Summit Activated - W4G/NG-010, Blue Mountain, Georgia

A beautiful winter day in Georgia, an easy drive, and a well-maintained, easy to follow trail. It seems like maybe propagation was not a good as it has been recently, and, sure enough, when I returned home and checked online propagation predictions, they were calling it ‘fair’ (down from recent ‘good’) on 20 meters.

My eldest son came along on this trip. (He’s not a ham.) He is always a delight to have as a hiking companion and a SOTA buddy. He copies call signs and signal reports better than me. I was also joined by a new trail companion. I call him K4KPK/P. He’s a little confused abou how he came to be on top of Mt. KX3:

Here’s K4KPK/P in “antenna support configuration:”

A surprising number of hikers were out for a Georgia winter day. Four on our side of the highway, and a gaggle of Boy Scouts headed the other direction.

My QSOs were at 12 watts. I used 12 NiMh AA cells, which I had drained down to 15.2 volts prior to the trip. Upon my return home, the mailman brought my dummy AA cell, so next time I’ll go with 11 cells and a dummy, and I won’t have to pre-drain.

On the night before the trip, there were two other activators alerted for about the same time, so I moved my alert up by 15 minutes, to avoid competing for chasers. We hung around our summit for a little while after the activation, in hopes that one of them would spot and we could S2S. We got too cold before anyone went on the air. I think that S2S is going to be a warm weather sport for me.

In a first (for me), we encountered three people on the trail who knew at least a little about SOTA. One solo hiker is a ham with an Elecraft CW rig on order for SOTA, and a pair said something to the effect of, “Oh. We talked to someone on a mountain in Pennsylvania, who was doing what you’re doing. There was a terrible storm. He seemed very excited to be there.”

Contacts

• 6 QSO on 40 meters and 8 on 20 meters. 7.19265-ssb and 14.3448-ssb.
  • 40 meters
    • N4EX
    • W4ZV
    • K4PIC
    • N0ZH
    • WA2USA
    • K0LAF
  • 20 meters
    • N7UN
    • NS7P
    • N0ZH
    • W0MNA
    • KQ2RP
    • AA4AI
    • VA6FUN
    • KI0G

Thank you chasers! I am grateful that you were there when I called CQ.

Airtime

• 12:01 PM Eastern on 5 January, 2013

Radio

• Elecraft KX3.

Antennas

• A fine site for all manner of antennas. The brush is not too dense under the trees, and there are trees of many sizes.
• I was able to successfully slingshot a heavy monofilament fishing line into a tree; I used that to hoist up my 33 ft wire.
• There’s also space to guy out a mast, if that’s your preference.
• EARCHI 20m matchbox with an EFHW. I had zero trouble launching my antenna using fishing line on a spool, a 1 ounce egg sinker, and a slingshot. (Much better luck than last weekend.) I ended up stringing an inverted L.

Cell Phone Coverage

• Marginally adequate cell coverage. SMS self-spot worked. Signal occasionally lost, but I was able to check SOTAwatch.

Getting There - Driving

• Google Maps will get you there.
• From Atlanta, you drive to Helen. You just keep driving on the main road through Helen until you get to Unicoi Gap. The gap is obviously a gap, there’s a half-acre parking lot on the right, and hiker-crossing signs are clearly visible.
• There are no dirt roads involved in getting there. High ground clearance vehicle is NOT needed.
• Do be careful crossing the gap. There is very little time between hearing a car and having it bear down upon you.
• There are at least 3 good routes from Atlanta to Helen. Google knows all three and they differ by only a couple of minutes. Going up, we stayed on 985 as long as possible. We came back via Cleveland and GA-400. They were about the same duration.

Getting There - Hiking

• The AT is easy to follow. From a navigation perspective, this is a piece of cake. Park on one side of the highway, take the obvious trail on the other side of the highway, and follow it until there is no more “up” to climb.
• Some maps show about a 1.1 mile hike. Not a chance. My GPS says it was 1.6 miles. The maps don’t show some big switchbacks. It was about a 15% grade, so it was not a walk in the park.
• Portions of the trail require hiker agility. There are sections of the trail composed almost entirely of large rocks. If you’re frail, this is not a good hike.

