Hi all, SOTA has taken somewhat of a back seat for me this year, and while I fully intend to get back into things now work has settled down somewhat, I find myself in Los Angeles between September 4th and 9th.
Perhaps quite a tourist stereotype but walking up to the Holywood sign is on the list of things to do, and I note that W6/CT-037 is a short walk away.
I’ve never operated in the US before having only obtained by full UK license last year, how feasible is a 2/70 only activation on this particular peak? There’s not really time for me to sort out HF gear etc to take with me. Previous activations look promising, but any local knowledge would be appreciated. Obviously I’ll alert on SOTA watch etc.
I got good 2m results at this summit. The usual sota frequency is 146.580 these days. The calling frequency of 146.52 can be used too. The UK HTs might not transmit on these frequencies. Years ago some other hams and I had a simplex net on 145.535. You could operate around here but you would need to self spot since we typically would not be listening here. 73 Hal N6JZT
Visiting the sign may not be too wise… ISTR hearing there is CCTV to stop people causing damage to sign and your presence may bring out men with guns! Could be a myth.
CT-037 was easy enough when I did it in 2009. Stu K6?? did reminded me when we were walking through foliage etc. to make lots of noise to scare the Rattlesnakes away. Again, he could have been winding me up but there was a sign at the Hale Observatory on the path from the car park to the telescope warning about Rattlesnakes. So maybe true.
Cahuenga Peak (Kah-weng-ah) is a heavily traveled peak. Residents in the neighborhood are understandably not thrilled with all the traffic. The standard route up passing the so-called 'Wishing Tree" often has a hired guard turning people away when the area is closed during fire season – which is pretty much all year round in the 21st century. Here is my write-up of my last activation:
I’d recommend a very early start. As far as 2m and 70cm goes, the Los Angeles basin is great for that. There is an army of dedicated chasers. Otherwise be prepared to meet some pretty zany characters. This is Hollywood after all.
There is an active community of SOTA chasers monitoring 2m in Los Angeles. You should have no problem making the 4 contacts. Be sure to get spotted when you reach the peak.
You can’t visit the sign itself but you can peer from behind a chain link fence to see the back of the sign.
Most published routes suggest hiking from the north, past wisdom tree and Burbank Peak. I prefer a longer route, up Brush Canyon (Bronson Ave entrance) , left on Mullholand, then right on Mt. Lee Road. These are service roads not open to public vehicles.
On Edit: this is about a 5 mile round trip, 1300 foot gain. I wear a broad brim hat and bring water but do not find it difficult. While there are rattlesnakes, I rarely encounter them. You may encounter coyotes.
