Dennie Ahl Hill (W7W/SO-079) SOTA

On 25 May 2014 I decided to give mom some much needed time alone at home and took the other 4 kids (Peyton, Brookelyn, Colten, and Makailla) out of the house for some time out in the woods. Of course this was going to consist of Geocaches, a picnic, and a SOTA squeezed in. Of course since we are up in the Pacific Northwest now we are going to have to deal with the rain. I figure that it is better to learn how to deal with it then wait for it to go away. If I wait for it to quit raining here I will never get any activations in! So we headed up to the hills. There was quite a few things that I wanted to check out in the Southern Olympic area and one of them was Lake Cushman. It appeared that I could check out the lake and then head around the southern end of the lake to pick up a SOTA or two. We checked out the lake and had a picnic lunch along the side of it. Then we headed to the south but there was no way to get throught the damn on the South side of the lake. So I put the coordinates in my GPS and started heading south on 101. The GPS took me right to the summit. I kept an eye on the summit and stopped out of the activation zone and got the bag out and headed the last little bit up to the top and sent the kids out looking for the Geocache. Once I was set up I ran back down to the truck and brought it up to the summit. I wanted the truck there in case the kids got to wet and cold. In the end they ended up playing out in the rain the whole time and found the tad poles that were in the puddles very interesting. There was a decent amount of area for them to run around also. Contacts were very tough today with all the contest traffic making it hard to find a clear frequency. Just when I was just about to stop on HF and bag for a VHF contact Elliot, K6EL, called me and told me where there was a clear frequency. Thanks Elliot! This made it easy and Tommy (W7RV) and Rich (N4EX) were there when I got on frequency. Thanks!!! I also did a little recon for several other 1 & 2 point summits in the area and a good day to the area could likely yield 3 or 4 summits if I just took Peyton with me. The near future is looking toward these summits and some good camping and fishing in the area. 

Waterfall near Cushman Lake.

Cell Signal: 

Verizon - Full 3G signal. No issues with calls or data spotting. After you drop off of the summit you are going to lose all cell signal though.

Repeaters:
I was able to get into the OARS (Olympia Amateur Radio Society) repeater on 147.36 mhz, 103.5 PL with full quieting.

 Radio working conditions: 

Horrible. The biggest issue was the contest traffic which left me pretty much on 30m for my activation. I did get a few contacts on 20m and 40m which were extremely helpful in making it a successful activation.

Trail Conditions

Road all the way to the top. You can drive all the way up but there are a couple of pull offs right outside the activation to make for a good approach for SOTA.

Weather: 

About 50 degrees and rainy!

Fees:

None

EVERYTRAIL ROUTE

From Olympia take HWY 101 North to West Skohomish Valley Road. You will have to follow forest service roads from there. If you have a GPS follow the everytrail link and download the GPX tracks into your device. They will take you right there.

As you can see we did a fair amount of traveling today. I thought that originally we would be able to come around the south side of the lake. Do not go this way as the damn that creates the lake is locked up tight. You must head further south and come around the less obvious way. The road is good and accessable by any vehicle, unless your vehicle is lowered then to bad for you.
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2794961

Geocache Screenshot. Notice there is one right at the summit.

Setup: 

PFR3 with 1800 m/ah LiPo - http://www.qrpkits.com/pfr3.html

Lambda Antenna - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXo0XucRpt0&list=FLuy-J6QwwXmIdgM0-I2ue7w&index=1

AME Porta Paddle II - http://www.americanmorse.com/portapaddle.htm I am back to the Porta Paddle now. I took it apart and cleaned it up and it is working well. The Te-Ne-Ke is still in the pack as a back up.

Contacts: 

Used the Rite in the Rain pad today. I think that I will switch to this even on non rain days. Easier to write in any format that I feel like!

Thanks to my few loyal Chasers! Sorry to everyone else. Tough conditions today.

W7W/SO-073 Rock Candy Mountain & W7W/SO-078 ""Message Peak""

Hammy's Resting Place. RIP Hammy.

