Hello everyone,
I just returned from a trip to Maui, activated RED HILL KH6/MA-001.
Thought I would share a little bit about the trip that included Covid restrictions, the summit and flying with a radio/battery/antenna.
I flew Southwest Airlines. Carried on the Yaesu 857d, two laptops (Work and Play) and a Bioenno 12v 6ah 72watt battery PN BLF-1206A .
COVID Restrictions for flying to Hawaii were very specific, Pre testing was an option, but you may not get your results soon enough to board the flight. We had both shots, had to upload our records to Safe Travels Hawaii and complete a questionnaire 24hrs prior to our flight. We flew out of Tucson to San Diego, Prior to boarding in San Diego we were required to verify all info., some travelers were having issues with documentation and were not allowed to board, there is also a 10day quarantine in Maui should you get there and have an issue. Maui was a mask requirement community, with signs for fines.
Southwest required each laptop and the radio be in separate bins for X-Ray. Battery was pulled out for inspection, all they did was read the label and placed in back in the bin.
Biggest issue was a folding Allen wrench set I had with the radio, the thought it might have been a weapon, but allowed it following a discussion.
I had the ATAS-120a antenna with 5 counterpoise wires in my packed baggage. The ATAS Allowed me several frequencies if needed, touch tunning capabilities and with the claw attachment would be easy to set up. From the looks of my bag, the antenna was removed for inspection going both ways (I think it may have looked like a gun), I had it tagged with the model # and identified it as an antenna.
Red Hill KH6/MA-001 is also a park #K-0036 at 10,000’.
I was in Maui for Thanksgiving, temp at the beach was 81*, I was in shorts and took a light jacket with me. 1.5hr drive up a very windy road that was in great shape, average is about 15-20mph.
Park entrance fee was $30.00 and good for three days.
Reservations are required if you try and get into the Park prior to 7:30am as the tour buses are running up the mountain. Lots of bicyclist on the road. About 3/4 of the way up you will most likely pass a group of hitch hikers, they have parked their car and are looking for a ride to the summit so they can hike the crater trail back down to their car. I picked up 3, they had never heard of Ham Radio or SOTA.
I parked in the last parking lot at the peak, took a quick hike around the area to look for an ideal place to operate from. First thing I noticed is it was colder than I expected, I found out afterwards it was 40*, then the wind, at least 15mph but the gusts were much more powerful. Windchill was 33*. This was a gamechanger as I was not prepared (It’s Hawaii - - - - - ).
I had found a 4’ ledge off to the west side with a trail running just below it, I lightly clamped the ATAS-120a to a lava rock, let the counterpoise rest below as to not gather any attention or cross the hike path and fired up the radio.
The battery is only rated 6amp continuous, 12a Max peak discharge. Although I did not have a meter to properly measure the amperage, the radio showed 13.1vdc with a drop to 12.8 when transmitting, had the radio set at 100w. Display on the radio showed full power when transmitting as well, I expect I was doing pretty good under the circumstances.
12.25.2021 9am, Antenna tuned 20m, I did a band sweep with only one station heard, 14.270ssb and it sounded like South America. My calls for CQ SOTA went unanswered. I then posted in SOTAWATCH for 18.142ssb, antenna tuned in seconds. This proved to be the best band and was suggested by Keith KR7RK prior to my trip.
Contacts were all west coast, California, Oregan, Washington and Arizona. Actually made the trip into Tucson (We live 20miles south of Tucson).
Contacts: WW7D, NS7P, K6YK, W6TDX, K6HPX, KF6HI & WB6POT.
After making the 7 contacts the cold had gotten the better of me, I had been trembling and had difficulty logging the contacts on my phone, then I stopped shaking and suddenly I felt warm, this concerned me… I quickly packed up and headed for the car.
On the way down the mountain, rain at about 9000’, then the feeling returned to my fingers, this was a painful 20 minutes or so.
All in all, a great experience and addition to my Maui trip. I recommend it to everyone.
73 everyone.
Bud KI7OFL.
So in this case, the 81 degrees F was at the beach which is at sea level (say 0 feet ASL) and the summit is 3055 meters = 10,022 feet ASL.