Tags
Amateur Radio, fire lookout, Ham Radio, KB6CIO, KK6AL, sc-219, sc219, SOTA, sota ham radio summits on the air mountain top amateur, Summits On The Air, Truinfo Lookout, w6/sc-219, w6/sc219
There is always a story on these adventures and this was no exception. On Tuesday, I started early enough that I should have been on time. As the massive traffic of southern California overcame me I realized I would be late. I got off the freeway and reposted my start time. My faithful cell phone navigation software took me through some scenic areas to the Trail Head 34.107388 -118.909238 or N 34° 06.443 W 118° 54.554. There is plenty of room for parking. I noted during the planning that there were no Geocaches and no Benchmarks to use as way points. The Google maps and previous posts clearly show the path to the summit. It is about 0.82 miles to the Summit of 810m (2657ft) with about 400 ft of elevation gain. This is a way point for the sharp left turn up to the summit at N34° 06.350′ W118° 55.052′ (elevation 2550 ft).
One of the unexpected delights was that Al, KK6AL, came up to join me. I had sent him the Alert in the hope he might work me from his home on HF or 2 meters. As I was driving up he gathered some radio’s and tossed them in his VW Van. I had no idea he was coming up until he arrived at the trail head when he called me on 2 meters simplex. Much to my delight that was my fist contact as I was at the summit. He had forgotten to put any of his backpacks in so being an innovative ham he employed a three wheel hand pushed golf cart to carry up his gear.
One of the delights was that there was intermittent T-Mobile cell service so I was able to do a few SPOT’s via the web. Al, KK6AL, had good Verizon service. Yet another miracle was that Al brought a beam up so we were able to get Jeff, K6QCB, on 2 meters. I heard Jeff earlier, however, I could not get him on my rubber duck. The operators today were a great joy. As Al approached the last few feet of the summit I was working a loud part of the pileup on 40m. As conditions changed I had some fantastic contacts with hams who patiently worked me with very low signals until we confirmed the contact. Al had never heard anyone actually give a 11 report. An additional luxury that made our work easy were the SPOT’s provided by several chasers – THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH !
Al deployed and enjoyed all kinds of operations from his D-Star, FM, DMR (Digital Mobile Radio), and HF. Another first for both of us was working N7EAL, Neal, on DMR 441.000 Simplex Talkgroup Direct 99. Neal was about 20 miles away at his home with a beam.
Date: 03/Feb/2015 Summit: W6/SC-219 Truinfo Lookout Call: KB6CIO Points: 2
Time | Call | Band | Mode | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
18:25z | KK6AL | 144MHz | FM | 146.52 59/59 Al was 400 feet below me at the trail head. |
18:28z | AE6VC | 144MHz | FM | Mark 59/59 |
18:32z | KB6WHV | 144MHz | FM | David 59/59 |
18:34z | NA6MG | 144MHz | FM | Dan 59/59. He knows the site and recommended meditation in the center. |
18:36z | KM6CEM | 144MHz | FM | Charles San Dimas – YEAH, Got him this time. Heard him earlier. |
18:37z | WD6EVT | 144MHz | FM | Moore Park |
18:59z | W7RV | 7MHz | SSB | 7.185 moved to 7.186 with his help to get away from QRM. 33/43 |
19:02z | KN6CCW | 7MHz | SSB | Saved me with a wonderful SPOT for 14.285 59/32 |
19:03z | AA7DK | 7MHz | SSB | 44/44 |
19:12z | NS7P | 14MHz | SSB | 14.285 Phil in Oregon was waiting here when I finally moved. 59/57 |
19:13z | WB5USB | 14MHz | SSB | 57/59 |
19:14z | W0MNA | 14MHz | SSB | 45/44 Gary KS |
19:15z | K8TE | 14MHz | SSB | 59/55 |
19:16z | KF7JQV | 14MHz | SSB | Always a pleasure. WA 57/58 |
19:16z | AE5B | 14MHz | SSB | 55/33 |
19:17z | W0ERI | 14MHz | SSB | Martha KS 55/55 |
19:18z | KA5PVB | 14MHz | SSB | Typically runs 5W so his 33/33 was worth all the work |
19:21z | W7USA | 14MHz | SSB | Helped me with KA5PVB 59/57 |
19:24z | NM5SW | 14MHz | SSB | Heard earlier, finally worked him 33/37 |
19:25z | W6BUX | 14MHz | SSB | Gurbux is always a delight from LA 59/59 |
19:28z | KQ6K | 144MHz | FM | 146.52 Another one I heard earlier. Got him with Als beam. |
19:30z | K6QCB | 144MHz | FM | With Als beam I was finally able to work him. He drove to a better location. 55/51 |
19:31z | N7EAL | 144MHz | FM | One of our DMR folks |
19:32z | W6BUX | 144MHz | FM | Just wanted to give us one more point. |
19:45z | N7EAL | 433MHz | OTHER | DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) Simplex 441.000 talkgroup DIRECT 99. 59/59 |
20:02z | K6CMG | 7MHz | SSB | Made schedule via SMS Text for 7.186 55/52. YEAH, sweet success. |
20:11z | N4EX | 21MHz | SSB | 21.385 57/44 |
20:12z | AE7AP | 21MHz | SSB | 44/34 |
20:13z | KY7S | 21MHz | SSB | 44/44 |
20:14z | VE2JCW | 21MHz | SSB | 33/22 Canada. A great operator! |
20:20z | N7ENL | 21MHz | SSB | 22/33 |
20:36z | K8LJG | 24MHz | SSB | 24.955 just for a few minutes 59/33 |
20:38z | NK6A | 24MHz | SSB | 33/33 who knows these Santa Monica mountains very well and just activated this. |
20:43z | KB1RJD | 28MHz | SSB | 28.375 just for a few minutes 59/44 YL Madison, NH |
20:44z | KB1RJC | 28MHz | SSB | 59/33 next her Husband |
20:46z | VE2JCW | 28MHz | SSB | 44/11 He is an incredible weak signal operator! Very patient. |
20:49z | N0EVH | 28MHz | SSB | 33/35 worked diligently until I got his call sign correct. Very Nice Operator! |
Ground Track
A video from the summit is at: https://picasaweb.google.com/rkliman/20150203SOTATruinfoLookoutVideo?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNrNquGh4OzIGw&feat=directlink
73, KB6CIO & KK6AL