This was one of the most incredible SOTA activations I’ve ever done, and there have been so many… Thanks to all who organized and participated to make this event what it became!
My day started well, with a short drive to a nearby peak W0C/FR-174, Bald Mountain. As I approached the trailhead, I saw all the trees absolutely dancing in the wind. The temperature was about 3 or 4 C, but the wind was going to be a problem on BALD MOUNTAIN! There were still piles of old snow in the shady spots. It all looked so grim, I almost went home. I put on several layers and started hiking the mile-long approach to the peak.
About halfway to the peak, I saw a large animal in the jeep road ahead - a juvenile moose - standing his ground and not moving. Wisely I decided to detour up and around through the forest, which cost some precious time. It was so windy that I didn’t care - in fact, I wanted to delay, so that the sun would warm Bald Mountain. Before long, I was climbing the steep social trail past abandoned mines, getting warmer, and almost at the summit!
Right ahead I saw a father and son dressed in bright orange outfits, carrying rifles, and obviously HUNTING in the dawn light! I spoke to them, asking gently if it was OK to go up to the summit and set up my radio gear - they were there first,and they have a right to be there…we agreed on where we would be, and they joked that I should send the deer down the east side of the hill where they were planning to go.
Gratefully I ascended to the windy top, finding only a few useful spots with bushes and/or trees, as well as the sun exposure that I needed prevent getting chilled by the wind. Quickly I got out my gear, tied the 6M carbon pole to my shelter tree, laid the 65 feet of #24 teflon wire out toward the old dead tree that would support the east end, found a rock and threw it over a dead branch, and had my end-fed inverted-L up - never mind running through some aspen branches, etc. It was going to happen after all…
I had 2 bars of 5G cel service - SOTAWatch came up on the I-phone - what a sight to see that screen!
I got the KX2 on real fast, and right away I found GM4OIG on 21.064…I know who he his - I called, and bam - he came right back at 1528Z, and that was a good start!! Scotland S2S - incredible…I must have been one of his last contacts, so Gerald, thank you for staying on so long.
Compared to the gear many of you used for this event, my activation was minimal. I used a KX2 at 10W, and I carried 2 sets of batteries - about 10 oz for the power. Antenna was a 65-foot wire, inverted-L, fed at the bottom of the pole, no feedline, no transformer, no links, no radials, no counterpoise. I used my most recent homebrew tiny tuner, which tunes all bands 60M through 10M. The summit was quiet, in the National Forest, about a mile from significant development. The antenna was oriented to that the best lobes on the higher frequencies were roughly northeast, toward EU. The site I picked was above a fairly steep slope, looking down about 1000 feet to the east, almost ideal for a low wave angle. I was at 2788M, 9147 feet, with an incredible view out far out to the east, way across the Great Plains, with the snowy Continental Divide much higher to the west.
A quick listen near 21.06 told me the band was hot - there was DX, people sending summit refs, CQ’s, close signals - WOW! My phone was running spots by faster than I could read them, but I saw that many were on 10M CW. I moved up there real fast and was pleased. I knew I was near the end of the EU S2S activity, so I stayed on 10M, called CQ, got spotted by the RBNHole, etc., and managed to snag a few more EU S2S operators.
I was getting across - and I was sure I could hear very well - 10M was really decent! So were 12M and 15M! The biggest problem I had was that lots of EU DX stations saw my spots, heard me, called me with 599 signals, and created pileups for me! Normally they would be fun DX, but they were QRM for this event. I made several EU S2S contacts by watching the spots and calling instead.
At 1700Z, G4OBK Phil called me on 21.0625, he was 599 - that was right after EA2LU got me, also 599.
After about 1700Z, the event was mostly a regular Saturday activation, with numerous NA S2S and tons of regular chasers. I called CQ on various bands, and I also chased other S2S people from band to band, mostly as fast as I could find them and then - sometimes - break through their chasers.
Eventually I managed to work all the bands from 40M through 10M, mostly CW, but also some nice SSB S2S’s as well. It was a busy Saturday for sure, and all these bands were very useful. There were many S2S’s on 40M CW and SSB, and some of them came with much better S2S points than many of the earlier peaks!
The day turned out fine, the wind dropped, the sun was warm, and all was good on Bald Mountain. Perhaps 10 hikers came up and enjoyed the view with their friends…
I stayed on until almost 2000Z, and there were lots more S2S’s still coming, but enough of the madness!
Some numbers:
91 contacts
45 S2S contacts
39 Unique Summit S2S contacts
7 DX S2S contacts, all EU
6 Unique Summit DX S2S contacts
Many DX contacts
167 S2S points
0 Activator points
Thanks to all of you!
73
KX0R
George/Carey
