SOTA Activation Report: W4G/NG-022, Black Mountain

Trip of 2013.07.26

• Succeeded: No
• First-activation: N.A.
• Propagation forecast on departure: 40m: Fair, 30m: Good, 20m: Good, 17m: Fair, S/N: 1-2
• Propagation forecast on return:

See my trip planning guide at: SOTA Guide: W4G/NG-022, Black Mountain

Commentary:

After I activated Big Cedar Mountain, I hiked back to Woody Gap. The sky was blue and I headed up to Black Mountain. I’d saved it to last because it has a dirt road, and I wanted easy navigation in case I had to hike out at dusk.

I’d read another activator who complained that it was a tough hike. As I walked the first half, I was thinking, “This is a piece of cake.” Then I rounded the turn (there’s only one), the trail went up, and up… At one point I was reduced to, “Take 20 steps, rest for 20, take 20 steps…” It was 90 degrees, 90 percent humidity, and mostly sunny. I had already hiked 3 summits beforehand, so it might not be so tiring for a fresh hiker.

As the summit came into view, it started to cloud over. As I started unpacking, I thought I heard a rumble and decided to go with my ‘quick’ antenna. Within minutes, the sky was dark, the thunder was near, and the wind was picking up. I briefly considered putting up a tarp and trying to wait out the storm, but since it was late in the day I wasn’t sure there would be enough light. Time to flee without activating. It was raining as I hustled down that hill it took so long to climb.

I’m glad I fled because shortly after I reached my car the wind was really blowing and it was raining so hard I could only drive about 15 MPH. That turned out to be a good thing. As I rounded a corner there was a tree across the highway.

I had been hoping for my 30th activation on this expedition, but he who summits and runs away lives to activate again another day. ;-)

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Trip of 2013.08.24

• Succeeded: Yes
• First-activation: No
• Propagation forecast on departure: 40m: Fair, 20m: Good, 17m: Fair, S/N: 1-2, MUF=9.92, SFI=123, A=15, K=2
• Propagation forecast on return: 40m: Fair, 20m: Good, 17m: Fair, S/N: 1-2, MUF=null, SFI=116, A=15, K=2, 6 Meter E-skip

See my trip planning guide at: SOTA Guide: W4G/NG-022, Black Mountain

Commentary:

I activated W4G/NG-022, Black Mountain today. This was a much nicer trip than in July when I got chased off the mountain by a thunderstorm.

That one was tough because it was hot, it was an extra hill tacked on after other activations, and I was in a hurry. Today, it was my only summit, the weather was cool, and the weather forecast was good, so I meandered up the hill. The summit showed up in no time and it was a nice walk.

There’s a communications tower on top, with a small clearing to the north and a larger clearing to the south. I went with the southern clearing.

I set up an EARCHI 6-40 end-fed, with the feed point 24’ up a mast and the far end a little higher. I had some trouble with a loose connection. Every time the mast shook, I had loose-wire QRN. ‘Dunno whether it was the feed or the antenna connector. Having a connection “up there” is a down-side of an elevated feed point.

I can’t say that I saw a better signal with an elevated horizontal than with a vertical on the mast. Certainly not enough to be worth the extra effort.

There was some thunderstorm noise – more on 40 than on 20. There were a couple of contacts I couldn’t pull out of the noise. (Sorry about that.) Thank you chasers!

SOTA Activation Report: W4C/WM-018, Wine Spring Bald

Trip of 2013.07.28

• Succeeded: Yes
• First-activation: No
• Propagation forecast on departure:
• Propagation forecast on return:

See my trip planning guide at: SOTA Guide: W4C/WM-018, Wine Spring Bald

Commentary:

Wine Spring Bald is a drive-up summit. There’s a convenient spot to park about 100’ lower than the summit. It’s an easy 10 points. That’s about all it has going for it.

