Saturday, July 18, 2020

2020-07-17 A Tres Cabezas Activation


I’m in a SOTA Slack group with Charlie, NJ7V who lives in Mesa Az and the creator of Red Summit RF YouTube channel.   Charlie has come up to the area near my cabin several times to work Summits On The Air (SOTA).  We’ve talked about doing some joint activations and he was able to make that happen while I’m here at my cabin, or as I like to call it, “my summer villa”. 

I met another ham, Dale, AA7OY, exchanging email about SOTA summits near my cabin.
(Pictured from left, N1CLC, AA7OY, and NJ7V.  Click on Image for larger)


Charlie and I kicked around all the possibilities for summits up here.

We settled on St. Peter’s Dome, one of my favorite hikes in the area.

I was really excited to hook up with Charlie and Dale and lead them on a hike that I’ve really enjoyed a few times before.

AA7OY
The weather was overcast, perfect for the 670 foot climb to the summit.

The activation zone for this summit is really big, and beautiful, with pine, ponderosa, aspen, and oak.  

I setup my station with the KX2 radio and the K6ARK wonder antenna and my new paddles.  

Dale was running a Mountain Topper (MTR) and a custom linked dipole that did 20, 30, and 40 meter.

NJ7V
Charlie had brought his Yaesu FT-817, the well known and hard working journaman SOTA radio.

One thing I noticed while watching the other guys operate was that Charlie and Dale, being more experienced CW operators, are a lot smoother on the paddles than I am.

I went back to my station to work some side band for chasers that don’t do CW but got nothing.

We packed up and headed down the mountain to the cars.

The drive over is only about 5 minutes and then we headed up the mountain.

The drizzle stopped once we summited and we repeated what we did over on St. Peter’s Dome.

We really had a great time hiking, telling stories and exchanging tips and ideas for the hobby.

As I reached the highway from the dirt road, I saw a very large thunderstorm cell coming right at us, and it was dumping rain like crazy.


Contacts
Date:17/07/2020 |
Time
Callsign
Band
Mode
15:03
K7GT
14MHz
CW
15:03
N4MJ
14MHz
CW
15:05
KF7WI
14MHz
CW
15:06
WU7H
14MHz
CW
15:07
NU7E
14MHz
CW
15:08
NW7E
14MHz
CW
15:08
KI4TN
14MHz
CW
15:10
KG3W
14MHz
CW
15:11
W0MNA
14MHz
CW
15:11
W0ERI
14MHz
CW
15:12
WW7D
14MHz
CW
15:13
N2ESE
14MHz
CW
15:14
VE7HI
14MHz
CW
15:14
K0LAF
14MHz
CW
15:15
K4MF
14MHz
CW
15:16
W4KAC
14MHz
CW
15:18
WB3EVZ
14MHz
CW

Date:17/07/2020 |
Time
Callsign
Band
Mode
17:49
WA2USA
14MHz
CW
17:50
W0MNA
14MHz
CW
17:50
W0ERI
14MHz
CW
17:50
WW7D
14MHz
CW
17:51
W5BOS
14MHz
CW
17:52
K7SS
14MHz
CW
17:53
N2ESE
14MHz
CW
17:56
WU7H
14MHz
CW
17:57
N4MJ
14MHz
CW
18:11
N6WT
14MHz
SSB
18:25
WONF
7MHz
CW
18:27
KXOR
7MHz
CW
18:28
K6HPX
7MHz
CW
18:29
WA7JTW
7MHz
CW
18:29
NG6R
7MHz
CW
18:30
NU7Y
7MHz
CW
18:31
K7FF
7MHz
CW
18:32
KR7Q
7MHz
CW
18:33
KB7HH
7MHz
CW
18:34
AI6XG
7MHz
CW
18:38
K6LDQ
7MHz
CW
18:39
KK6ZLY
7MHz
CW

Loadout:
      G
      First aid kit.
      Elecraft KX2
      3 L of water (8 lb)
      iPhone with All Trails, MotionX GPS and sota goat
      Trekking poles (not today)
     LNR End Fed multi-band antenna
     Packtenna. (did not take)
      Yaesu FT-891D HF Radio at 100 watts
    

73,
N1CLC
Christian Claborne
(aka chris claborne)

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