SOTA summit: Cabeza de Mesa https://sotl.as/summits/EA1/AT-052

Activation Date: July 11, 2023

Unique: Yes, peak number 276

Call sign used: EA/M0SNA/P

Portable operation: Yes

Radios: Yeasu 857D

Antennas: SOTABeams 20/40 bandhopper

Band/Modes used: 20m and 40m voice

Operating highlights:

• Spectacular views
• EA2 – new association for me

Pack weight: Approximately 25 lbs

Drive: Park in Sotres

Hike:  ~8.3 miles R/T with ~2,800 ft ascent. 

Hike and AZ profile:

• Long, fairly easy to follow trail but steep at times
• Very few other hikers
• Large, no trees
• Rocks etc to help secure mast

Recommend: Yes but travel light

Solo operation: All alone

Cell Coverage: Good cell coverage 

Photos: Copyright Paul Gacek 2024

Out of the corner of my eye I’ve watched his movie. It didn’t really matter that I couldn’t hear anything as it was in Spanish, set during the Spanish Civil War and actually looked quite good. Boredom had me restless and I rifled through the Iberian in flight magazine that like so many has airport maps, pictures of unbelievable cuisine and something that absolutely caught my eye. Asturias; mountains, coast line, royal palaces and of course cuisine. I’m sold.

Interrupted by Covid and years later, I find myself driving toward what I thought would be a great first Spanish peak. The barrier was unmistakable and the bright neon lights declaring no entry without reservation was not what I wanted to see this early AM.

“Do you speak English?”, “Yes” she replies telling me that twenty minutes earlier, I could have driven in but now and without any reservation I’m out of luck. Come back tomorrow but that isn’t really my plan as I have this not so carefully planned trip to climb peaks, see Vitoria’s (1813) geography and then enjoy Bilbao and aspects of the Basque Country.

The idea of speeding is silly and really isn’t an option. The mountain roads are very narrow, climb relentless and wind and wind around a geologic marvel that is the Picos de Europa National Park. It’s July and while not a big destination for foreigners, it’s super popular with Spanish and I’m convinced my late arrival will yield no parking spot and all in all I’m skunked.

The downside to parking in Sotres is the 500 ft decent to then start a 2,200ft ascent but I have a space and walk down the paved road trying hard to determine which peak is mine.

The car pulls up next to me and the window winds down. “Sorry, I don’t speak Spanish” is my reply to her. “Would you like a ride?”. Thinking wasn’t required and I blurted out “yes!!”. Pilling in the back they inquire where I have been. The story of mountain top radio needs a little explanation. The three young hikers were very curious about my peak and I surmised my paltry 8 miles and almost 3,000ft was just a warm up for them. Nevertheless, this Basque Country trio are charming and pretty much take me right to my car. Absolutely a Godsend as I was knackered.

Thirty euros buys me all I can eat at the hotel for dinner and then I discover it includes all you can drink….wine, beer….

Like most Brits, I love Spain, I really do. The south is a big attraction with its warm weather, beaches and sometimes Fish and Chips. In stark contrast, the Atlantic Coast of Spain is green, wet and a place less trodden. It’s been a desire of mine to hike/drive west along the Pyrenees and then along the Atlantic coast to that little know Napoleonic debacle that was the evacuation via Corunna (1809). Another day, sooner than later.

I never thought of myself as an award chaser.

Maybe like many kids, the endless pressure to achieve a scholastic level as measured by an exam put me off of any more “exams” and by loose association awards. I don’t want to be measured anymore.

However, what I did enjoy as a kid was hearing voices from far away places sharing far aware news that in truth was somewhat lost on me, I just wanted the confirmation card.

The most exciting were always from somewhere exotic sounding to this teenager; maybe India, maybe Australia or even Canada sprinkled amongst all the east European cultural “happy” cards I would also receive.

If I’m chasing an award surely it must be the ARRL DXCC that is the mark of true afficiando that has confirmation of contacts with a minimum of a 100 countries. True that was fun but WAS seemed to capture my imagination in a different way.

Maybe it’s because I’m an “ersatz” American bearing a passport but growing up a million miles away. Lost in the history of the USA is actually quite enlightening and enriching. Lost in old National Geographic’s that paint a picture of colored canyons in Utah, yachts tied up in slips at the end of a yards in Florida or yet another story of Mount Vernon. It all tells the fabric of my adopted country, a place that I have a deep respect and admiration for.

WAS is an award offered by the US’s amateur radio league (ARRL) for anyone global that makes contact with an amateur in each and every US state, hence Worked All States. Sounds pretty simple and at some level it is. Where you can make it all the more interesting is to slice the WAS and achieve it for as specific communication method such as voice or morse code or harder still for a specific band such as 20m, 40m, 10m etc.