The summit is an antenna farm, with towers and guy wires all over the place. There was lots of RFI on 20m and VHF. 40m was surprisingly quiet. The ground is a gravel parking lot, which resists staking. There’s a clearing beyond the towers, but it is outside the activation zone.

With ominously dark clouds moving in, I strapped my mast to a post with a don’t-drive-here sign and rushed through my activation. It was earlier than my alerted time, but I didn’t want to hang around and get chased off by a thunderstorm.

Thank you chasers!

SOTA Activation Report: W4C/WM-001, Clingmans Dome

Trip of 2013.07.28

• Succeeded: Yes/No
• First-activation: Yes/No
• Propagation forecast on departure:
• Propagation forecast on return:

See my trip planning guide at: SOTA Guide: W4C/WM-001, Clingmans Dome

Commentary:

Clingmans Dome is one of the highest points east of the Mississippi. The summit is a short walk up from the parking lot. It has an observation tower at the summit. I was not brash enough to attempt an activation from the tower, though I did activate within sight of it. A number of young people asked me what I was doing. I had an experience that I often have: When I say I’m an amateur radio operator, I get blank looks, but when I say, “I set up a radio station and I talk to people from around the world,” I get enthusiastic declarations of, “Cool!”

Dark clouds were rolling in here, so I rushed through my activation again.

I set up my antenna near the ramp, at its farthest point from the observation deck. Next time, I’d like to try getting away from the deck, as I wonder if it interfered with my signal. Or maybe bring sound-deadening headphones and a narrator/protector and set up on top of the tower.

Thank you chasers for your patience!

SOTA Activation Report: W4G/CE-001 Kennesaw Mountain All Frequency Expedition

Trip of 2013.05.12

• Succeeded: Yes
• First-activation: No

See my trip planning guide at: SOTA Guide: W4G/CE-001, Kennesaw Mountain

Commentary:

I hiked most of the way up from the visitor center with my youngest son. Then I realized that I forgot the iPhone and I’d left it sitting in plain view. We hiked back down to rescue it. Then we took the shuttle to the upper parking lot.

I used an AlexLoop for the first time. I tried 40m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, and 10m. I had success on 20m, limited success on 15m and 17m, and a single very weak contact on 12m.

Whenever a tourist would come along and look like he/she might interrupt me, I shout, “Tour guide!” and my 9 year-old son would put down his book, hop up and give a little lecture on SOTA and the finer points of the ionosphere. He has a big vocabulary for a kid his age. It was fun watching people react.

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SOTA Activation Report: W4G/HC-003, Bald Mountain

Trip of 2013.07.14

• Succeeded: Yes
• First-activation: No
• Propagation forecast on departure: 40 fair, 30 good, 20 good, 17 fair. Noise level: not captured.
• Propagation forecast on return: 40-17 fair. Noise level: S3-S4.
• Multiple people commented that the bands were very noisy.

See my trip planning guide at: SOTA Guide: W4G/HC-003, Bald Mountain

Commentary:

Weather forecast for the day was 50% chance of thundershowers. It didn’t rain on this summit, but it had rained earlier and the vegetation was very wet. The trail was overgrown with foliage, so I was soaked from the waist down when I reached the summit.

It is a short hike, at 1/2 mile from parking at FS64/Conasauga Lake Rd to the summit. While it is definitely a climb, overall I rank it among the easiest hikes for Georgia 10-pointers. Given the undergrowth, this would be a nice summit for early spring or late fall. (Just watch out for the January-February closing of the road.)

On the way up, I chatted briefly with N4C, a special event station honoring the Battle of Chattanooga, but I was unable to raise him or anyone else on 2 meters from the summit.

