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| The two peaks just to the left of the white shed are mount Diablo (W6/NC-045) and North Peak (W6/NC-051). |
On the 1st of February Peyton and I were going to try and do 2 summits a short 1 hr drive from the house. Our goal was to be back at the house by 1200 hrs local so that we could all go to a park that the kids have been wanting to go to. I woke up at 0500 and came down stairs to wake up Peyton. He looked straight at me and rolled back over saying "I am too tired." I know that he must have been real tired as he was really excited about doing two summits in one morning. I left the house about 0515 and got to the first trail head at 0615 hrs. My suspicions were confirmed that the road to the summit of W6/NC-190 had a "no trespassing" sign on the gate. There is a way through Morgan Territory Regional Preserve but it is likely that you will have to cross a fence to the summit. It may be possible though and may be for another time. I then moved on to Pt. 1272 which I was fairly confident that I could reach this previously unactivated summit.
Route: You should be able to get good directions from my every trail post and follow to the "Go" point.
Cell Signal:
Full 3G signal (Verizon). I did not have signal on the way up but at the summit I had no issues.
Radio working conditions:
No issues. Nice and quiet on the bands
Trail Condition:
Well Maintained Easy to follow service road. Very Steep!
Weather:
About 40 degrees at the care and 48 degrees at the summit. The breeze and sweat and sitting down were keeping me quite chilled. This is the first time that I actually had trouble working the key as my hands were getting a bit cold.
Fees:
$6 collected at the entrance to the park.
EveryTrail Route:
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2653768
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| This was a pretty steep climb! If you look my climb does not really start until 0.4 miles and it is about 1.4 to the summit. I went from 300 ft to 1300 ft in about a mile. Pretty good workout! |
Setup:
PFR3 with internal AA batteries - http://www.qrpkits.com/pfr3.html
Lambda Antenna - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXo0XucRpt0&list=FLuy-J6QwwXmIdgM0-I2ue7w&index=1
I had made a new version of this antenna with 22 AWG wire. It did not seem to work as well as the thicker wire that I have. I am going to have to do some more testing with this antenna.
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| I have been using this antenna for my last few activations and seem to like it so far. |
AME Porta Paddle II - http://www.americanmorse.com/portapaddle.htm
Contacts:
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| I actually managed to get spotted on RBN today. This was a first and makes me happy if I am out without cell signal. |
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| 21 Contacts on 20 & 30 Meters. One S2S at the beginning before spotting. I hope that the WD0EBZ call is correct. The code seemed weird to me but I think that he was sending code at about 40wpm and trying to spread it out for me. It was a rough copy! |
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| Thanks to all my loyal Chasers. I hope that you are starting to notice an improvement in my CW skills! Today may have been a little rough as I was a bit colder then my normal CA activations! |
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| This road leaves the parking lot and heads up to the dam. |
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| On the viewing platform of the dam. Don't let the sun deceive you. It got me. I left the car in a T-shirt and was regretting it at the summit. I thought that it would get warmer when the sun came up, I was wrong! |
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| You can never get away from the windmills. |
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| Benches welcoming my arrival at the summit and some good trees to throw the wire over! |
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| Looking down on the parking lot. This climb is quite steep! |
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| I was thankful that I was not going up this road on the other side of the draw! |
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| A view of the dam. |
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| You can see my operating position just to the right on the tree. My feedline did not quite make it to either bench! Great day to be on a summit. Thanks to all the chasers! |
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