Absolutely 8 point summits are allowed to play…any summit is!!!
One day it occurred to me that “Wouldn’t it be great if everyone was on a 10-point peak at the same time?”
s2s 10-point madness was the result.
C U from ur peak I hope!
73
Pete
WA7JTM
Looking forward to chasing from a summit in northern Colorado or Wyoming. Forecast of sunny and windy. I had lots of fun last year, 11 s2s contacts with ops on W7A summits.
Peter KD0YOB
Good luck and I hope everyone gets many contacts.
Alberta summits are calling for over 40 cm of snow in the next couple of days.
Malen
VE6VID
1 Like
Ok…this it it!
Tomorrow is W7A 10-point s2s Madness day all over Arizona.
As of right now we plan to have 22 stations on 10-point summits tomorrow, with a number of summits having multiple operators. It is possible that that number will fluctuate a bit…hopefully it will go up!
The first station might be on the air today at 00:00 UTC (UTC September 28th). The others to follow Saturday morning, starting around 14:00 UTC or so. The event goes on until everyone has a dead battery or is worn out, whichever comes first. Most ops finished up by 21:00 UTC last year, but some will likely operate past that.
A number of out of state operators on summits, some of them 10 pointers, will also be participating in the event.
So look for us tomorrow. It should be complete and utter Madness!
| wkd | station | name | 2nd op | name | summit | summit name | apx location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KR7RK | Keith | W7A/AE-008 | Kendrick Pk | Flag | |||
| K7AMB | Andrew | W7A/AW-014 | Browns Pk | E of Phx | |||
| KF7ZVL | Kelley | W7A/AE-018 | Bill Williams | Williams | |||
| N7CW | Bud | W7A/AE-041 | Davenport | E of Williams | |||
| K7TAB | Chris | W7A/AE-044 | BUCK | Clints Well | |||
| K6HPX | Ken | KE7BGM | kay | W7A/AW-001 | Lemmon | Tucson | |
| AE9Q | Dave | W7A/AW-003 | Bigalo | Tucson | |||
| WB7ENX | Jim | W7A/AW-008 | woodchutte | E of Prescott | |||
| NQ7R | TOM | W7A/AW-009 | Pinal Pk | Globe | |||
| W7JET | Brian | W7A/AW-010 | MINGUS | E of Prescott | |||
| NJ7V | Charlie | W7A/AW-011 | AZTEC | S of Young | |||
| KB7HH | Jack | W7A/AW-013 | Spruce Mtn | Prescott | |||
| W7AMR | Atilla | W7A/CN-013 | Grandview | Grand Canyon | |||
| KR7RK | Keith | W7A/CS-008 | Wing Mtn | Flag, 2nd pk | |||
| N7LP | Lee | KB7CWV | Linn | W7A/CS-012 | GVT Mtn | W of Flag | |
| WA7JTM | Pete | W7A/CS-013 | A 1 Mountain | Flag | |||
| WX7MB | Mark | W7A/CS-020 | rim road peak | N of Payson | |||
| K7TSY | Brian | W7A/CS-026 | Summit Mtn | S of Williams | |||
| W7USA | Ray | W7A/CS-028 | Red Hill | S of GCNP | |||
| N3BZ | Robert | W7A/CS-038 | Beacon Hill | E of Williams | |||
| WB0USI | Rick | W7A/NM-002 | Mt. Bangs | Scenic (AZ) | |||
| WB0USI | Rick | W7A/NM-005 | 7604 | Scenic (AZ), 2nd pk | |||
| KI7OFL | William | KI7OFN | ray | W7A/PE-002 | Green Mtn | Tucson | |
| KB9WYX | Alexander | W7A/YV-002 | Granite Mtn | Prescott |
thanks
C U from the hills…CQ s2s
73
Pete
WA7JTM
3 Likes
I’ll be up on Wildcat mountain, about 9.1mi from Big Cedar per Google Earth. We should try VHF s2s from Big Cedar and Black. I should be up there between 1400-1500z.
Do you know if any of these locations qualify under POTA? I’ll be on a mountain on the AT and would be nice to throw in some p2p also.
Richard,
The CN-013 Activation Zone is very large and part of it is in the Grand Canyon NP…but the best radio spot isn’t, and I believe that Attila will be there outside of the Park.