I used a Telco Norcal Doublet at 15’ AGL. (It was made from flat, 4-conductor phone cable, but otherwise it was identical to the ‘official’ Norcal Doublet.) Compared with my typical end-fed, it was a bother to set up, since I had to fly the center and both ends. Since it was low to the ground, my distant chasers gave me weak signal reports, but I was able to work my local contacts on 20m. All-in-all, I think an untuned doublet works surprisingly well; it is such a bother to set up, I don’t know whether I’ll use it often. OTOH, if the alternative is flying one antenna for 20m and another for 40m, it isn’t so bad.

Multiple chasers complained that there was lots of noise on the bands today. I am grateful that they put up with the noise and my weak signal. Thank you chasers!

I wanted to map my SOTA chasers, to see where my signal reaches. Google provides a way to do this. If you don’t have a Google account, you’ll have to get one in order to do this. Note that this did not work on my Google Apps for Domains account. I had to use a blah-blah-blah@gmail account. This description uses the “New Look” for Fusion Tables (as of July 2013).

Be aware that depending on exactly how you format your data and what you name your columns, Google might do some of the following for you.

• Create a spreadsheet with a row for each chaser, and a column for latitude and a column for longitude. Your lat/lon values must be decimal degrees and not degrees/minutes/seconds. Make your first row be column labels. I named mine “His_Latitude” and “His_Longitude” (because my source table also has “My_Latitude” and “My_Longitude”).
• Save your spreadsheet as a .CSV file.
• Navigate to http://docs.google.com.
• If you have never used “Fusion Tables” before:
  • Click the Create button.
  • Click on “Connect more apps.”
  • When it displays a list of apps, enter “Fusion” in the search field and press Enter.
  • Locate Fusion Tables (experimental) and click its “Connect” button.
  • When it asks, make Google Tables the default app for files of this type.
• Click the Create button. If you don’t see Fusion Table as an option, refresh the web page and try again.
• Click Fusion Table:
  • Choose From This Computer
  • Browse to, and upload your .CSV file
  • When it asks, tell it that your first row is column names, and press Next
  • When it asks, give it a good name for your table. (I cleverly called mine “Chasers”.) Press Finish.
• Select Edit, then Change Columns:
  • Select the Latitude column, change the Type value from Number to Location, and select Two Column Location.
  • Underneath Two Column Location, set the value for the Longitude drop-down to your longitude column name.
  • Press Save.
• On the line with the File/Edit/Tools menu, you’ll see a red plus sign on the right side. Click the “+”, and chose “Add Map”.

Done. Click here to see my result.

Many of you have heard of the Norcal Doublet, which uses 4-conductor ribbon cable. I couldn’t find a cheap source for 50’ of ribbon cable, but Home Depot sells 50’ flat telephone extension cords for less than $8. It too has 4 conductors. I thought it might be interesting to see how it might work as an alternative to the Norcal Doublet.

First “learning:” A CETech (Home Depot House Brand) 50’ telephone cord actually measures 47’ 3.5”. I guess that’s 50’ like a nominal 2x4 is 1.5” x 3.5”. So instead of having 22’ dipole legs and a 28’ feed line, I’m going to have 22’ dipole legs and an approximately 25’ feed line.

Trip of 2013.06.29

• Succeeded: Yes/No
• First-activation: Yes/No
• Propagation forecast on departure: “Poor” day and night from 80m to 10m, except Fair/fair on 17 and 15. Noise level is S4-S6. E-skip is open on 2, 4, and 6m.
• Propagation forecast on return: 80-40 poor day, fair night; 30-20 fair/fair; 17/15 fair/fair. Noise level is S3-S4.
• Done as a double-header with W4G/NG-002, Rabun Bald

See my trip planning guide at: SOTA Guide: W4G/NG-027, SummitName

Commentary: Today was a good day that almost didn’t happen. The propagation forecast was awful this morning, describing day and night conditions as “Poor” on 20 meters and below, and only “Fair” on 17 and 15. (A weak geomagnetic storm with S4-S6 noise level.) There was a 40% chance of a thundershower when I was scheduled to hit the trailhead. Instead of hitting snooze on the alarm clock, I decided to head out and learn what really poor propagation was like. To misquote Twain, “Reports of the death of propagation have been greatly exaggerated.”

