In reply to G6WRW:
Carolyn,
Congratulations on activating W5/SI-005 and thanks for the S2S. Couldn’t hear you on 20m, 17 was far better. Well done.
73
Robert
G0PEB
In reply to G0PEB:
I just managed to be home from work & in the shack by the end of Carolyn’s activation. Unfortunately I did not manage to hear her, although I did hear John GW4BVE working Carolyn just as she was about to close down I think.
Well done Carolyn, was there snow on it? Hi!
Best 73,
Mark G0VOF
In reply to G0PEB:
I was on W5/SI-001 Sandia Crest… 10,000 ft
Carolyn
Only just got warm
No problems driving to the top of Sandia Crest (W5/SI-001) as there were two snowploughs gritting and ready for any snow when we arrived.
The top car park was deserted when we parked. The car’s temperature gauge showed 14 deg F (-10 deg C) and with the wind it would feel far lower than that.
I’ve not felt 100% the last couple of days (dehydrated with the air conditioning, altitude and a few visits to the smallest room) and very nearly cancelled the activation but after putting on all our winter kit and some encouragement from Helen we decided to walk to the highest point to see how it was.
It was quite windy on the summit but we found a little shelter and went for the set-up.
No internet access on the summit meant no spots but pressed on anyway. 20m was lively and 14.285 was clear-ish but as soon as I asked if the frequency was clear two stations, without callsigns, said it was! I changed frequency and this happened twice more; I was not amused. That on top of the QRM persuaded me to reconfigure the antenna for 17m which we found far better.
I became very chilled and did stay longer than I should have. We had a total of 31 contacts in just under an hour transmitting. I’ve only just got warm again after 6 hours.
Sorry if I missed anyone but I tried my best in very challenging conditions at over 10,000 ft with sub-zero temperatures, snow and wind,
Carolyn (and Helen)
In reply to G6WRW:
Hi Carolyn & Helen.It was great to hear you both On 17 metres.I am amazed how long you stuck it out on what sounded like terrible conditions.73 I will be listenining for you again.Geoff G6MZX
A change in location, now we are in Las Vegas, Nevada, W7 country.
Our trip across had lots of adventures through the unseasonally cold weather they are having here. It is not that they do not get snow or the cold but it is a little bit ealier this year with more snow and colder than usual. It got down to -16 centigrade at one point traveling out of Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon; needless to say we stayed in the car at that point.
Hopefully we will be activating Frenchman Mountain (W7/CK-175) and maybe its neighbour, Frenchman Mountain Northwest (W7/CK-182), on Wednesday 7th early in the morning here/late afternoon UK time; both would be first activations. The activation is weather dependent but all looks good at the moment.
We should mention that it looks as though the index of W7 summits on sotawatch does not show the Nevada summits so you will probably have to edit the URL or you can click on our alert for the first summit,
Carolyn
Helen and I activated and qualified both Frenchman Mountain summits (never before activated) so a big thank you to all who called. We struggled with rapid and deep QSB on both summits which made some contacts difficult. RX reports would be interesting and sorry if we were unable to hear any of you.
There will be no more activations as we begin the long trip home tomorrow (still with some sight seeing to do).
We were asked many times about our set-up:
Yaesu ft-817, usually at 2.5W
HF Packer amplifier, 30/35W (817 @ 2.5W)
Both powered by 11.1V 4000mAh Li-Po batteries
¼ wave vertical ground plane antenna
Carolyn
Have a good trip back both.I was out Wed eve for your second summit but did hear you on ck175,called a few times but the qsb was to rapid to work you on my piece of wire.You worked a friend of mine Jeff g4sof in Bideford and and I could hear both sides of the contact including your qso with John gw4bve.73 Don.
In reply to G6WRW:
Glad to see you had some fun and games. Can you bring some decent weather back with you? Doesn’t matter if it’s cold as long as it’s not wet and windy. We’ve got rather too much wind up here at the moment!
Andy
MM0FMF
Sorry we did not make contact on the last two summits Don. As we said before we were surprised to get over to Europe although we tried to time the summits to be late afternoon there/early morning here.
Andy, not sure if you would want all the American weather as it has been just as bad here only the week before. Strong winds in California (the usual Santa Ana winds only stronger), snow moved across from west to east as we travelled the other way through it and the temperatures have been well below zero (centigrade) on the southern planes almost all the time (ok it is a mile high :o) ).
