Pork SOTA redux Sept 2

(hi to all you other Primus fans. Sorry to everyone else – couldn’t resist)

Looks like the wx in the UP will be perfect for some running and radio this weekend. Allison and I will set out Sunday at 1100z for a ~25mi loop of the Porcupine Mountains State Park, hopefully bagging all three summits therein. There is no cell service for spotting so I’ll be depending on RBNhole and APRS.

Route is here: pork sota - CalTopo

Summits, Freq/Alt Freq, ETA QRV

  1. Summit Peak W8M/UP-002 7062 hkz / 10127 khz 1330z
  2. Peak 1496 W8M/UP-031 5332 khz / 10127 khz 1700z
  3. Cuyahoga Peak W8M/UP-016 10127 khz / 7062 khz 1830z

QRV times are estimates and depend upon how the legs are feeling . Freqs and alternates are posted. I’ll start with the initial one and QSY up if the freq is busy. If I get no responses after 10min I’ll assume I’m not getting out and QSY to the alternate freq.

I’ll have time for one band per summi and I’ve tried to select them to favor likely propagation. I’ve allotted 30 min per ref for radio, so ~25 min on the air. Cuyahoga is very close to the end of the loop, and I’ll probably work additional bands there.

I’ll be running 5-10w on my KX2 into a 40’ wire via a 9:1 matchbox.

As always: thank you Chasers!

I hope you wont need to sleep for seven days after this and give us all an awful fright. :wink:

:rofl:

Hello Joe,
You might give somw thought to handing out contacts for the CQ WW VHF Contest that weekend. CQ VHF Contest - Rules.
Even 146.58-fm might catch you some contacts (146.52 is not allowed). Check your gridsquare for the exchange as you might be in a rare one!
Etienne-K7ATN

Great idea. I was planning on calling cq on 146.52 anyway, so easy enough to try on 146.58 too. I imagine the grids there are pretty rare. That said, I’m not sure how much activity there will be up there - it’s a pretty remote area.

We’re canceling the trip as it’s become obvious that we’d be spending the whole day in cold rain. If it was closer to home we’d tough it out it but it’s a long way to travel for certain rain.

Thanks for all those who offered to listen!

It appears there is a time limit on post edits, so posting updated deets here:

Looks like the wx in the UP will be perfect for some running and radio this weekend. Allison and I will set out Sunday at 1100z for a ~25mi loop of the Porcupine Mountains State Park, hopefully bagging all three summits therein. There is no cell service for spotting so I’ll be depending on RBNhole and APRS.

Route is here: pork sota - CalTopo

Summits, Freq/Alt Freq, ETA QRV

  1. Summit Peak W8M/UP-002 7062 hkz / 10127 khz 1330z
  2. Peak 1496 W8M/UP-031 14062 khz / 10127 khz 1700z
  3. Cuyahoga Peak W8M/UP-016 10127 khz / 7062 khz 1830z

QRV times are estimates and depend upon how the legs are feeling . Freqs and alternates are posted. I’ll start with the initial one and QSY up if the freq is busy. If I get no responses after 10min I’ll assume I’m not getting out and QSY to the alternate freq.

I’ll have time for one band per summit and I’ve tried to select them to favor likely propagation. I’ve allotted 30 min per ref for radio, so ~25 min on the air. Cuyahoga is very close to the end of the loop, and I’ll probably work additional bands there.

I’ll be running 5-10w on my KX2 into a 40’ wire via a 9:1 matchbox.

As always: thank you Chasers!

Joe,

I have done all three of those summits up in the UP of MI so you should have a good trip. If you only have time to do one, I would suggest Cuyahoga (UP-016) since that has the best hike and views along the Escarpment Trail. Another nearby SOTA en route is the Bergland Lookout (UP-007) which is one of my favorites. Afterwards, I always drive to a small park at the north end of Lake Gogebic for a cold 807 and review my log. If the WX looks iffy but you still want to go up, you can consider Pine Mtn (UP-027) further east at Iron Mountain. It is a drive-up but in a nice park with picnic tables and a large wood roof covering so you can stay dry in the rain with your wire antenna running out into the trees. An hour drive south in WI is Sugarbush Hill (W9/WI-002) another drive-up which can easily be done in the same day as Pine Mtn.

In October I will be back at my cottage in Eagle River so plan to activate Mt Arvon (W8M/UP-001) which is the highest point in the state. I read your reply to my Alaska SOTA post so that would be something if I could work you from your birthplace in Alaska! I was able to contact the NCS in Fairbanks this morning on the 20 meter Alaska Net so propagation is still there. 73 de Scott WA9STI

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Looks like a fun hike. Maybe we’ll be able to get a s2s.

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Back at work after a really fantastic day in the woods. The Porkies are just so damned beautiful. We ended up covering ~28mi in 10hrs with ~4k of gain and one massive thunderstorm (yes it rains on every one of our outings). I activated all three planned mnts. Thanks to all you who chased!

Pix, video, and a report are in the works.

Here we are at the start (you can see two of the three refs in the background)

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