Pete
I can’t activate a peak tomorrow, but I do plan on chasing as many of the AZ activators that I can. I’m taking my IC-7300 over to a friends shack to use his 20M monobander 9db gain yagi. I will mainly chase ssb, and if I attempt CW it will be pretty slow (sorry). Good luck to all the activators and I hope you can take time for us chasers that are not S2S.
73 & Be Safe!
Ron K6CPR
Thanks! I know Wildcat very well - the access trail is a side trail from the Appalachian Trail (AT), leading down to the Whitley Gap shelter for AT hikers to overnight. Some friends, my wife, and I maintain that trail section for the Georgia AT association, which maintains the Trail in our state. Been there six times so far this year, and activated on one trip.
I don’t yet know when I’ll reach a summit (the K9 is getting up in years and moves slowly), but I’ll put out a call on 146.52 when I get there.
Ah, a fellow GATC member! I’ll be doing a SOTA for Wildcat and trying to get p2p with a guy down at FDR state park for the AT. Consensus was that the blue blaze to the shelter would count since the shelter is considered to be an integral part of the AT.
I activated Big Cedar and the AT a few weeks ago. Hiked in with a guy I met at Woody Gap from Czechoslovakia who was spending 2 weeks on the trail and then gave a flip flop thru hiker a ride to Dahlonega for Trail Fest.
Catch 'ya on .52 tomorrow!
I have not checked others, but I know that my first summit will be in KFF-4430, Kaibab National Forest, and my 2nd summit (wx permitting) will be in KFF-4428, Coconino National Forest. I know that many Arizona SOTA summits fall inside National Forest boundaries so it’s common for them to count for parks credit as well. I’d be very happy to log a P2P with you on the AT!
73,
Keith KR7RK
On the road and heading North momentarily.
CQ s2s madness soon…
Pete
WA7JTM
2 Likes
W7A Madness Activators: Please consider trying 17m and 30m CW. 20m isn’t always open into W2/NJ. This Chaser is QRV.
TU, Bruce
1 Like
This is the new setup I tried today from our local 4 pointer drive-up Mt. Erreniega EA2/NV-092.
>Ésta es la nueva instalación que probé hoy desde nuestra cima de 4 puntos accesible en coche Mt. Erreniega EA2/NV-092.
Antenna was a 21m long endfed wire as an inverted L (red dotted line) + 6m long elevated counterpoise wire (white dotted line). The horizontal part was about 17m long about 6.5 meters above the ground and the vertical part about 4m long.
>La antena fue un cable de 21m de largo alimentado en el extremo y como una L invertida (linea roja de puntos) + un cable contraantena elevado de 6m de largo (línea blanca de puntos). La parte horizontal era de unos 17m de largo a unos 6,5 metros sobre el suelo y la parte vertical de unos 4m de largo.
This is a close image of the feedpoint with the 9:1 unun inside the little metal box.
>Ésta es una imagen cercana del punto de alimentación con el unun 9:1 dentro de la cajita metálica.
The rig was FT-817ND at 5 watts with antenna tuner MFJ-941B.
Battery was LiFePo4 4S2P.
>El equipo fue FT-817ND a 5 vatios con acoplador de antena MFJ-941B.
La batería fue LiFePo4 4S2P
I was QRV by 1432z but conditions were really bad not letting me copy any single Northamerican activator. I was chased by 2 US chasers (N1GB and AB4PP) and a 3rd one (AC1Z) was perfectly copied calling me twice but he never came back to me after sending him signal report. Obviously my 5 watts weren’t putting any great signal accross the Pond.
I spent all my time on 20m CW and I only managed to make one single S2S QSO with Ivica 9A6CW who activated 9A/DH-070. Thank you!
>Estuve QRV para las 1432z pero las condiciones fueron realmente malas no dejándome copiar un solo activador de Norteamérica. Fui cazado por 2 cazadores norteamericanos (N1GB y AB4PP) y un tercero (AC1Z) fue perfectamente copiado llamándome 2 veces, pero nunca volvió para mí tras haberle enviado el reporte de señal. Obviamente, mis 5 vatios no ponían una señal fantástica al otro lado del charco. Pasé todo mi tiempo en 20m CW y solo conseguí hacer un solo QSO SaS con Ivica 9A6CW, quien activó 9A/DH-070. Gracias!
