Database is now back, so I’ve added an Alert for you - I guess you’re well on the track by now - good luck.
73 Ed DD5LP.
Thanks for the help all. It was a long day but we made it to the top and made contacts. Report, pics, gps track, and story on the way.
George you were right: the top is one odd place!
Many thanks for the patience of those I managed to work on my first cw activation. I really felt sick leaving before working everyone but the storm moving in said it was time to get off the mountain.
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Joe,
That was a fabulous first activation. If it was your first CW activation, it was even more awesome. You did a long, tough hike, you set up your gear efficiently, you got spotted by the RBN Hole on two bands, you had plenty of chasers, your signal was more than decent, and you pulled off something unusual in winter!
For me it was tough. You showed up spotted on 30M CW - my favorite band for current conditions - my brain went crazy as I tried to get ready to call - but you didn’t stay there long enough for the pile to get serious - a few more minutes might have been amazing!
You went to 40 CW - I didn’t expect to hear you at all - but there you were, clearly above the noise - sometimes - out here in Colorado!! I don’t know what you were running, but this was exceptional, and I was waiting for a chance to call once the big guys and closer chasers had worked you.
While I was listening to your activation, I looked at the clock and had a dark thought that you might be in a real hurry, due to the time and length of the hike out. A few more minutes and it was over. With weather moving in, you made the right decision.
Never mind, you caught the real spirit of SOTA, and I’m sure you amazed a lot of other chasers!
Thanks and 73,
George
KX0R
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Thank you very much George!
The day ended up being one of those days that just crystalizes into something you know you’ll never forget. It started at 5am with a tow truck and ended walking off the mountain under moonlight.
I really didn’t think I’d make a contact the bands were so bad. If it wasn’t for code, it would not have happened (and, back to that thread about short cw QSOs, I did end the activation with a meteorological observation about the incoming storm!). I called for almost an hour between ssb and cw on 80, 40, 30, 20ms. I got the first QSO on 80 but apparently I was never spotted. I called for 10min on 30 and it looks like I was probably spotted just before I QSY to 40. 40 got me a small pileup when I was spotted, but by then the storm was there and we were way past our intended off-summit time.
That sums up the RF cdx. You heard me in CO and I logged WF4I who was 175mi away, both on 40. The ether was astir for sure.
73,
Joe