Monday, August 31, 2020

2020-08-29 Escudilla Butte With A Friend


I’m back at my summer villa and I’m itching to get in a hike and play radio.  I’ve done all of the summits near my place this year so I decided to just do one that I really enjoy as a first light hike, since this is my first day at altitude coming fom sea level.  I won’t get any points since you can only collect activator points from a summit once per year but that’s not the objective today, this trip is for fun, exercise, and to do a little chasing of other activators for some summit-to-summit (S2S) points.  I pinged a buddy that I hiked with before, Dale, AA7OY to see if he wanted to join me.  Dale just bought a cabin in Alpine and was willing to join me. 
(Click on images for larger)

Executive Summary

SOTA summit: W7A/AP-020
Activation Date: 2020-Aug-29
Unique: No, activation 197
Call sign used: N1CLC
Portable operation: Yes
Radios: KX2
Antennas: K6ARK random wire 10 - 80
Band/Modes used: 20m, 30m, 40m, 10w CW (morse) SSB (voice)
Miles Hiked: 2.3 mi
Hiked Elevation Gain: 594’



We met at the trailhead at about 0730 local.  I was a bit late and then I decided to rig my pack to hold a camera mount which took a little more time.  I have a clip from Peak Design that attaches to the belt on the pack that the camera can easily clip in and out of to keep it from swinging.  I want to start bringing my Fujifilm mirrorless camera with me on some hikes and this was a good short hike to test it out on.  I used the device for my Grand Canyon hike and it was perfect.

The hike up was pretty quick.  I was a tad out of breath since it was the first day at altitude for me.  My objective was to concentrate on getting some summit-to-summits but to do that, I need data so that I can check SOTAwatch web site to see who is where on what frequency.  My phone is on AT&T which doesn’t work in the backcountry in Arizona very often, this is a Verizon territory.  I brought a small hotspot device with me that would use the Verizon service to give me data via WiFi to my phone.  I got the super cheap plan to test it and see what the speeds are like at the villa, hoping I can improve my internet situation here.  No matter what, I can turn the service on and off at no cost since it’s month to month contract.

 


Our setup was pretty quick, Dale took 40m and I started out on 20m working to get some contacts.  My operating position was in the shade of a tree and I kicked back on my little chair.  The Verizon unit had service, which meant I could chase other summits all I wanted.  I worked about 20 stations with a couple of S2S contacts and then took a break to check out Dale’s setup.  He hit a bonanza of chasers and had over 30 contacts I think.  After doing a bit more chasing from my station, I ended the day with 28 contacts, six of which were S2S contacts.  Dale ended up with ~40 contacts and about the same S2S contacts.  We had a great time relaxing on the summit and goofing around with radios and pulled in a nice catch of RF.

 


Contacts

Date:29/08/2020 | Summit:W7A/AP-020 (Escudilla Butte) | Call Used:N1CLC | Points: 0

Time

Callsign

Band

Mode

Notes

16:23

KR7RK

18MHz

CW

S2S

16:27

K7III

14MHz

CW

 

16:28

ND0C

14MHz

CW

 

16:28

K9VD

14MHz

CW

 

16:32

N4LAG

14MHz

CW

 

16:35

AD5TF

14MHz

CW

 

16:36

N4HNH

14MHz

CW

 

16:37

K0EAP

14MHz

CW

 

16:38

N2ESE

14MHz

CW

 

16:41

VE4AKI

14MHz

CW

 

16:57

KA3NAM

7MHz

CW

 

17:01

KB7HH

7MHz

CW

 

17:02

KX0R

7MHz

CW

S2S

17:03

W0JAZ

7MHz

CW

 

17:04

NG6R

7MHz

CW

 

17:05

N8SMB

7MHz

CW

 

17:07

W8BUD

7MHz

CW

 

17:08

AG6V

7MHz

CW

 

17:09

K6TUY

7MHz

CW

 

17:09

K6QCB

7MHz

CW

 

17:11

W5ESE

7MHz

CW

 

17:12

K6LDQ

7MHz

CW

 

17:15

N6WT

7MHz

CW

 

17:17

WA5T

7MHz

CW

 

18:33

W5ODS

14MHz

CW

S2S

18:38

N7CW

10MHz

CW

S2S

18:41

K9IR/P

14MHz

CW

S2S

18:45

K0DAJ

14MHz

CW

S2S

 

Loadout:

      GoPro Hero8

      Gregory Zulu 40 backpack

      First aid kit.  Make sure it’s a good one... like ability to patch up an impalement wound. 

      Elecraft KX2 10 watt HF Radio

      The K6ARK Spider Thread Antenna

   30’ of coax feed line (not needed

      Slim Jim dual band antenna for my HT.

      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

   SOTAbeams Tactical 7000hds Compact Heavy-Duty Telescopic Mast TAC7000HDS

    MFJ MFJ-1714 144 MHz 1/2 Wavelength Antenna for my HT

   AnyTone AT-868UV DMR radio for testing.

   Custom wine bottle cork paddles for CW (crafted by K6ARK)

   American Morse Ultra Porta Paddle for CW

   Delorme Inreach satellite tracker and communicator.

      Jetboil MicroMo cooking system (left at the car this trip)

      Yaesu FT-2DR HT (backup left in the car)

     Packtenna. (did not take)

     CHA MPAS with spike and additional MIL mast (and version 2 of the top section) (left in car)

      Yaesu FT-891D HF Radio at 100 watts  (left this in the car :) )

    Extra LiFePO Battery (not needed)

     Helinox Chair Zero Ultralight Compact Camping Chair.

 

73,

N1CLC

Christian Claborne

(aka chris claborne)

 


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