On 10 May Peyton and I decided to head up in the hills and do a little SOTA. Actually the trip had two purposes. 1. for me to do a SOTA 2. To bury Peyton's Hamster (Hammy). We decided to head up Rock Candy Mountain which is a local peak that I had been to in the past. I knew that you could drive the majority of the way up this summit. We were able to get within about 2 miles of the summit but it is an easy walk from the locked gate. We took our time getting up to the summit. Peyton lead the way up the mountain and at about 1.6 miles we saw a trail heading up the side of the mountain. The trail was faily steep for the last 0.3 miles but the trail was good and the bushwack at the top was not to bad either. When we came out on the road we were at 2293ft which was well within the activation area with the summit at 2,355 ft. I found a decent tree to support my EFHW antenna and Peyton found a good spot to bury Hammy. Peyton did all the digging and burying and then I put together a make shift cross at the end of my activation. As you can tell our dog Charlie also joined us. 

This was the first total activation with the KX1. 

After the activation and a little lesson on life and death with Peyton we started the walk back down to the truck. We talked most of the way down and enjoyed the nice short walk. Later on that day Delma and I decided to head out and go back up in the hills to look for some places that we may be able to camp out for a weekend. We found a few places and were out also for a recon of ""Message Peak"" which was previously unactivated. As I am driving by the road that goes right by the peak Curtis, KC5CW sends me a text and asks if I will be chasing. I texted back and said that I was right by one and asked Del if I could run up and work the summit really quick. Del Joined me and took quite a few pictures of the nice green foliage in the area. I did not have any luck working Curtis but still got a few Qs in to make it a successful activation. 

Highlights of the Day: Getting the KX1 on the air for the first time! Working a S2S with NA6MG! Spending time with Peyton and Delma! Working Finland for the first time from a Summit! Going over 100 Activator Points!

Driving Route to Rock Candy Mountain Locked Gate - http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2777488

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2777484 - Hiking to Rock Candy Mountain

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2777483 - Driving route to ""Message"" Peak. The little spur to the south is the road that leads right passed the summit. Park at the end of the road and then walk back up to the Peak.

Cell Signal: 

Verizon - I was showing signal but was still having trouble getting any texts out.

 Radio working conditions: 

Great conditions

Trail Conditions

Mostly traveling on roads with a couple short trails / bush whacking. Forest floor did not have  alot of vegetation. Easy going.

Weather: 

Sunny 60 degrees.

Fees:

Discover pass required - http://www.discoverpass.wa.gov/

Setup: 

KX1 / PFR3

Lambda Antenna - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXo0XucRpt0&list=FLuy-J6QwwXmIdgM0-I2ue7w&index=1
EFHW with SOTA Tuner

Te-Ne-Key and KX1 Paddle

Contacts: 

Thanks to all the Chasers. It was great to get Dan (NA6MG) on the S2S, and to work OH9XX from Finland. I spent a lot of time messing with Radios and Antennas.

A good quick activation putting another one on the map. 

Thanks to all the Chasers!!!

Pinto Ridge (W7W/CW-103) SOTA Non Activation

On 1 April I was staying at a hotel in Moses Lake, WA and decided to try and wake up early for a SOTA activatin before getting back on the road to Montana. I decided that Pinto Ridge looked like a pretty good opportunity to get a quick one in. Looking at imagery it looked like there was a paved road all the way to the activation zone. It looked like there was some kind of communications site at the summit and may be accessible. When I got to the summit this is what I found.

The is the gravel road to the summit. The house and buildings in the background are on the Summit. 

Being that the Activation Zone is pretty broad I thought that I would drive down farther and see if I could get to one side of the road or the other. These signs are throughout the area and on both sides of the road.

The sign to the bottom right mentions no trespassing for hunting without permission. 

I am sure that if you know the right people or talk to the owners that you could get permission to operate in the property but at 0700 in the morning I did not think that I should be knocking on doors! I decided that on the way back that I would do a little geocaching and came across this sign with some neat history.