GPS Waypoints

• GPS waypoints are not provided for this trip. The trail is 100% obvious and it is blazed. Just pay attention at the double-blazes which will ensure you don’t miss the switchbacks.

• GPX trace for the hike

  /files/SOTA%20Blue%20Mountain.GPX

Time Log

• 7:30 - Left Atlanta
• 9:50 - Parked at trailhead. (We stopped for a McD breakfast.)
• 9:55 - Hiking
• 11:05 - at summit
• 11:55 - ready to transmit
• 12:00 - on the air
• 12:20 - off the air
• 12:40 - Done hanging around hoping for an S2S
• 1:05 - packed and headed down the trail
• 1:50 - Car
• 4:05 - Atlanta. (We stopped for barbecue on the way home.)

Summit Activated - W4G/NG-013, Round Top, Georgia

Chilly (for Georgia) activation with some weather surprises. This would be a ‘piece of cake’ activation in the fall, or in a dry patch of winter weather.

It was 26 degrees when I left the car and 33 when I returned. As I hiked up from the trailhead, things turned from no snow, to a light dusting, to about 4 inches. The big surprise was that a recent ice storm left trees and underbrush coated with a thick layer of ice.

Hiking the AT was easy. (I am grateful to the volunteers who maintain it.) I expected I’d find a side trail to the summit from the high point of the AT. No such luck. The final quarter mile was a bushwhack through ice encrusted underbrush and a thicket of young trees in the understory.

My QSOs were at 5 watts. I used 8 lithium AA cells, but since I used them on another peak earlier in the day, voltage had dropped too low for 10 watts.

I couldn’t have made it to the summit without my GPS. I couldn’t have made it back to the trail without my GPS. I don’t like having my life depend upon electronica. (In my defense, my iPhone also has a GPS, so I did have a Plan B.) Gotta carry a sturdy compass on future trips.

As the temperature rose and the sun hit the trees, they started dropping ice and snow. I was worried I’d lose my rig or my log to a direct hit, so as soon as chasers stopped responding, I got off the summit. (I like to continue calling for a few minutes. Often there is a second wave of chasers, who just need a few more minutes to get the rig fired up after a spot.)

Plus, it was getting late, and I wanted to make it back to paved roads before dark. On the way in, I dodged a beer bottle on Wildcat Road and I wanted to stop and collect it on the way back – not run over it!

Summit - I operated from the absolute apex for this one.

I did this summit immediately after activating Double Spring Knob, so my hike for this one begins at Addis Gap. (I did not hike back to my car on the road.)

Contacts

• 6 QSO at 5 watts on 40 meters and 8 on 20 meters. 7.1908-ssb and 14.3221-ssb. It was tough to find a free frequency.
  • 40 meters
    • KC3RT
    • WA2USA
    • N0TU
    • W4ZV
    • W6UB
    • K4QS
  • 20 meters
    • VA6FUN
    • N1EU
    • W0MNA
    • AC0A
    • VE2JCW
    • NS7P
    • W7CNL
    • WT5RZ

Thank you chasers! Given the slog through the ice, I am exceptionally grateful that you were there when I called CQ.

Airtime

• 2:57 PM Eastern on 30 December, 2012

Radio

• Elecraft KX3.

Antennas

• A fine site for all manner of antennas. The brush is not too dense under the trees, and there are trees of many sizes.
• I was able to successfully slingshot a heavy monofilament fishing line into a tree; I used that to hoist up my 33 ft wire.
• There’s also space to guy out a mast, if that’s your preference.
• EARCHI 20m matchbox with an EFHW. Hung vertically (mostly).

Cell Phone Coverage

• Good cell coverage. SMS self-spot went out promptly.
• I gotta say that I’m grateful for the work that went into making spotting and self-spotting work. SOTA must have been MUCH more difficult in the old days.

