2. Ham Radio

Pt. 7605 (W6/NS-203) SOTA Activation 6/11/2013

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Although the wind was cranking up above, it was barely blowing down on the forest floor. I was comfortable sitting in my Crazy Creek Hex 2.0 chair.
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Although the wind was cranking up above, it was barely blowing down on the forest floor. I was comfortable sitting in my Crazy Creek Hex 2.0 chair.

  • The SOTA Northern Sierra region logo. This logo is available on Northern Sierra T-shirts, sweatshirts, beer steins, mouse pads, etc. for SOTA participants who qualify for the Northern Sierra Award (offered by yours truly KU6J). The award rules are linked to from my page on QRZ.com.
  • Pt. 7605 is located north of Highway 49 near Yuba Pass. At Yuba Pass, turn onto the dirt road shown in green (directly across the highway from the big paved parking lot) and drive to near the point I have marked as YPSNOWNORDIC2. Hike up to the summit from there. In winter the green road is a Nordic ski trail, and the blue road that heads south from that point is a snowmobile route. The green road is a rough 2WD road. The blue road is narrower and rougher, a lot of fun on an ATV but normal vehicles should stick to the green road.
  • Haskell Peak (W6/NS-162) isn't far away and a two-summit day would be pretty easy, See my W6/NS-162 activation album for more info on Haskell Peak.
  • The GPS track log from my hike. I parked my ATV on a short stub road near the YPSNOWNORDIC2 junction. The turquoise and white dashed line is my approximation of the activation zone.
  • GPS track log shown against a satellite photo of the area.
  • The hike up to the summit begins in forest, crosses through this section of open ground, then back into forest at the top. This photo is from about halfway up and I'm looking back down the way I came.
  • Sierra Valley is visible to the northeast.
  • I passed this broken tree on the way up and down. I wish I had included something in the photo for scale, but this was a big tree. Looks like it snapped while still alive
  • The tree on the ground, extending far beyond what is visible in this crappy shot.
  • The boulder that my hiking poles are leaning against is the summit of the densely forested Pt. 7605. All of the trees on this summit are firs.
  • The wind was blowing hard through the big trees, and I didn't want to sit under any of them due to the risk of widowmakers (a tree branch that could break off and fall). My XYL would make a lousy widow, so I decided to set up in a small opening about 50 feet east of the summit, using my 28' Jackite pole as a mast for my 88' doublet. A mast clearly wouldn't be necessary on this summit due to all the trees, but since I had it with me, I went ahead and used it. I plopped two pieces of dead wood onto a convenient rock, bungeed the pole to the wood, and added another rock to keep the bottom of the mast from sliding around in the gusts.
  • Northern Sierra button at the top of the mast, doublet attached with a twist tie, and wires ready to be unbundled and extended. I removed the Northern Sierra button before I raised the mast because it looked like it could short across the feedpoint.
  • The Jackite pole raised to about 25' with the twinlead from the doublet dangling down towards my operating position. I tied the doublet ends off to trees and oriented the antenna for maximum signal to the east and west.
  • Another shot of the antenna with my operating position in the sun.
  • Although the wind was cranking up above, it was barely blowing down on the forest floor. I was comfortable sitting in my Crazy Creek Hex 2.0 chair.
  • Knocking out the QSOs. I'm holding my Palm paddles and the KX3 is sitting next to me on my pack.
  • If you enjoy summits with breathtaking views, you can leave Pt. 7605 off of your activation list. The forest is so dense that it is difficult to see anything but trees. This is the best view shot I could manage from the summit: <a href="http://www.grizzlyguy.com/HamRadio/SOTA-Activation-9202012-Sierra">Sierra Buttes (W6/NS-139)</a> visible through the trees to the WSW.
  • Lots of wildflowers in the small but sunny openings to the west of the summit.
  • SOTAWatch spots. I managed to work all the other North American activators who were on the air during my activation: Hal N6JZT, Etienne K7ATN, Adrian N6ZA, Elliott K6ILM, Dan NA6MG and Bob K6TUY (a total of 6 summit-to-summit QSOs with 5 unique summits).
  • My spots from Reverse Beacon Network. I called CQ on 12m CW and was heard up in Alberta by VE6AO (likely sporadic E's) but wasn't able to make any QSOs on the band.
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