What I thought would be a relatively easy and quick activation became a failure. I went on Saturday to activate Brian Head W7U/SU-016, and Navajo Point W7U/IR-002. We camped up in this area, and I wanted to get in a quick easy drive up 10 points for each.
I had cell service, so I spotted myself on 6m FT8 with the hopes of getting 1 or 2. After no activity I decided to switch to 10M Ft8. The band had lots of activity and some strong signals. I was only able to get 3 contacts. I could see my reports on pskreporter as far as Spain, Canada, and way down in South America.
The entire time I was also calling cq on 2m without any activity at all. I understand that a large portion of the people in that area use GMRS in their sxs activities.
So, after spending almost 4 hours and only getting 3 contacts I aborted my second summit plans. I picked up the wife and ate a great cheeseburger at Aunt Sue’s Chalet in Duck Creek.
I am not upset or complaining. It was a great day, with great weather. I also ended up talking to lots of people that were really excited to find out what I was doing. I did get one, “What are you doing, detecting earthquakes?”
I halfheartedly have been studying for my General. I plan to test sometime in the next 30 days or so.
I am also stubborn. I was testing a super light carbon fiber vertical, although in my truck 200 yards away I had a 7-meter mast with 6m, and 10m dipoles. I did go back to my truck for my solar panels and additional water.
I understand that other bands would give me a better chance of success. I look forward to tackling (driving up) this one again in the future. We camp in this area frequently and this will be a great excuse.
I have been asked many quirky questions like are you listening to the planet Jupiter, however detecting earthquakes is definitely awesome. I will put that in my back pocket for the next visitor
If it is of any modicum of inspiration (for want of a better word), my first ever portable activity was a SOTA activation attempt in 2024.
I got 1 contact. Still logged it. Still delighted I managed to make a contact with my impressive setup of a Bingfu mag mount for 2m, a Tidradio H8 and a Pyrex cake tin.
Did it knock my confidence? Heck no!
I went back almost 2 years later and rinsed it.
Report:
Incidentally I wrote a blog piece recently about failed activations and accentuating the positive from those experiences. If of interest it can be found here:
The bottom line of all of this though is that you were on the air and enjoying the outdoors and playing radio.
You can upgrade to a 627,493kW Italian QRPp station another day! That day will come soon enough I’m sure!
I can sympathize having failed on Navajo Point as well about this time last year. My reason was lots of bugs that I wasn’t prepared to deal with and I ended up packing it in and leaving. That’s when I really started looking into quicker ways of getting set up and on the air. I was reminded of that activation a few weeks ago on W7U/NU-027 when red ants were crawling all over me and my rig while I was trying to log enough contacts. Best of luck next time, keep at it!
On top of Brians Head I was surrounded by biting flies and bees. I survived without a single bite or sting though. I did have a very persistent large fly that would repeatedly just dive bomb and crash into my face and glasses. I eventually struck it down.
Quick and light is why I was really hoping that carbon fiber vertical would be a winner.
Red ants are terrible. At least the ones I have come in contact within the Southeast states. I was stung by a group when I walked through and disturbed a small pine tree. I had swollen glands in my armpits after that adventure.
I agree with you. It was still an enjoyable day for me. I had snacks and water. I even had a group of friends that had taken a few offroad trails stop by to rag me for nerding out. We took some group pictures together, and we talked about what I was trying to do. One of those in the group has hiked to a few summits with me before.
They even lined up all of the jeeps with my parked truck and took an Instagram photo for one of their accounts.
I do operate at 5watts on less than perfect bands. I was expecting at least 4 contacts though. I still cannot complain the breeze was gentle and I was in the shade of the observation structure.