Getting There - Driving

• CAREFUL: Google Maps routed the penultimate bits WRONG!
• See directions at my Double Spring Knob activation. This summit has the same trailhead as that one.

Getting There - Hiking

• There’s a gate on Wildcat Road, about a mile from the AT. You may find references to a another gate. I found its remains, about half way between the 1-mile gate and Addis Gap.
• Walk past the gate and up the road.
• When you come to a T, take the trail to your left. It is marked with a forest service iron post with a diamond on it.
• When you come to Addis Gap, it is well marked. It is also clearly a gap, with the dirt road you enter on cresting and continuing forward and down. The AT extends to your left and your right. You turn left for this summit.
• The AT is easy to follow.
• When you’re near the summit, the trail curves around the end of the ridge. It is about 45 minutes from Addis Gap, hiking at a moderate pace. Allow 1:10 to hike from your car to this point.
• Bushwhack from the trail to the summit. This was easier than my bushwhack on Double Spring Knob in the morning. This one took me 25 minutes in the snow and ice. Probably much easier with better conditions.

GPS Waypoints

• Trailhead at the gate - 34.86298, -83.64907
• Trail/road junction. Turn LEFT - 34.86698, -83.65280
• Addis Gap and the Appalachian Trail. Turn LEFT (south) - 34.86317, -83.65616
• Leave the AT. Begin bushwhack - 34.84812, -83.66028
  • Note: I returned to the AT at 34.84834, -83.66022. This would be an OK point to depart the AT.
• Summit - On the ground, the summit looked to be 34.84812, -83.66182. Official summit is at 34.848202, -83.661697, but that’s not what it looks like on the ground.

GPX trace for the hike

Time Log

• (See my Double Spring Knob trip report, for times before Addis Gap.)
• 1:15 Left Addis Gap
• 2:00 - Left AT
• 2:15 - at summit
• 2:55 - ready to transmit
• 2:55 - on the air
• 3:15 - off the air
• 3:30 - packed
• 3:40 - back on the AT. Hooray for trails!
• 4:10 - Addis Gap. (Note: I jogged much of the way. Allow longer time for walking!)
• 4:30 - Car
• 7:00 - Atlanta. (I took a slightly different route going home than coming. Reversing the drive listed at my Double Spring trip report would have been faster.

The Project

I have this shiny (almost) new Elecraft KX3 radio. I’m figuring out how to update the firmware for the first time. My goal isn’t actually updating the firmware – it is using the utility to configure the radio. I don’t know how to do that either, because I’ve never hooked up the cables between the radio and the computer, and I figure that updating the firmware is a good project to get familiar with the cabling and the utility.

I’m using a Mac with OS X 10.8, not a Windows PC.

Find the Cable

Do not connect the cable to the computer yet!

If you haven’t unpacked it yet, you’re looking for a ziploc bag, about 8” tall and 6” wide, cleverly marked “KXUSB Interface Cable for USB”.

If you’ve unpacked it, and you’re trying to figure out which of the dozen cables in your pile-o-cables is this one:

• It is black
• It has a fat USB connector at one end
• There’s a USB icon embossed in a rectangle on one side
• There’s an empty rectangle embossed on the other side
• It has a right-angle 1/8” stereo plug at the other end

And for goodness sake, get out your label maker and put a “KXUSB - KX3 USB Cable” label on it!

Do not connect the cable to the computer yet!

Software for the Computer

1. Open a web browser to http://www.elecraft.com/KX3/KX3_software.htm
2. Download “KX3 Utility (MAC OS X Version x.y.z; .zip format)”. I saved mine as “KX3_Utility_OSX_1_12_8_11.zip”.
3. Open a web browser to http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm (this is where Elecraft sends you for the drivers).
   1. Scroll Down to “Currently Supported VCP Drivers”
   2. Download the driver for “x64 (64-bit)”. I saved mine as “KX3_USB_Cable_Drivers_v2_2_18.dmg”.
4. Open the .dmg for the driver. It may have multiple package-installers inside. Run “FTDIUSBSerialDriver_10_4_10_5_10_6_10_7”, and follow the prompts until the driver is installed.
5. Install the KX3 Utility:
   1. Unzip the .zip
   2. Drag the whole “KX3_Utility_OSX_x_y_z” folder to your Applications folder.

