Panther Mountain is typical of many of the Catskill high peaks in southern New York. Today’s hike was 3.5 miles in (1800’ climb) often over rocky trails. The peak is thickly treed with balsalm fir, which sometimes makes it difficult to hang a wire that does not obstruct the trail. I was running a SW-3B at 5 watts to an inverted vee linked dipole hung from a tree branch. Many thanks to the chasers today and the seven (7) s2s in NH, ME, WI, QC, AZ, CO and WA which makes it all worthwhile!
Stay well & 73!
Mike, WB2FUV
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Looks like a fun hike. I’ll have to add that to the To-Do list. I am planning a Catskills trip early Fall. Slide and Hunter are my objectives.
Next week I am hiking Mt Marcy in the Adirondacks with a non-ham friend so hoping for a relatively quick 4 QSOs and done. I am bringing the FT60R and Yagi so crossing fingers! Also hope to get Whiteface the following day.
Erik
KE8OKM
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Erik,
The treed summits with limited views may be a challenge for VHF/UHF. I see some successful VHF activations from Slide recently and a few from Hunter. Good luck!
Mike, WB2FUV
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Erik, I activated Mount Marcy back in 2010. I used an end fed half wave on my handheld running 2.5 watts. If I remember correctly, none of my chasers were in New York and of course none of them were “regular” SOTA chasers. It didn’t take a yagi then, and it probably still doesn’t, but having something better than a rubber duck is a good idea.
Of course on 2m its all about timing, who is actually listening at the time you are calling CQ. Sometimes it is useful to take break, eat something and then call again a little while later.
Have a good activation,
N7NGO
I did Hunter last November on a gorgeous fall day. No trouble at all getting QSOs on VHF even though the summit is dense with Pines which is curious as I have experienced foliage attenuation elsewhere. I setup near the firetower base and collected 4 QSOs then went up the firetower and got a couple more with Yagi.
I did try to activate a summit in North Carolina last summer with a metal firetower in a spot I thought would be easy. That was not the case at all. I was using my Rollup Jpole and I think the Metal tower was causing serious issues either tx or rx not one response in over an hour calling but weather did come in fine.
Erik
KE8OKM
I was checking out the QSOs from Marcy and saw yours as well as a couple others so I think a VHF activation will work. I just hope I don’t keep my friend standing up their for hours with me calling CQ!!! It’s a 14-15 mile RT and to come away without the points would be a letdown😂 I see Skylight has never been activated and it’s in striking distance…we’ll see how it goes!
Erik
KE8OKM
CAREFUL… There are a number of Panther Mountains listed in SOTA. My post concerned W2/GC-105 in the Catskills. I believe Echo Cliff, and some other W2 Panthers, are located further north in the Adirondacks… There is no water view from W2/GC-105. 
You are completely right! My post was from W2/GA-284! I deleted the post so it does not get confusing. I had to edit this because I STILL had the wrong one!
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