Sunday, November 29, 2020

20-11-26 Twin Peaks with some DX

Well I’ve got the day off, it’s Thanksgiving day, I thought I would get some exercise, work the radio, and see if I can get a little DX.  The solar conditions are finally improving, mainly the solar flux mainly caused by bright regions on the sun improve the ionization of the upper atmosphere, providing better skip for HF signals.  I thought if I got up early, I might be able to work stations in Europe.  I’ve already done this hike and activation for SOTA this year, so no points but it’s close to the house, RF quiet and simple. 

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I was up on the summit by around 830 local and fired up the KX2 on 20m.  The bands were definitely improved.  Everyone was blasting in with a really strong signal, from the east coast to Canada.  I had heard that 17m into Europe was possible so I fired that up and was rewarding with a bunch more contacts including Spain, France, and New Zealand.  I also worked 3 other stations on summits.

All in all I was pretty happy with the outcome.  I set out to work Europe and... mission accomplished.  To prove things were really popp’n, I also worked John in New Zealand.  I’m pretty stoked about the outcome.

Expedition Summary

SOTA summits:W6/SC-453 (Twin Peaks)
Points:0 (normally 1 but I’ve already done this one)
Activation Date: 2020-11-26 (UTC)
Unique: No
Activation No: 220
Call sign used: N1CLC
Radios: KX2
Antennas: K6ARK random wire
Band/Modes used: 17m 20m, 30m, 40m, CW (morse) SSB (voice)
Cell Data: AT&T
Miles Hiked: 2.74 mi
Hiked Elevation Gain: 666

Contacts

Date:26/11/2020 | Summit:W6/SC-453 (Twin Peaks) | Call Used:N1CLC | Points: 0

Time

Callsign

Band

Mode

Notes

16:39

KG3W

14MHz

CW

 

16:40

WW7D

14MHz

CW

 

16:40

W0MNA

14MHz

CW

 

16:41

WB7BWZ

14MHz

CW

 

16:42

W0ERI

14MHz

CW

 

16:43

WB2FUV

14MHz

CW

 

16:43

KT5X

14MHz

CW

 

16:44

K3TCU

14MHz

CW

 

16:46

N4LAG

14MHz

CW

Summit-to-summit

16:47

KD8DEU

14MHz

CW

 

16:48

K7MK

14MHz

CW

 

16:48

WG0AT

14MHz

CW

 

16:49

WA2USA

14MHz

CW

 

16:50

W5ODS

14MHz

CW

 

16:51

W7JKC

14MHz

CW

 

16:52

AB4PP

14MHz

CW

 

16:53

K6ARK

14MHz

CW

 

16:54

VE7HI

14MHz

CW

 

16:54

W9MRH

14MHz

CW

 

16:55

K0LAF

14MHz

CW

 

16:56

N0RZ

14MHz

CW

 

16:59

EA7GV

14MHz

CW

Granada Spain

17:00

KB6VME

14MHz

CW

 

17:01

N0DNF

14MHz

CW

 

17:08

WD9F

18MHz

CW

 

17:10

F4WBN

18MHz

CW

France

17:11

N0RZ

18MHz

CW

 

17:12

W4PH

18MHz

CW

 

17:13

AE0XI

18MHz

CW

 

17:15

WD8KDB

18MHz

CW

 

17:16

NU7A

18MHz

CW

 

17:16

N0TK

18MHz

CW

 

17:17

ZL1BYZ

18MHz

CW

New Zealand

17:18

KK0U

18MHz

CW

 

17:19

AC7MA

18MHz

CW

 

17:22

K6MXA

7MHz

SSB

Summit-to-Summit

17:27

AC7FF

7MHz

CW

 

17:28

WA6KYR

7MHz

CW

 

17:29

KN6EZE

7MHz

CW

 

17:30

K6QCB

7MHz

CW

 

17:38

N0MTN

14MHz

SSB

Summit-to-Summit

17:43

N0WAE

14MHz

SSB

 

17:43

K7GT

14MHz

SSB

 

17:44

K6KMH

14MHz

SSB

 

 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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