Connect the Cable

1. Power off the KX3.
2. Run “Elecraft KX3 utility” (“the utility”, for the rest of these instructions).
3. Plug the 1/8” plug into the KX3 jack marked ACC1.
4. Plug the USB end of the cable into the computer. It is an oversized plug, so you may have to unplug other USB plug(s) from your computer.
5. Power on the KX3.
6. In the utility:
   1. Press “Refresh Port List”.
   2. You’ll have a drop-down list box that probably says “Bluetooth-PDA”. Change this list box to “usbserial-xxxxx”.
   3. Press “Test Communications”. It should respond with a message resembling “KX3 MCU version x.y. RS-232 speed 4800 bps.” Press the OK button to dismiss the message.

Upgrade the Firmware

With the cable connected, and the KX3 powered up, and the utility running:

1. Select the Firmware tab
2. Press “Check Versions Now”. It will add a message to the activity log resembling “hh:mm:ss KX3 MCU version x.y. RS-232 speed 4800 bps.”
3. Press “Copy New Files From Elecraft”.
4. If you get a message resembling “New firmware is available for your KX3.”:
   1. Press “Close” to dismiss the message
   2. Press “Send All Firmware to KX3”
   3. The KX3 clicks, the LCD goes dark, and displays “MCU LD”. You may see some LED blinks.
   4. About 1:15 later, the LCD lights back up, and it says “dSP LOAd”. It is not done yet!
   5. About 4 minutes after it started, you’ll hear the KX3 click and the computer display will return you to the Firmware tab. The last message in the Activity Log should resemble “hh:mm:ss Ready”.
   6. Quit the utility
   7. Unplug the cable from the computer.
   8. Celebrate your success!

The Project

I want to program my KX3 to send “K4KPK TEST” in a loop, using CW. I’ve previously installed and configured the KX3 utility on my computer. (See these instructions for help with that.)

I’m using a Mac with OS X 10.8, not a Windows PC.

The Procedure

• Connect the cable.
• Start the utility.
• Make sure the KX3 is powered up.
• In the utility:
  • Select the Port tab, press “Test Communications”, and dismiss the message box with the success message.
  • Select the Configuration tab.
  • Press “Edit CW Memories”.
  • Wait several seconds, while the utility reads your current CW memories. When it is finished, the bottom of the window will say “Ready”.
  • Enter K4KPK TEST in M1.
  • Press “Save”
  • To back-up your configuration to your computer, press the “Save KX3 Button” on the Configuration tab.
  • Exit the utility

Except it sometimes doesn’t work. If you re-open the edit-CW-memories window, you’ll see that nothing got saved, or that only some lines got saved. To solve this, press tab an extra time. The Mac version of the utility has a bug and you have to tab out of a field in order for it to notice that you updated it.

Activating the Message

When you are ready to send this message from the KX3:

1. Make sure you are tuned to the desired frequency.
2. Make sure your power is set to the desired level.
3. Make sure your mode is set to CW.
4. Make sure your antenna is connected and tuned.
5. Press the MSG button (on the left side of the KX3).
6. If you want to send the message once, tap the message number (1, in this case). If you want to loop/repeat the message, hold the message number. To stop looping, hold MSG.

• One time, up front, register with Andy, MM0FMF (mm0fmf_sotaATintermoose.com)
  • Your email address
  • Your call sign
  • Your cell phone (SMS source) number
  • Ask him to sign you up for his SMS to SOTA spot gateway
• SMS to: 424-373-7682
  • callsign-or-! association summit frequency mode comments
    • e.g. ! w4c WM-001 ssb 1300 UTC in the rain
      • ! = use my sign-up call sign.  If you want to use a different call sign, enter it instead of "!"
      • w4c = the part of the summit name before the slash
      • WM-001 = the part of the summit name after the slash (My sample summit is Clingman's Dome, North Carolina, USA)
      • ssb = I'm using SSB, not FM or AM or CW.
      • 1500 UTC in the rain = my comment, telling them when I was spotted (1 PM Eastern Daylight Time) and that it is raining.