Las Vegas was better but still cold for the time of year and on the mountain it was pleasant but still only about 4 degrees centigrade; warmer than you would think with the sun, low winds and low moisture level. The dew point is so low (we are in a desert), there have been no frosts even with overnight temperatures below -10 centigrade.
We are in Flagstaff at the moment (7:30am Friday morning) and there is still the snow on the ground from when we were here 5 days ago.
Back to Albuquerque today before flying home tomorrow,
Carolyn (and Helen)
In reply to G6WRW:
Last time I was in Flagstaff there was snow on the ground in big piles and that was one April. It snowed non-stop when I went up to the Grand Canyon and was “proper cold”. It was 7500ft ASL though which is something you tend to forget living in the lowlands of the UK. As soon as the snow stopped the the air was amazing clear though, you could see for miles and miles across the Painted Desert all the way into Planet Utah. Funny enough the snow didn’t really stick to the ground.
I hope you had a chance to visit the Grand Canyon and The Arizona Meteor Crater as they’re must see tourist destinations. Flagstaff itself is great place. I ran out of time and never got to see the Lowell Obersvatory when I was there. Too many things and not enough time being the story of my life.
I do remember there’s a fanatastic road sign as you leave Flagstaff heading East, it lists a whole load of cities and the item that sticks out was “Albuqeurque 345 miles”! You just never see such huge distances mentioned on roads signs in the UK.
Have a safe trip back.
Andy
MM0FMF
Hi Andy and everybody,
Our last post from a different time zone…
What we did on our holidays, apart from 4 summits with 98 contacts between us across two US regions, W5/PW-020 (9420) outside Santa Fe with Fred (KT5X), W5/SI-001 (Sandia Crest) overlooking Albuquerque and W7/CK-175 (Frenchman Mountain) and W7/CK-182 (Frenchman Mountain Northwest) by Las Vegas (the last two were first activations):
1750 miles driven in a Jeep SUV, which only cost about £150 in fuel!
Driving parts of Route 66 that are still there (mainly between Seligman and Kingman and through the various towns along I-40)
60 geocaches (including one first to find) across New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California
A tour of Santa Fe with Fred (KT5X) and lunch at Tia Sophia’s, one of the oldest restaurants in Santa Fe
We had a fabulous lunch at Frontier Café Albuquerque which included the Adam burger (see Man vs Food Nation on the TV or youtube)
We walked the trails around Petroglyth Park and the Volcanoes Way in Albuquerque and then had dinner in Old Town Albuquerque as the winds raged
Holbrook and the Petrified Forest National Park (again in the snow) which included several walks and views of the Painted Desert and lots of petrified trees (although fewer than there once were :o( )
Winslow and the last of the great railway hotels, La Posada, where lots of famous people stayed on their way across country in the 1930s and 40s
Meteor Crater in the snow
Flagstaff (once on the way and once on the way back)
Winona (don’t forget Winona as the song goes)
The beautiful Grand Canyon in the snow, although we did not get a chance to take a planned helicopter ride because of the low cloud
Seligman, the inspiration for the Pixar movie Cars, with visits to Angel’s Barber Shop, Juan’s garden in the Snow Cap Café and a huge breakfast at the Roadkill Café
Grand Canyon Caverns, the hour long underground tour with a view of the deepest motel room in the world (see Billy Connolly’s Route 66 programme)
Hoover Dam (we drove across as we went to Vegas and had a walk around changing time zones five times as we passed backwards and forwards)
Las Vegas Strip where we popped in to the various famous casinos and hotels, had a trip to the top of the half-size Eiffel Tower (which felt more like Blackpool Tower) and saw the fountains outside Bellagio’s Casino and Hotel several times
We learnt how to play Craps in our hotel in Vegas and played the tables
Gallagher’s restaurant in New York, New York Hotel, Las Vegas, where we had one of the best fillet steaks ever
Sadia’s Restaurant, the best New Mexican food restaurant in Albuquerque; the portions are huge and Christmas (red and green chilli sauce) is available all year round!
And Helen managed to squeeze some work in during the first few days :o)
Not sure how we fitted all this in as nothing was rushed in our 11 day trip.
Look out for a full write of the activations soon,
Carolyn and Helen