Though I think that it would be possible to activate this summit by stopping short, walking up the road, and setting up on the side of the road, it would not be what I consider to be a fun activation sitting on the side of a paved road with a antenna in the air listening to cars fly by you at 50 mph. I decided that I would wait for another summit and another day. Power lines overhead would likely give you a lot of noise also. 

I have conducted a map recon on a couple other peaks in the area with some promise to them and maybe next time I am through the area I will give one of them a try. Thanks to those chasers that were standing by for my activation. There may be one upcoming in Montana depending on the snow level and depth in the mountains. Thanks again.

Cell Signal: Verizon Analog signal at summit

Larch Mountain (W7W/LC-103) SOTA

Peyton and Brook on the way up.

On 25 March Brookelyn, Peyton and I decided to get out and beat the rain with a hike / SOTA activation. I did not alert this one as I was not sure that I would make the summit with my daughter and the possibility of having to make it through some snow. This was almost a big mistake. I tried to post using text but nothing went through until I was back down at my truck. Later I checked the reverse beacon and this would have been successful if I would have spotted. Lesson learned. We made the easy hike to the summit wiith no problems, stopping to have a couple snow ball fights along the way. I had trouble at the beginning with not being able to spot but thanks to KH2TJ and AE9F for finding me and getting things started. Thanks everyone for spotting me and being there. I was getting worried for a minute. All in all this was a great activation out with the kids. I would really recommend this route on the trail rather then on the other side and following the road. A great first activation in Washington! Thanks Etienne for the suggestion!

Cell Signal: 

Verizon - I was showing signal but was still having trouble getting any texts out.

 Radio working conditions: 

Great conditions

Trail Conditions

Awesome - About 200 yards of snow that was about 6 in. deep. Easy to get through.

Weather: 

About 60 degrees but started to cool off at the summit 55 when we got back to the truck.

Fees:

None

EVERYTRAIL ROUTE

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2713566

Setup: 

PFR3 with 1800 m/ah LiPo - http://www.qrpkits.com/pfr3.html

Lambda Antenna - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXo0XucRpt0&list=FLuy-J6QwwXmIdgM0-I2ue7w&index=1

AME Porta Paddle II - http://www.americanmorse.com/portapaddle.htm

Contacts: 

Thanks to Todd and Dan for getting those much needed spots out for me. 

Thanks to all the Chasers!!!

North Chalone Peak (W6/SC-149) SOTA

On 14 March Peyton and I decided late that we were going to head to Pinnacles National Park and do some hiking / SOTA. We arrived at the camping area at Pinnacles about 2330 to find that all of the campsites had been taken. This was not that big of a deal as we were probably just going to throw the sleeping bags in the back of the truck anyway. We parked in the overflow parking area and threw the sleeping bags out and went to sleep. At about 0600 we woke up to frost covered sleeping bags. We tossed them inside the truck and took off, following two other vehicles to the trailhead. There is space for about 12 cars at the TH. Get there early or you will not get one! We ate some breakfast, Cliff bars, and headed up the trail as soon as it was light enough to see it. About 1 mile in I encountered the caves. I knew there was caves but did not realize that our route would take them right through them. They were amazing! We continued on up the trail to the summit. The day was great at about 80 degrees and my only worry was sunburn. We had originally planned to do South Peak also but SOTA always depends on the energy of my trusty companion Peyton. When Peyton is not to motivated to keep going then it is time to head down. He was really excited to get back and explore the caves. If you have never been to PInnacles and have the chance. Do it! The caves are amazing, if they are open. I overheard a Ranger saying that most of the caves are only open in March and again in October depending on the migration pattern of the Bats. We got LUCKY and were there at the right time. 

Cell Signal: 

Good analog signal. Was receiving and sending SOTA goat spots but I would not depend on it.

 Radio working conditions: 

Great conditions

Trail Conditions

Awesome

Weather: 

At wake up about 32 degrees but quickly warmed up to about 80. Cave temperature at a solid 45 degrees. Felt good after the long hike.

