mountain and out of that cold north wind. The FAA guys drove down and waved to us as we were loading our gear back onto the Grizzlies down below the peak. There were no interference problems at all.<br /> <br /> Thanks to everyone who worked us and we'll see you all again in the spring when it warms up a bit!
  • Terrain profile along a beam heading of 60 degrees. This heading is for New England and Eastern Canada.
  • HFTA output for a beam heading of 60 degrees, comparing my low antenna (in red) to a dipole antenna over flat ground and up 1/2 wavelength (in blue). My antenna outperforms the dipole by several dB at low takeoff angles thanks to the downsloping terrain. Low takeoff angles are best for long-distance communications. The bar graph along the bottom shows the relative probability of signals from the U.S. arriving at various takeoff angles. My antenna was running roughly NW-SE (maximum signal to the northeast and southwest) so these comparisons are valid.
  • Terrain profile along a beam heading of 75 degrees. This heading is for most of the U.S.
  • HFTA output for a beam heading of 75 degrees, comparing my low antenna (in red) to a dipole antenna over flat ground and up 1/2 wavelength (in blue). My antenna outperforms the dipole by several dB at low takeoff angles thanks to the downsloping terrain. Low takeoff angles are best for long-distance communications. The bar graph along the bottom shows the relative probability of signals from the U.S. arriving at various takeoff angles. My antenna was running roughly NW-SE (maximum signal to the northeast and southwest) so these comparisons are valid.
  • Terrain profile along a beam heading of 90 degrees. This heading is for the southeastern U.S.
  • HFTA output for a beam heading of 90 degrees, comparing my low antenna (in red) to a dipole antenna over flat ground and up 1/2 wavelength (in blue). My antenna outperforms the dipole by several dB at low takeoff angles thanks to the downsloping terrain. Low takeoff angles are best for long-distance communications. The bar graph along the bottom shows the relative probability of signals from the U.S. arriving at various takeoff angles.My antenna was running roughly NW-SE (maximum signal to the northeast and southwest) so my antenna would be down a bit (maybe 1 dB) from what is shown.
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