W4 SOTA Campout Fall 2021

My alerts have been posted! For chasers: what mode/bands will you be using from the campground?

FYI I pitched this at the Greater Louisville Hamfest a few weekends ago as well as at an Intro to SOTA webinar I hosted last night for the W4K group. Don’t know if anyone can attend on that short of notice but I also posted the dates and location of the Spring 2022 trip!

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You are going to be a busy boy, @N4DCW Michael! I would love to tag along on an activatiion where you working satellites. I tried that early on in my ham radio life and it was pretty much a bust.

The campground is kind of in a bowl in the mountains, but I have feeling that most people will be making their way to or from summits except for your early or late summits. There should be plenty of activity on 2m but 60m will be the best HF band for more local contacts.

For those interested, I am thinking about eating at the Lazy Hikery brewery on Thursday or Friday night. They have a great selection of beers on tap and there is a food truck that has great food.

https://lazyhikerbrewing.com/

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Let’s plan on Standing Indian Saturday morning, then! It has a great Western outlook at the summit and I know some West coast ops who need EM85 for their VUCC counts. I’ll come down from there, switch gear and head up to Yellow Mountain for an HF activation.

I’ll hope to be to the campground Friday evening for the brewery trip! Craft beer is my usual post-SOTA treat! (Former professional brewer, here.)

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I like food :joy:, I’m not totally sure what time I will be there on Thursday night. It’s about a 9 1/2 hour drive for me, without stopping , not sure if I will hit some parks / summits on the way. I do have K4G for the entire week for KFF Earth Science week.

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Hey Pat,

I got time off work approved, so I’ll be in the North GA/Western NC area Oct 14-24. I don’t have any campground reservations, so looks like I’m just going to disperse camp around the area. I’ll have APRS running with KD5ZZK-9 while mobile, and KD5ZZK-7 while hiking. What common 2m simplex freq do you think we could use for our event? How about 146.580? I can do FM/C4FM. I also have HF mobile in my truck, but that is not as easy to operate while driving down the highway.

Andrew
KD5ZZK
Baton Rouge, LA
W5A-Arkansas manager

Andrew,

We had a S2S back in August, I can’t find the rules for the campground but you are welcome to crash at my site. I don’t have anyone coming with me.

Beau,

Thanks for the offer. However, check out this video. Skip to 8:05. Standing Indian Campground Complete Tour - YouTube It doesn’t have a pull-in like many of the other sites. Looks barely big enough for one vehicle. We’ll have to see when we get there.

Andrew

@KD5ZZK Awesome! Glad that you can make it, Andrew. There are a large number of first come, first serve campsites and it shouldn’t be difficult to snag one during the week.

Oh I didn’t see that video before now. Maybe it’s a good thing my wife isn’t going I don’t think she would be happy with the site. :joy: but yeah we can check it out when we get there.

Here is my “plan of attack” for Wednesday October 13 through Sunday October 17 (edited on 10/7/21 to change summits for 10/16/21). In case anyone wants to hop aboard this express, all my departure times are a “reasonable” 8 am EDT except for Thursday, when I hope to depart by 7 am EDT, and all returns should be between 5-6 pm EDT. I am open to any suggestions, especially from those of you with experience activating in this area.

I also will be activating up to 7 summits in KY, VA and TN on my way to Standing Indian.

Looking forward to seeing my buds from the spring campout, as well as meeting more folks who are log entries for now ;-). Safe travels to all, and see you next week!

73 Paula k9ir

Wednesday:
Wine Spring Bald W4C/WM-018
Siler Bald W4C/WM-024

Thursday:
Copper Ridge Bald W4C/WM-023
Wesser Bald W4C/WM-058
Cowee Bald W4C/WM-039

Friday:
Kimsey Bald W4C/WM-037
Standing Indian W4C/WM-014
Yellow Mountain W4C/WM-034

Saturday:
Shortoff Mountain W4C/WM-033
Yellow Mountain W4C/WM-028
Yellow Bald W4C/WM-022

Sunday:
Rabun Bald W4G/NG-002
Hale Ridge W4G/NG-043

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Nice list. I haven’t finalized my list yet…

For everyone else…. What radios are y’all bringing? I will have my Lab599 TX500 and my FT891 with me. I was hoping some other radios would be present so I could possibly get to check them out. Just at camp would be fine and maybe do some receiver comparison videos for my channel.

Cool! I can’t wait to see the TX500 in person. I will have my KX2 with me, so nothing exotic there… I used to always carry my Hardrock-50 amp when I did SSB only. Maybe I will bring it along for a nostalgia activation.

One week from right now I should be driving away from the office with a big smile on my face!

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Looking forward to some S2S’s! I’ll add your call into my alerts.

I’ll have the fiancee with me, so I’ll probably be limited to 2 per day (hopefully). May try Scaly Mountain on the way up. Maybe Standing Indian/Yellow Mountain one one day, and Wine Spring/Siler Bald on another. Still want to go over and check out the view from Wayah Bald.

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My truck is packed the gills and I am ready to blow out of the office at noon. A few folks have had to cancel, but we have picked a couple new folk as well. Always room for more! See y’all when I see y’all!

73, pat - ki4svm

Campsite Loop Activators
16 1 Richard-N1RBD & June
29 3 Patrick-NE2P, Ron-NR3E & Liz-K1LIZ
30 3 Beau-KH7FC
31 3 Dean-K2JB
33 3 Mark-AE1MS & Jean-AE1JS
57 5 Andrew-KD5ZZK, Ariel-NY4G
59 5 David-ND1J & Meg-K5MEG
60 5 Tom - K4SWL
61 5 Dee-KO4LIT & Paula-K9IR
64 5 Pat-KI4SVM & Ryan-WG4I
66 5 Michael-N4DCW
67 5 Andy-N4LAG & Debbie
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You all have fun and be sure to take your 60 meter rigs with you!!!
73 Gary

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It might be too late, you all will have left home by now. Please consider 15m an 17m! Sun spots are favorable to work you from Europe.

Have fun and good dx!

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Will do!

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It was day-by-day, but this morning I finally and regrettably gave up hope of being well enough to attend the campout.

I hate I missed the chance to meet a lot of you SOTAteers and to enjoy camaraderie with all. Maybe at the Spring campout in Virginia . . . .

73,
Andy, N4LAG

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