Activation date: 15 December 2019
I use to visit this mountain once a year.
In the past, I activated there in different weather condition, either covered in snow, with dense fog, or at better times, with a clear sky.
This year I found the sun was shining up in the summit but the wind was blowing hard!
Jorge EA2LU joined me in this activation. He suffered from very strong gust and had difficulties to hear some of the weakest chasers, even using his earphones!
Instead of carrying his usual resonant EFHW, he tried a new setup to test a bit a homebrew antenna tuner he has receintly built.
He is still playing to optimize the wire length and therefore we will write in the future a deeper explanation of the final design when he had extensively tested and find the right combination. He added 4 short radials lying on the ground.
Here you see his wire inverted L on a 5 meter fishpole:
And George sitting next the pole, tuning and ready to start:
I separated further apart to avoid interference and installed my EFHW on a 5 m carbon pole. I also experienced troubles with the wind and also some noise due to the big broadcast aerials in the summit:
After an hour activation and fatigued with the wind, we closed down and packed.
Jorge logged 26 qso on 60, 30 and 20m CW. He was glad to log OK/SP9MA/P on 60m with his short and least efficient vertical.
I logged 22 qso in HF, mainly on 20m SSB, but worked also one S2S on 40m CW and logged 2 more on 145 FM while disassemblying the HF aerial.
Thanks M/AI4SV, E70AA/P, G0EVV/P, OK/SP9MA/P, EA2DNO/P and EA2DCA/P for the S2S, and the rest of the chasers for making again this activation was a great day.
Both Jorge and me wish you all a pleasant Christmas time!
I am 4 points down from Mountain goat, hopefully I will try for it early in 2020!
VY 73 de Ignacio