See also: SOTA Self-spot Via APRS
In early 2019, Andy changed from another SMS number to the number mentioned above. I validated the number mentioned above on May 29, 2020. This is the current number, not the obsolete number.

Summit Activated - W4G/HC-043, Vineyard Mountain, Georgia

Perfect weather, convenient site to Atlanta, moderate-level hike – at least the planned part of the hike was moderate. Important learning – Yes, chasers will show up for a 1-point summit. Thanks guys!

Contacts

• 10 QSO at 10 watts on 20 and 40 meters. 14.340 and 7.262.

Thank you chasers!

Airtime

• Scheduled for 11:45 Eastern. On the air from about 11:00 to 11:30. 2 December, 2012

Radio

• Elecraft KX3.

Antennas

• Easy site for antennas.
  • Trees around the opening at the summit.
  • Space to guy out a vertical.
• Antenna I used:
  • 20/40 meters - EFHW on 31’ Jackite with EARCHI 20 meter matchbox. Bungee-corded it to the trunk of a tilted tree.
  • I used a counterpoise of about 21-20 feet.
  • Next time, if I remember, I’ll remove the matchbox when I move from 20 to 40.

Cell Phone Coverage

• Easy cell coverage is available at the summit.

Getting There - Driving

• When the Riverside Day Use Area is open, just follow Google Maps directions to Alatoona Dam Road, and follow it to the dam.
• When the Riverside Day Use Area is closed, exit at Red Top Mountain Road, and park across the road from the Sunoco station.
• Call the Army Corps of Engineers and find out whether Riverside Day Use Area is open, before you go!

Getting There - Hiking

The plan was to park at the Riverside Day Use Area, just below Alatoona Dam, and hike up the Eagle Scout Trails to the summit. But the road was gated just before Riverside. And there were plenty of “no parking” signs around the gate, and there was a gate house (to permit traffic to the dam?), so ditching the car and hiking up the road to the trailhead was out. My guess is that they close the road for the winter, and it will re-open in the spring.

Google Maps shows a route via Red Top Mountain Rd to Somerset Ln. Somerset is a gated community, and there wasn’t an easy walk around the gate, so Plan B wasn’t looking good either.

I was headed home and just before the I-75 entrance ramp, I noticed a rusty gate and a bit of pavement on the right. If you look at Google Maps, you’ll see two features:

• A big gravel parking lot half-way up the entrance ramp.
• Just east of the lot, there’s an old, abandoned dirt road running north.

Getting there, plan C:

• Park at the gate. Facing the gate from Red Top Mountain Road, you’re going to take the old pavement to your left.
• Follow the old pavement to the gravel lot.
• Exit the gravel road on the north, following the narrow, abandoned dirt road.
• After a bit, the road crosses a dry creek bed.
• A bit more, and the road crosses a wet creek. Slippery rocks!
• A bit more, and you’ll pass a small site with a small diesel generator, and you’ll start following power lines.
• Then you come to the paved road with picnic “Shelter B” and restrooms that are shown on the Alatoona Lake Trail Guide, south of Alatoona Dam Road, just below the dam.
• When you arrive at Alatoona Dam Road, turn right, and you’re at the trailhead for the Eagle Scout Trails.
• Follow the well-marked, yellow-blazed trial until it intersects the blue-blazed trail and the red-blazed trail at a small bench.
• Follow the red-blazed trail up.
• When you arrive at the cell tower, you’re on top.

Exit, or Entrance Plan D:

I’ll describe my route out. You could follow it in the opposite direction to get in.

