In the area: This is a very recreational area, and being a Saturday, there were people out shooting, and lots of trailers for dirt bikes, ATV's, side-by-sides, and others out and about. Most are there to ride around though, so I wasn't worried about having anyone hike to the top as I was going to do.
With the meeting I had in the morning, I got out there at about 11:30am, which is later for an activation. The best time for reaching Europe is a few hours earlier than that.
They've improved the main gravel road quite a bit in the last couple of years--pretty much any vehicle
could go on it. I still used the ATV, even though the last ride I had it was acting a little weird and lost power a couple of times. No issue today. With the onset of winter, the desert is no longer "pretty", but the temperature was great.
I parked at the base and started up. It's kind of steep but short and took me about half an hour. I didn't even take pictures on the way up as there wasn't a lot of interesting cacti or anything. At the top there's a big post (like for power at one point) as well as several railroad ties--not sure what they're for. I set up with the ties as the support for the mast and strung out the antenna. Good cell service for spotting.
On the air: I started on 20m. The first few minutes always lets you know how it's going to be. After my first CQ SOTA call, I got a call. In the first three minutes I had the official activation with hitting into the south well--North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, with Oregon as my first call. I didn't even stay on 20m for 10 minutes (and had 10 contacts). One of those was into France, F4WBN--so propagation was good.
I switched to 40 meter by connecting my links. My antenna when on the fishing pole mast normally goes to the ground, or at least close, like a foot off the ground with a little bush, that was today as well. I continued and got 27 more contacts in the next 20 minutes--good pace and a bit of a pileup at times which is fun. I also got a Summit-to-summit with K5DEZ in New Mexico. It was a fun mid-morning activation.
As normally happens with me, after a few CQ calls and no answer, with plenty of contacts, I shut the radio off and packed up. It was good to get back out again.
| Time | Callsign | Band | Mode | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:48 | K7GT | 14MHz | CW | |
| 18:48 | WF4I | 14MHz | CW | |
| 18:50 | K4ARQ | 14MHz | CW | |
| 18:51 | KC4WZB | 14MHz | CW | |
| 18:52 | WD4CFN | 14MHz | CW | |
| 18:52 | F4WBN | 14MHz | CW | |
| 18:54 | WW7D | 14MHz | CW | |
| 18:55 | W7EEE | 14MHz | CW | |
| 18:55 | W4KRN | 14MHz | CW | |
| 18:56 | WY7N | 14MHz | CW | |
| 18:56 | W5GDW | 14MHz | CW | |
| 19:01 | K6YK | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:01 | WA6YKR | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:02 | NW7E | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:02 | KR7Q | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:03 | K8TE | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:03 | NM5BG | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:04 | AA7OY | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:04 | W7RV | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:05 | KR7Q | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:05 | WB6POT | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:06 | K6QCB | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:07 | K6HPX | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:08 | K7SO | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:08 | KT3M | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:08 | KI6PMD | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:09 | W0JAZ | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:10 | K5DEZ | 7MHz | CW | S2S W7N/MG-043 |
| 19:11 | WY7N | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:12 | W7GA | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:12 | K6KM | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:13 | KF6HI | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:13 | K6TUY | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:14 | NJ7V | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:14 | KI7VEM | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:15 | N6MKW | 7MHz | CW | |
| 19:15 | K7TP | 7MHz | CW |
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