2. Ham Radio

Pt. 7282 (W6/NS-226) SOTA Activation 10/12/2013

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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.
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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.

SOTANorthernSierra

  • 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.
  • The unremarkable Pt. 7282 in Tahoe National Forest near the towns of Sierraville and Loyalton. <a href="http://www.grizzlyguy.com/HamRadio/SOTA-Activation10142012-Pt">I first activated this summit almost exactly one year ago</a>.
  • There are a number of ways to get to Pt. 7282 from highways 49 and 89. The roads shown in purple above are good dirt roads that 2WD vehicles should be able to navigate. The first objective in your drive is to reach the F0420WINDMILL point where Tahoe National Forest road 04-20 (shown in green) begins on TNF road 04 which is more commonly referred to as Bear Valley Road. This point is at 39.57208N, 120.21771W. <br /> <br /> Most people will be coming from I-80 at Truckee and can use the following route: take Highway 89 north to Little Truckee Summit which is where the paved TNF road 07 to Jackson Meadows Reservoir begins (sign points to Jackson Meadows Reservoir). Rather than turning left/west onto TNF road 07, turn right/east onto the dirt Cottonwood road which is directly across the highway. Travel about 5.5 miles to the 4-way intersection of major roads shown above as C451C650FS04 (39.55709N, 120.23742W). Bear Valley Campground is also at this point. Go straight through that intersection and continue to the F0420WINDMILL point.<br /> <br /> From Sierraville, one can take Lemon Canyon Road to the 4-way intersection at C451C650FS04. From Loyalton, take Smithneck Road towards Stampede Reservoir and turn right onto Bear Valley Road at C860FS4 (39.63551N, 120.20272W). In either case, proceed on Bear Valley Road to the F0420WINDMILL point.
  • From F0420WINDMILL on Bear Valley Road, drive to the WIND point (39.58273N, 120.23595W) and turn left onto the rougher 2WD road shown in blue. Continue past the WINDCUT point (39.57509N, 120.23916W) to the PT7282RD_220 point (39.58872N, 120.25651W) and turn left again. Drive to the PT7282TH_280 point (39.58337N, 120.2589W) or anywhere that you prefer along that road, park and make your way up through the logging slash and brush to the summit. <br /> <br /> NOTE: If you are on an ATV, dirt bike or driving a lifted vehicle you can take the shortcut 4x4 route shown in red that begins a few hundred feet past the 4-way intersection at F0402WINDMILL (39.5582N, 120.23706W) and runs northward to WINDCUT.
  • Per my GPS track log, the hike to the top is only 0.34 miles long with an elevation gain of around 270 vertical feet per the topo map. The area is quite brushy, so following game trails and old logging skid trails is the way to go. Deer always seem to create the best paths through brush. The east side of the summit ridge is completely covered in brush, so trying to climb up that side would be a bad idea.
  • For an antenna on this day, I went with my 88' doublet up about 25 feet on a 28' Jackite pole. I crammed the base of the pole into a gap between large rocks.
  • The wind was cold and blowing from the west, so I set up my operating position on the east side of this rock pile which provided a great wind break. I routed the doublet's extra twinlead through the wrist loops on my hiking poles so as to keep it up off the rocks and vegetation.
  • Kicked back and cranking out the Q's.
  • My view while operating.
  • The well-dressed activator: SOTA cap and Northern Sierra sweatshirt.
  • This area was once a pine forest but is now a largely treeless wasteland due to the Cottonwood Fire back in 1994.
  • More of the treeless wasteland.
  • SOTAWatch spots page 1.
  • SOTAWatch spots page 2.
  • SOTAWatch spots page 3.
  • Reverse Beacon Network spots page 1.
  • Reverse Beacon Network spots page 2.
  • Logbook page 1. I started out with a nice run on 12m CW, then moved to 15m CW where my most frequent chaser from Europe (DJ5AV) called in with a great signal.
  • Logbook page 2. Several other activators had been spotted while I was on 15m, so I switched to search-and-pounce mode and quickly made three summit-to-summit QSOs with KX0R, W0CCA and W6AH. After working W6AH on 30m I continued on that band and picked up my fourth summit-to-summit QSO when Etienne K7ATN called in.
  • Logbook page 3. I took a break after 30m CW and resumed operating when I saw Jordan KJ6NHF spotted on 20m SSB. This was summit-to-summit QSO number five. I then moved to 17m CW for a nice run and popped up to SSB to work Jordan one more time. He was up in the Pinenut Mountains across the border in Nevada and reported that he had 2 inches of snow on the ground. It's really odd for the Pinenuts to have snow while the Sierra is dry, but in the mountains, anything can happen!
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