2. Ham Radio

Verdi Peak (W6/NS-146) SOTA Activation 8/3/2012

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Me posing with my jury-rigged setup that will put Verdi Peak Lookout back on the air for the first time in... who knows how long.
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Me posing with my jury-rigged setup that will put Verdi Peak Lookout back on the air for the first time in... who knows how long.

  • For maps and directions to Verdi Peak, see <a href="http://www.grizzlyguy.com/HamRadio/SOTA-VerdiPeak-W6NS146-2013">this album from a later activation</a>. Verdi Peak offers awe inspiring views, including a great view of Reno, NV. Today was an exception as a blanket of smoke from (presumably) a forest fire made it impossible to see the city.
  • A bit further north the smoke begins to thin. Verdi Peak was completely above the smoke as is Peavine Peak (W7/WC-011) over in Nevada that I've activated twice before.
  • Verdi Peak is basically a knife-edged ridge with an abandoned lookout occupying the only wide spot on the ridge, and the ridge isn't very long. This makes erecting an HF antenna a bit of a challenge. This is an old picture that I took on a prior visit and is looking up at the lookout from the southwest. The east side is a sheer cliff, and the prevailing west winds like to blow things over that cliff.
  • My solution was to place my Buddipole mast's tripod in the southeast corner of the lookout deck and angle the mast out over the cliff so that it would clear the roof line. I used bungees to secure the mast to the tripod and the tripod to the lookout deck's railing. In the background is the Truckee River canyon with I-80 winding its way up into California from Nevada.
  • The center insulator for my 20/40m link dipole is attached to the top of the mast. I didn't push the mast all the way up as there was really no need to with a sheer cliff about 10 feet in front of it (the antenna is already electrically high).
  • Another view of the mast and antenna erected on the lookout tower. The camera is looking northeast and the cliff area is to the right. Peavine Peak (W7/WC-011) is in the background.
  • Tying off the south end of the antenna was easy: the old flag pole made a great support, even though there was no longer a rope going up to a pulley.
  • A closeup of the flag pole tie-off. That's Boca Reservoir to the right of the pole, and the Northstar ski resort is to the left. The highest peak that you see at Northstar is Mt. Pluto (W6/NS-138). I have a season ski pass at Northstar so I'll probably save that one for a winter activation.
  • Tying off the north end of the dipole was a bit trickier. There were no available supports, so I used my hiking pole. There was just barely enough room left on that end of the ridge for the hiking pole.
  • See what I mean? Just BARELY enough room left! An 80m operation won't be happening, at least not by me.
  • The dipole wire heading down toward my hiking pole, as seen from the lookout deck.
  • A close-up of my lash-up job on the Buddipole mast tripod. The bungee heading off the frame to the right goes to...
  • ...one of my mast's guy kit lines which in turn runs the length of the deck and is tied off to the other side. Not the pretiest arrangement, but the mast stayed up for the activation.
  • A closer shot of the dipole hanging from the top of the mast. The Buddipole mast has standard 1/2" male pipe threads on top so I use a pipe thread to PVC adapter with a hole drilled through it and a mini-carabiner-style connector in the hole. That is used to support the center insulator via a loop of cord. The center insulator actually uses screw terminals and wing nuts to attach the wires (making it easy to swap out sets of wires in the field). Part way down the wire is the link that separates the 20m section from the remainder of the wire.
  • One of the two links in the antenna (one on each side). The spade connectors are not connected, so the antenna is currently setup to operate on 20m. Connecting them on each side converts it to a 40m antenna.
  • Me posing with my jury-rigged setup that will put Verdi Peak Lookout back on the air for the first time in... who knows how long.
  • Me still posing. Get a move on boy, it's time to operate!
  • I ran my 50' of RG-58 coax around to the opposite corner of the lookout deck where it was nice and shady. I ended up operating a few feet from that corner, right at the top of the stairs for more leg room. I wasn't worried about blocking the stairs as I didn't expect any visitors that early in the morning, on a weekday, 14 miles from pavement, up a rough road where 4-wheel drive can come in real handy (and no one came by). I'm holding up the HB1B transceiver.
  • This was my view while operating (due north). The peak on the skyline along the left edge of the photo is Babbitt Peak (W6/NS-132).
  • Here is a better view of <a href="http://www.grizzlyguy.com/HamRadio/SOTA-Activation-852012-Babbitt">Babbitt Peak (W6/NS-132, on the skyline)</a>. The fire lookout on Babbitt Peak is still active and manned by the Forest Service. The peak in the foreground is Ladybug Peak (insufficient prominence to qualify for SOTA).
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