ACØPR, ham radio blog: "Mount Moo" W7U/WS-016 (7660)

From my favorite spot

When I first activated this summit in 2016, it was my third activation ever, and the first one where I was the first to activate a summit for SOTA. It's a 6-pointer that's less than an hour from my house. It has no name, but is nicknamed "Mount Moo" for the ranch down below and my son, Daniel, who's nickname is "Moo". I have activated it in every season, and enjoy them all.

Trail report:

Looking up from the bottom

From Central, Utah you take Rte. 35 on the way to Pine Valley. From there take FR-253, a dirt road, just after the big "rock sign" that says Pine Valley. There are two access roads, one on the east, right up to the base on its west side, and one that goes all the way around to from the west and ends up on the east at a higher elevation. I opted to go to the direct east as the drive to the west winding around would take almost as long as the hike up to the top. There is a good access road right up to the base. There is no visible trail other than cattle/game trails, but not too bad. There's a nice outcropping of rocks at the top to operate/take pictures.

The experience:

The hike is always nice. It's short but still gives you a workout. Going in April is also nice with the weather. I have gone during winter bonus season, for the bonus of course, but spring and fall are the nicest times to go. There were people camping down below, which was a first in the times I've come. They were content with riding ATVs though and weren't interested in the mountain. As with the majority of places I go, there's no trail, but it's easy to work your way up.

For some reason this time I overshot my "spot" and ended up further over--saw some new area, but the spot I like is open so my dipole doesn't get caught up in branches with the trees on top. On air, there was lots of activity and I stayed on for a good 45 mins or so and got 46 contacts, so with changing bands twice, that's keeping busy. With my setup, changing a band means getting up and either linking or unlinking parts of wire to get the right length for the frequency I'm going to use. That way I have have a multiband antenna and not need a tuner of any kind. I got one S2S (summit-to-summit) which is always good, you get to count your own summit and the other. Great day to play on the radio!

Date:25/04/2020 | Summit:W7U/WS-016 (7660) | Call Used:AC0PR | Points: 6 | Bonus: 0

Time	Callsign	Band	Mode	Notes
16:28	K0BWR	14MHz	CW
16:29	WW7D	14MHz	CW
16:30	K7PD	14MHz	CW
16:31	VA7VJ	14MHz	CW
16:31	K0LAF	14MHz	CW
16:32	AD0YM	14MHz	CW
16:33	K7GT	14MHz	CW
16:34	VE7HI	14MHz	CW
16:35	VA6FUN	14MHz	CW
16:36	W9MRH	14MHz	CW
16:36	K6MW	14MHz	CW
16:37	W0MNA	14MHz	CW
16:37	W0ERI	14MHz	CW
16:38	KA5PVB	14MHz	CW
16:39	WU7H	14MHz	CW
16:40	NE4TN	14MHz	CW
16:40	WC0Y	14MHz	CW
16:41	N0RZ	14MHz	CW
16:41	KE9AJ	14MHz	CW
16:43	K4MF	14MHz	CW
16:49	W7RV	7MHz	CW
16:50	AA6XA	7MHz	CW
16:50	NU7Y	7MHz	CW
16:51	W0NF	7MHz	CW
16:51	WA9STI	7MHz	CW
16:52	KD7WPJ	7MHz	CW
16:53	WA7JTM	7MHz	CW
16:54	WA6MTZ	7MHz	CW
16:54	K6EL	7MHz	CW
16:55	N0DNF	7MHz	CW
16:56	NW7E	7MHz	CW
16:56	N6AN	7MHz	CW	S2S W6/CT-225
16:57	W6TDX	7MHz	CW
16:58	K6QCB	7MHz	CW
16:59	N6MKW	7MHz	CW
16:59	K7PD	7MHz	CW
17:00	N7LP	7MHz	CW
17:01	K7CLR	7MHz	CW
17:02	K6HPX	7MHz	CW
17:02	K0ES	7MHz	CW
17:09	VA7VJ	10MHz	CW
17:10	K6YK	10MHz	CW
17:11	K7PD	10MHz	CW
17:13	WB7VTY	10MHz	CW
17:14	N6WT	10MHz	CW
17:17	K6EL	10MHz	CW