I went back to Joshua Tree Historical area today (K-6092) in Beaver Dam Wash Conservation Area (K-6096) where I had a failed activation in Sept. since, of course, I couldn't let it go without being properly activated. It was a great day and activation. It's also a WWFF area (KFF-4966).
In the area: I arrived about 8:30, with it being cooler there's no need to go out really early. I already 
knew the spot I wanted to set up--at the top of a large hill so there would be no obstruction of the signal. The hike was nice and not as long or rough as a SOTA summit. Although from that position I did get a good look at a nearby summit that hasn't been done and decided I should do it fairly soon.
Since I had done this one before, but unsuccessfully, I already had the route to top figured out. It was a little steep at the last, but it was a good position. I used some rocks to keep the antenna mast up as I do about half the time. I took a few pictures and then set everything up.
On the air: I was very encouraged this time since I spotted myself, got on the air and within about a 
minute a got my first call from MO. Within 10 minutes I got a call from DL9USA in Germany. I was so thrown off by a foreign callsign I need to ask for a repeat and his signal was 579, quite strong for that distance. By that point I knew I wasn't going to have any problem activating this area. A few minutes later I got a call from Finland. In the end, I ended up with seven calls from Europe (Germany x2, Finland, France, Belguim x2, and Ukraine). I got a new American Morse CW key that I used (the Portapaddle), although I used one for at least a year when I first started SOTA.
The Ukrainian station was hard fought (UT5PI). There were other stations calling an interrupting each time I was trying to copy the callsign. Luckily I finally got it, but it took quite a while. I'm sure all the European stations were because of the WWFF program and not POTA--I'm glad it was both, it made the day much more fun. I stayed on for 40 minutes is all and ended up with 23 QSO's. I also had three Park-to-park contacts. It was the most fun I've had doing parks, normally it takes over twice as long to get half that many.
Linked dipole, homebrewed (4 bands)
Fishing pole mast
Earbuds
Leypin selfie stick tripod (for recording video)
Clipboard
Android MotoZ (US topo map app, spotting, UTC time, recording)
Misc. items (for repair, food, water, etc.)
Thanks for reading!
72,
Mike ACØPR
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI activated W7U/WS-112 yesterday and had an interesting experience. I activated Scrub Benchmark earlier and used my 40 meter dipole in an NVIS configuration to log my contacts. I removed the dipole from my pack to reduce the weight but neglected to put a vital bag back into my pack. I hiked up to the summit and noticed the wire laying around on top wondering why it was there. I attached my antenna mast to the dead tree just off the top of the ridge and raised it up with my end fed antenna. I attached it and my counterpoise to the balun. When I went to attach it to my radio I realized the coax that connects the two was in the bag I left in my Polaris at the bottom of the hill. UGH! I remembered the wire laying out in the open and put my MacGyver skills to work. I cut a short length of wire with my Gerber that I brought with me for the very first time and filed off the rust. I cut a longer piece and formed a loop on either end to go over the SO-239 connector. After mating the two together I had a suitable wire connector. I made 8 SOTA contacts and two were S2S contacts into California. Ended up being a pretty great day. I was looking for your email but didn't notice it or I would have sent pictures. Johnny-K7ZZQ jrauzi1@aol.com
Hi Johnny, that's an awesome experience, the tools and the skills got it done!
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