• Take the gravel road leading south from the cell tower.
• You’ll come to a paved road.
  • This looks like a subdivision, about to happen. There are lots of signs that say “Lot xx” and “Sold,” and there are utility boxes, water hydrants, and sewer lines, but no houses - yet.
  • Up the paved road to your right, there’s a gated gravel road to a water tower. I think you could walk up this road to the water tower, and then walk from the water tower to the cell tower, but I didn’t try it. I definitely did see the water tower from the cell tower, and it has a clearing around it (as shown on Google Maps).
• Turn left onto the paved road.
• After a bit, you come to a gate, and a fancy house on your left, and a dirt road on your right.
• Take the dirt road on your right.
• After a bit, the dirt road forks, with a Private Property No Tresspassing sign to the right, so take the left fork.
• Follow this dirt road for a bit. After awhile, it sorta fades into nothing, right about the point where the topo shows a dirt road intersection. I think that what happened here is that there was a clearing at the intersection, and it filled with pine saplings. I know that the road disappears at the thicket of pine saplings.
• Skirt the pine thicket around its left side, generally heading south, to southwest. You’ll see the road again on your right, once you’re past the short pines. Briefly. Then it fades again.
• Continue heading south, staying in the clearest areas, out from under most of the trees.
• You’ll come to Red Top Mountain Road, and you’ll be near the opposite end of the old pavement that you took when you started your hike.

GPS Waypoints

• Red Top Mountain Rd trailhead = N34.14392 W84.73577
• Wet creek crossing = N34.15521 W84.73730
• Eagle Scout trailhead = N34.16193 W84.73458
• Junction of Yellow, Blue, Red blazed trails = N34.16056 W84.73130
• Summit = N34.15900 W84.72860
• Gravel road from cell tower meets paved subdivision road = N34.15783 W84.72771
• Leave subdivision road for dirt road = N34.15469 W84.73147
• Fork in dirt road. (Go left) = N34.15477 W84.73444
• Lost the trail in the pine thicket = N34.14854 W84.73567
• Found the trail/road = N34.14637 W84.73526
• Trail indistinct. Just head southish = N34.14497 W84.73545
• 90 degree right turn, to re-join old pavement = N34.14424 W84.73507

GPX trace for the hike

Time Log

• 9:15 - parked
• 10:30 - summit
• 10:55 - ready to transmit
• 11:00-11:30 - on-the-air
• 11:45 - packed
• 12:50 - back at car

Summit Activated - W4G/HC-036, Pine Mountain, Georgia

Perfect weather, convenient site to Atlanta, moderate-level hike. For a bonus, my eldest son came along and listened in via a second set of headphones. We both had a great time.

It’s a short, steep hike up from the west parking lot off Komatsu Drive in Cartersville. 20 meters was noise free and our chosen frequency was silent. (That’s an advantage of a weekday activation!)

Contacts

• 11 QSO at 10 watts on 20 meters - 14.345 MHz SSB

Thank you chasers!

Radio

• Elecraft KX3. This is the first time I managed to get battery power and SWR just right to transmit with 10 watts. (Nothing wrong with the radio before this – just operator error.)

Antennas

• Easy site for antennas.
  • Low trees around the clearing at the summit.
  • Space to guy out a vertical.
• Antenna I used:
  • 20 meters - EFHW on 31’ Jackite with EARCHI 20 meter matchbox. Bungee-corded it to the trunk of a twisted tree.
  • I used a counterpoise of about 21-20 feet.

Cell Phone Coverage

• Easy cell coverage is available at the summit.

Getting There - Driving

• Just follow Google Maps directions. They’re spot on.
• There are no restrooms in the parking area, and the trail is too public to make your own.

Getting There - Hiking

• Cartersville publishes a brochure about the area at http://www.cityofcartersville.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/570 . Print it, and carry the map.
• Note: The trail is clearly but obscurely marked! There are posts with arrows at each intersection. However, some posts have only colored arrows. The color matches the color on the map. If you print the map in black-and-white, you’ve got a problem applying the color code.
• If you didn’t bring a color-printed map, just take the right-most trail at each intersection, going up from the west parking lot.