Geography matters.

Rabun Bald has a 20’ stone tower at the top, so the base of my antenna was 20’ up. Given the propagation forecast, I used a random end-fed in order to be frequency agile. No need. I had good propagation on 20 and made a couple of strong contacts on 40.

While I was atop the tower, about 20 people cycled through. One commented, “We should ask him to give us a little talk.” That was all the encouragement I needed in order to launch into my SOTA spiel.

Afterward, I headed over to Black Rock Mountain. My operating position was on a narrow ridge. (Narrow by Appalachian standards, not Rocky Mountain standards.) Since the morning showed that I wouldn’t need to run up to a higher frequency, I used a half-wave on 20m and a quarter wave on 40m. I had grand success on 20, but made no contacts on 40. There was quite a bit of thunderstorm noise on 40, but I don’t think I was getting out well. I added a single radial on 40m. I thought of it as a radial. In retrospect, I expect that RF thought I had a dipole with the mid-point at ground level. (When I used a single radial for 40m this morning, given the height of my tower, that raised my mid-point to 20’.)

I’m going to have to start carrying more wire to operate on 40 meters.

A small black-and-yellow lizard sat by my boot and observed most of my session on Black Rock Mountain. He skittered off when I got up to pack up. He didn’t say whether he had his license, so I didn’t offer to let him operate.

Thank you chasers!

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Trip of 2013.06.29

• Succeeded: Yes/No
• First-activation: Yes/No
• Propagation forecast on departure: “Poor” day and night from 80m to 10m, except Fair/fair on 17 and 15. Noise level is S4-S6. E-skip is open on 2, 4, and 6m.
• Propagation forecast on return: 80-40 poor day, fair night; 30-20 fair/fair; 17/15 fair/fair. Noise level is S3-S4.
• Done as a double-header with W4G/NG-027, Black Rock Mountain

See my trip planning guide at: SOTA Guide: W4G/NG-002, SummitName

Commentary: Today was a good day that almost didn’t happen. The propagation forecast was awful this morning, describing day and night conditions as “Poor” on 20 meters and below, and only “Fair” on 17 and 15. (A weak geomagnetic storm with S4-S6 noise level.) There was a 40% chance of a thundershower when I was scheduled to hit the trailhead. Instead of hitting snooze on the alarm clock, I decided to head out and learn what really poor propagation was like. To misquote Twain, “Reports of the death of propagation have been greatly exaggerated.”

Geography matters.

Rabun Bald has a 20’ stone tower at the top, so the base of my antenna was 20’ up. Given the propagation forecast, I used a random end-fed in order to be frequency agile. No need. I had good propagation on 20 and made a couple of strong contacts on 40.

While I was atop the tower, about 20 people cycled through. One commented, “We should ask him to give us a little talk.” That was all the encouragement I needed in order to launch into my SOTA spiel.

Afterward, I headed over to Black Rock Mountain. My operating position was on a narrow ridge. (Narrow by Appalachian standards, not Rocky Mountain standards.) Since the morning showed that I wouldn’t need to run up to a higher frequency, I used a half-wave on 20m and a quarter wave on 40m. I had grand success on 20, but made no contacts on 40. There was quite a bit of thunderstorm noise on 40, but I don’t think I was getting out well. I added a single radial on 40m. I thought of it as a radial. In retrospect, I expect that RF thought I had a dipole with the mid-point at ground level. (When I used a single radial for 40m this morning, given the height of my tower, that raised my mid-point to 20’.)

I’m going to have to start carrying more wire to operate on 40 meters.

A small black-and-yellow lizard sat by my boot and observed most of my session on Black Rock Mountain. He skittered off when I got up to pack up. He didn’t say whether he had his license, so I didn’t offer to let him operate.

Thank you chasers!

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