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!