GPS Waypoints

• Pine Mountain west parking lot - N34.17534 W84.75366
• Beginning of Red Trail - N34.17841 W84.74715
• Summit - N34.17680 W84.74500

GPX trace for the hike

Summit Activated - W4G/HC-007, Grassy Mountain, Georgia

Perfect weather, beautiful site, intermediate-level hike. Lotsa driving on dirt roads.

Competing for bandwidth with the ARRL’s Sweepstakes contest was brutal. I briefly found an unused frequency, but I wasn’t able to hold it for long. After a few minutes, there was a contester who couldn’t hear my 5 watts. One of my contacts announced that the frequency IS in use (thanks!), but I don’t think the contester heard him either.

17 meters was also pretty busy, but made a good alternate.

Contacts

• 5 QSO at 5 watts on 17 meters - 18.1385 MHz SSB
• 5 QSO at 5 watts on 20 meters - 14.285 MHz SSB

Thank you chasers!

Radio

• Elecraft KX3

Antennas

• Easy site for antennas.
  • Throw wires in a tree - use low trees around the clearing.
  • Tie a wire to the tower.
  • There aren’t any really tall trees.
  • Big clear area at the end of the road. Warning: You may need to pound stakes with a rock. The roadbed is dense.
• Antennas I used:
  • 20 meters - EFHW on 31’ Jackite with EARCHI 20 meter matchbox. Guyed it in the roadbed.
  • 17 meters - W3EDP - run through the trees. Twin-lead followed by single strand of speaker wire. I used my mast poles to push it into the trees.

I’d like to further refine my antenna arsenal for better 17 meter coverage. I used a W3EDP for 17 meters, and this is suboptimal. Maybe next time I’ll carry EFHW wires for 20 and 17, and just drop and re-raise my mast in between.

I erected my Jackite in the clearing, away from my W3EDP. I wanted to experiment with both antennas. For non-experimenting use, I could have simply leaned my Jackite into a tree. (That’s what I did with the mast supporting my W3EDP.)

Cell Phone Coverage

• Intermittent cell coverage is available at the fire tower, using my iPhone 3gs. Sometimes I got 3 bars; sometimes I got “No Signal.” I did manage to SOTA-spot via SMS. Coverage seemed best at WNW in the parking circle, facing NW. Sit. Be patient.
• Cell towers exist in Eton, perhaps because of the large carpet mills.
• There’s a cell tower along the brief stretch of Crandal Ellijay road you’ll drive.

Getting There - Driving

• Reset your odometer at each turn.
• Note: Another valid route, about as good is http://goo.gl/maps/iiV2r and it has lots in common with routes to some other hills I’ve done. (“Familiar” is good.)
• Driving north on 411 from McDonald’s in Chattsworth, GA. ** Total drive time from here to trailhead parking is about 60 minutes. You can do it in 5 minutes less if you drive too fast on dirt roads. It will take much longer if you get behind a drives-slow-on-dirt-roads driver.
• 5.9 miles, turn right on Grassy St (just past the Eton Post Office).
• 0.4 miles, turn right on Crandall Ellijay Rd
• 300 ft, turn left on Mill Creek Rd.
  • Google Maps makes it look like there are two Mill Creek Roads (as of November 2012). There aren’t. The first one on Google is the real one.
  • Mill Creek Rd turns to dirt after a few tenths of a mile. As of November 2012, it is a good condition dirt road, about 1.5 lanes wide.
  • At 6.4 miles, stay left. (Right goes to a campground.)
  • Mill Creek Rd becomes known as FS-630.
• 8.6 miles, acute right onto FS-17 at 34.89911, -84.64720
  • Google calls it W. Cowpen Rd.
  • Google shows a T intersection (3-way). It is really a 4-way.
  • Dirt road going up-hill. About 1 lane wide. There’s a gate. It was open for me in mid-November.
• 3.2 miles, turn right onto FS-68. (Google calls it Conasauga Lake Rd)
• You’ll come to a T, with overflow camping to your left. Go right, toward the campground.
• Don’t park in the campground.
• Continue past the campground entrance a bit and take the marked right turn toward the picnic/boat-launch areas. Picnic is the preferred parking area for day use. There’s a gate. It was closed in mid-November.
• Continue a bit and turn right, to the boat launch ramp.
• Park in the small lot, just before the ramp. GPS coordinates: 34.86002, -84.65275
• Walk the circum-lake trail counter-clockwise about 0.1 mile until you reach the dam. The trail description begins from the dam.