After nearly 3 hours QRV, I logged 17 QSOs, 2 of which were DX with the USA and one was a S2S within Europe. This is the full log:
>Después de caso 3 horas QRV, anoté 17 QSOs, 2 de los cuales fueron DX con los EE.UU. y uno fue un SaS dentro de Europa. Éste es el log completo:
You can see it on the map:
>Pueden verlo en el mapa:
The Easternmost contact was with RN3QBG and it’s worth highlighting that he was transmitting with only 100mW!!!
>El contacto más al Este fue con RN3QBG y merece la pena resaltar que él estaba transmitiendo con solo 100mW!!!
While I was there, 2 BTTers approached and they turned out to be one of my brothers with his son Alex. It was a nice surprise!
>Mientras yo estaba allí, 2 ciclistas BTT se aproximaron y resultaron ser uno de mis hermanos y su hijo Alex. Fue una agradable sorpresa!
I tried to participate in your S2S party but conditions were not too favourable for me, unfortunately.
There will be another future better chance, I hope.
>Intenté participar en vuestra fiesta S2S pero las condiciones no estuvieron demasiado favorables para mí, desgraciadamente.
Habrá otra oportunidad mejor en el futuro, espero.
73,
Guru
5 Likes
Thanks Pete, the many activators, and great chasers for a rewarding day. My regret is I had almost no service so I could only see where everyone was in the bands a few times. I cut out at 17:30 as I recall to hike to my second peak.
It’s not my rodeo, but it would be interesting to see “honorable mentions” for something like w7a activators with most qsos, most s2s, and chasers with most contacts. Not sure that’s practical but it would be interesting. I think Guru likely gets longest contact.
WA7JTM saved me from total frustration as two radios acted up and I had antenna problems to boot. I wound up half deploying an end fed wire (dont ask) and running 10w or so (even though I had a 100w rig) and I couldn’t hear anyone from W2/GC-077 Bear Mountain even though it is very quiet there by area standards.
Mercifully Pete did come back to me so the day was saved and I got at least one S2S.
The original plan was to bring up a wire beam for HF (this is a drive up summit), but time and conditions did not allow more than an end fed wire and a mag loop. The mag loop developed an intermittent problem and I didn’t come equipped to really run the end fed (it was a backup)—so a bit of a mess but I got my contacts in the end.
I can’t wait for the next one! Thanks to all and looking forward to hearing what it was like.
73,
Tom, N2YTF
W1 Association Manager
2 Likes
What an absolutely awesome event!! WW7D and I were set up on High Rock W7W/PL-029 and managed to work 11 of the W7A stations. We also had S2S contacts with W0C, W6, W7Y, W7W, and VE7!!
All told, we racked up 22 S2S contacts.
The weather here Today was unseasonably cold… more like late November or December. It was snowing on us on the hike up, and the temps were near freezing with a little bit of snow accumulation at the summit. Luckily this summit has an old fire lookout, and we were able to operate from inside the lookout.
We did have some partial clearing at one point and got a good view of Mt. Rainier. It rained torrentially during most of the drive home.
Thanks everyone for coming out to play - made for a VERY FUN day on the mountain! I sure hope this Madness becomes an annual event!!
73,
-Josh WU7H
7 Likes
THANKS, PETE, Pandemonium, but fun!
Ken, K6HPX & Kay, KE7BGM
2 Likes
It was busy to say the least. Thanks for joining in the Madness again this year!
My s2s Madness results 2109:
120 QSO’s
54 s2s QSO’s
307 s2s points
W7A 10-point summits worked: 18
QSO’s by band:
40M 37
30M 2
20M 59
17M 1
10M 1
2M 16
1296 MHz 4 (all s2s contacts)
Most surprising QSO: 315 miles on 2M cw (< 5 watts I figure, 4 element beam on 9 ft pole) to Mt. laguna in California…an s2s contact
Operated from 14:43 until 20:11 UTC, 5 hours 28 minutes
I believe we activated 22 AZ 10-point summits…we had two no shows (posted an alert but did not activate)
I will compile some event statistics when all of the logs are submitted. Curious to see how we did compared to last year.
73
Pete
WA7JTM
3 Likes
That was crazy, three radios going at once and not sure which one to pick up. My code was a little crazy at the end, my apologies to W2SE, got it done while a wasp kept crawling into my hand.
Lin achieved Shack Sloth during the event. Brian, W7JET, gave the final contact to push her over 1000 points.
Too much fun…
Lin KB7CWV & Lee N7LP
3 Likes