Fees:

$5 for park entree. $21 for camping

Everytrail Route

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2702157

Setup: 

PFR3 with 1800 m/ah LiPo - http://www.qrpkits.com/pfr3.html

Lambda Antenna - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXo0XucRpt0&list=FLuy-J6QwwXmIdgM0-I2ue7w&index=1

Elecraft T1 Tuner - http://www.elecraft.com/T1/T1.htm - I was trying this new toy out today. Worked amazing! 

AME Porta Paddle II - http://www.americanmorse.com/portapaddle.htm

Contacts: 

I continue to try and make John's call (KB7HH) KB7SS and he continues to correct me. Somehow I always miss that extra dit at the end. I will get it straight one of these days John. Robert (K6TUY) squeeked in on me at the end of 40m and then was my first contact on 30m. Thanks!

I appreciate everyone who stuck it out for me and continues to stick it out with me on CW. I know that I am not the greatest operator but I do my best to get the job done. This is the first time that I actually showed you my log becuase even it is getting better! In the past it looked pretty scared up! Thank you all so much for sticking with me!

I had 20 Contacts on 3 bands with the PFR3. For more pictures and downloadable gpx tracks see my everytrail post.

Thanks Chasers!

Pt. 970 (W6/NC-422) SOTA Activation

On Sunday 3 March 2014 Peyton and I decided to head out for a hike and a SOTA to try out his new backpack. Peyton decided that he wanted to go do Pt. 970 W6/NC-422. Peyton particularly wanted to go to this summit because we had never completely made it to the summit and also because there was a rope tied to a Eucalyptus tree that he wanted to try to climb. It has been raining a lot in the bay area so we were splitting rain clouds to try and get to the summit. We were good with the rain until we made it to the summit and then it started to come down pretty good. We put up the poncho to protect us and the equipment and then started to put up the antennas. I decided that Peyton would start out on 20 SSB so I set up the EFHW wire through the SOTA tuner. The tuner did not want to tune the wire so I through out the counter poise and it tuned it 1:1 no problem. I quickly remembered that there was a contest going on when I started to look for a clear frequency. We wedged our way in between two stations and hoped that we would be able to get through the contest traffic with our little 10w. Peyton managed to work 10 stations on 20 SSB even with the contest! I would say that is not to bad. I then went to 30 and then 20 CW on the PFR3. In between we also made some lunch. The rain let up just as we were leaving the summit and we did some geocaching on the way down. Just as we were getting to the truck the rain started to pick up again...perfect timing.

Peyton and his new bag at the grove of Eucalyptus trees

The map with the Geo Caches that we found out on the trip.

Cell Signal: 

Full digital signal. Was able to send and receive SOTA goat spots.

 Radio working conditions: 

No issues besides all the contest traffic.

Trail Conditions

There are good trails all the way to the top but very muddy. The cows had also trampled the trail down pretty good with made it even more muddy.

Weather: 

Rainy and about 50 degrees

Fees:

$5 for parking at the Trailhead.

Here is an opportunity to share a online tool that I use to check trail length and elevation. This is from www.runningmap.com  A very handy website!

Everytrail Route
Here is the link to my everytrail route that I used last time - http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2648877  We went the opposite way this time as it is more scenic. The app was not tracking right so I gave up.

Setup: 

FT857d with 7.5 a/h slab

SOTA tuner with 20m HW wire - http://www.qrpkits.com/sota.html

PFR3 with 1800 m/ah LiPo - http://www.qrpkits.com/pfr3.html

Lambda Antenna - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXo0XucRpt0&list=FLuy-J6QwwXmIdgM0-I2ue7w&index=1

AME Porta Paddle II - http://www.americanmorse.com/portapaddle.htm

Contacts: 

Under the dome of trees at the summit

Climbing around on the trees

Looking at Sulphur Springs Mountain W6/NC-406

Looking back towards the summit

Can you spot the Geo Cache. This was a tough one to get to. Easy to see but tough to grab.

Thanks to all of the chasers!! See you all on the next one.