Total drive time from Perimeter Mall in Atlanta was 2:40. That’s a “best case” drive time.

Google Maps makes it look like you can drive up to the fire tower. The road is gated. Only Forest Service trucks get to drive there.

Getting There - Hiking

The trail notes begin from the dam, at Lake Conasauga. There’s a trail around the lake. You want to start your hike proceeding counter-clockwise, from mid-dam.

The hike took 1:20 going in and 47 minutes coming back. I was moving as fast as I could in both directions. (I was running late because the drive takes longer than Google estimates.)

• At the end of the dam, turn right on trail 99.
• Follow the trail. After a bit, it will head downhill. You’ll find yourself wondering, “How will I make it to a fire tower by traveling downhill.” It is a good trail, but in Fall, it can be a little indistinct, due to heavy leaf cover.
• You’ll come to a T, with a huge trail map sign. (You enter the T from the base.)
• Turn right. Almost immediately, you’ll cross a beaver dam.
• Immediately after crossing the dam, take the trail to your left.
• When Songbird and the Fire Tower trails split, take the right fork. It has a metal post with “99” on it.
• When you pass a large boulder on your right, in a small valley, look right. The trail makes a 90 degree right turn here. Hikers sometimes miss this turn. When I hiked it in November 2012, the Blaze Fairy had tagged occasional trees with small, bright green, metal tags. This turn is marked, but vandals sometimes remove blazes.
• After a long, up-hill slog, you’ll join the grassy dirt road, running up the ridge to the fire tower.
• There’s a big clearing at the fire tower. It is a short, wide tower.

GPS Waypoints

• Lake Conasauga Dam: 34.86156, -84.65124
• Trailhead – FS trail 99: 34.86163, -84.65147 –Elevation: 3154
• T with huge trail sign: 34.86377, -84.65566 –Elevation: 3119
  • Turn right.
• Beaver Dam: 34.86408, -84.65605
• Songbird/Tower Trail Split: 34.86362, -84.65814 – Elevation: 3184
  • Take right fork.
• Trail turns 90 degrees right: 34.86591, -84.66333 – Elevation: 3317
  • Trail gets steep after a few hundred feet.
• Trail joins road: 34.86708, -84.66740 – Elevation: 3614
  • Steepness ends.
• Fire Tower clearing: 34.86185, -84.67004 – Elevation: 3692

GPX trace for the hike

Summit Activated: W4G/CE-003 Stone Mountain Date: 10 November, 2012

An easy activation, convenient to Atlanta. The hardest part was finding a parking place at the trailhead on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

There are plenty of places to support an antenna in the activation zone. There’s a fence on the south side, near the trail, protecting rare flora. It could be used to support a vertical. I found a dwarf tree, a little north of the summit, and bungee corded a 31’ fiberglass mast to it, for an EFHW for 20 meters.

It was a good opportunity to spread a little public awareness. Lots of interest from tourists about what I was doing. On the way up, a group of teens (or 20-somethings) asked if I was going camping. When I explained that I was going to set up a portable radio station and talk with people in Europe, there was lots murmuring of “cool.” There’s an opportunity to interest the young in ham radio here. Setting up a radio on top of a mountain sound more like an adventure and less like a bunch of old men sitting around and yakking. The young see themselves as adventurers and risk-takers, and we could do well to sell SOTA to high school and college kids.

16 contacts on 20 meters in just about 10 minutes. My signal made it to Kansas and to England on 5 watts with my KX3. My thanks to the chasers, who put up with me when I totally lost my train of thought as a parade of hikers marched past!