Today I activated Pike’s Peak W0C/FR-004. It’s a drive on summit so it’s been activated lots of times and I was expecting a reasonably straightforward activation.
The summit was pretty busy when I arrived with no obvious place to set up but I found some rocks near the entrance to the parking lot which was quiet and had some clear space.
There was a ranger at the car park entrance so I asked if it was ok to set up a ham radio set over there and the reply was a firm no - no antennas can be put up on the summit. I asked if a handheld radio was ok and he said that was fine.
I’m not sure if this has always been the case, or if it’s new?
Despite using the Sotabeams band pass filter, there was still lots of QRM on both 146.520 and 146.580 MHz. It sounded like DV with the occasional AFSK packet, so may have been amateur or may have been something else.
I’m grateful to the chasers who stuck with me while I found a spot slightly more sheltered from the QRM and waited while it passed so I could hear them again, until the bighorn sheep came for me.
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Always better to ask forgiveness than to ask for permission. Maybe I’ll put that in the rules at the next revision. 
Elliott, K6EL
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I had no problems last year. Actually, a year and a couple of days ago. Managed a decent haul (and dx) on HF, then found a different spot to use my handheld on 2m.
Just as well for you that it’s a great summit for 2m. It would have been most annoying if you hadn’t been able to activate and qualify it.
We had snow on top. Hope you’re having a nice time in Colorado.
What radio were you using?
I see from your log, you had 6 summit to summits, so nothing to complain about really! How did you execute the 10m SSB QSO’s?
Quansheng UV-K5. It’s the only one I have that will tx on 146 MHz.
Works fine with the Sotabeams filter on GW/NW-043 so I was expecting it to be ok here.
I walked down the hiking trail slightly and hid behind some rocks out of sight from anyone on the “patio” admiring the views, kept the radio in my backpack and “dropped” the dipole on the rocks either side of me. I was happy with 3 QSOs with 10W 
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Pete,
Your wire on the rocks did a perfect job for our S2S contact! I was surprised to see your spot for 28.603 MHz SSB, and even more surprised to hear your voice coming to me so clearly!
I was on Boreas Mountain, at 3987M, about 13080 feet, and you were perfect line-of-sight across all of South Park and more! The distance is almost exactly 100 KM, about 62 miles!
Pikes Peak was clearly visible from my summit, its huge mass standing far above and beyond many other high peaks in my view.
More than 20 SOTA activations of Pikes Peak have been logged this year, and I doubt that those activators shared your unfortunate experience with the zealous ranger. Hopefully this is an isolated event.
It’s not easy to think clearly and deal with trouble in the thin air at over 14,000 feet - but you did it, coming up with an effective alternate plan, and you sounded really good at my peak near the Continental Divide.
You really made my day!
Thanks and 73
George/Carey
KX0R
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Pete,
Sorry to hear about your difficulties on the summit. Some rangers can be like police. Looking through the pikes peaks logs I saw plenty of ops who operated on hf and I’d bet many of them were using wires. Glad you were able to pull it off. Good idea just laying it on the ground.
Good luck with your trip. I usually carry a vertical whip for situations like yours or for small summits, but I prefer a wire.
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Good job with a wire on the ground!
I managed to pick up a used US spec Kenwood HT before my trip. I thought it was a worthwhile investment for trips to that part of the planet.
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