Location play a part as slicing it one way (say 40m) might be much easier from the middle of the country with a smaller distribution of distances to each and every state. Think about it, Nebraska, a fine place to live is roughly no more than 1,200 miles to any of the lower 48 unlike Maine, an equally wonderful place to live is various distances up to 2,500 miles to each and every lower 48. WAS on 40m might be much harder in Maine than Nebraska.

WAS so far….

Like many things in life starting something is easy and finishing it somewhat harder, think 80/20 rule.

I’ve been nibbling away at 15m and 10m WAS for a while. Contests don’t seem to have closed the final mile and I’m passionately trying to gain 3 more states on 10m phone and a similar number on 15m phone.

Truth is I would have been fine with phone WAS on multiple bands but now I’ve made some progress on CW and especially CW WAS, a whole new goal of per band triple crown awaits that is WAS phone, morse and digital. Drats, I’ve moved the goal posts…..

Counting sunspots…..Cycle 25

Whether your iconic 1700s event is the Battle of Culloden (1746, think Outlander), the French Indian Wars (1756-1763), the American Revolution (1765-1783) or Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, some “enlightened” astronomers started counting sunspots and over time determined a cycle of 11 years between maximum count with a big dip in-between.

The more recent science of radio in the 1900s lead to a realization that our ability to communicate on different bands is correlated to where the sun, our sun is in it’s 11 year cycle.

Nearing the current cycles maxima, we get to enjoy easier, almost global communication on bands such as 10m and 15m that are hitherto unheard of 5 years either side of the maxima.

Here we are at the peak of cycle 25 and it’s time to close those WAS goals on 10m, 15m and possible others between and around.

WAS and SOTA, a new goal made in heaven?

I’ve wandered the world of SOTA for almost 8 years. Goals change, radios change, antennas change, as do I. The enthusiasm for racing up the same local peaks year in a year out has waned and maybe best deferred. New peaks can be fun and my 8 year journey has taken me to 280 different peaks (no repeats) across the western USA and parts of Europe.

WAS requires all contacts for a single award to be made within a 50 mile radius of each other and with that I lassoed about 60 peaks not far from home. Most never visited as most are small “urban” peaks offering measly single or two points compared to “giants” in the San Gabriels and San Bernardinos offering eight points.

Now I have a new goal to further my WAS and grow my leg muscles…activate as many of the 60 (less what I have done or are off limits, think USMC base) as soon as possible

What’s in your WAS circle?

SOTA summit: Hestetinden https://sotl.as/summits/LA/SF-555

Activation Date: May 24, 2023

Unique: Yes, peak number 200 and something

Call sign used: LA/M0SNA/P

Portable operation: Yes

Radios: Elecraft KX2

Antennas: LNR End Fed 40/20/10

Band/Modes used: 20m voice

Operating highlights:

• Windiest and wettest activation i’ve ever done
• First ever activation of LA/SF-555
• Incredible views
• Soaked to the bone, well almost
• Wind broke my carbon fibre

Pack weight: Approximately 15 lbs

Drive: Park on a pier and hike in

Hike:  ~3 miles R/T with 1,000 ft ascent. 

Hike and AZ profile:

• Easy trail to follow to peak
• Incredible views of fjords and North Atlantic

Recommend: Absolutely

Solo operation: All alone

Cell Coverage: Good cell coverage 

Photos: Copyright Paul Gacek 2024

The only time to visit is August declared Martin.

He’s probably right but it’s late May and I’m here driving north.

I’m on the clock as the weather has turned, yesterday’s horizon to horizon blue skies are gone. The drive north along windy mountain roads clinging to the sides of the fjords, along valleys and then into the bowls of ferries are all breathtaking. I love this place

Winding my way toward the trail head has me feeling reasonably optimistic as the clouds loom but no rain yet.

Marching up the trail and through a tatty looking wood has me wondering if I’m actually on the correct trail. No steep ascent, no hill, no fjord and no North Atlantic suggest I might have done this wrong. It’s late in the day and my window to activate is reasonably short.

I finally break out of the woods and watch the skies. Luck is running out and a crazy wind is rushing off the North Atlantic dumping cloud mist and ever larger rain drops on me.

I stop to put my rain pants on, adjust my rain slick and try and orient my “duck bill” to keep this unwanted moister off of my glasses.

The “voices” have started! I’m muttering to myself that if it gets any worst, I’m retreating back to the car. I persist, the rain abates, restarts and I mutter away again that if it gets worst, I’m doubling back. I don’t really want to give up and eventually the rain stops as I find myself at the peak.

The wind howls and I scream into the mic. One, two, three and then it’s in the bag. Thoughts of staying longer are quickly dispatched as the crazy wind driven rain reappears with a vengeance. As I pack up, I realize the wind was so violent that it snapped one of the final segments of the carbon fiber mast.

Another great day in the bag.

In the arcane and niche world that is the intersection of peak bagging and ham radio, aka SOTA, the participants fall into two broad groups; activators and chasers.

Happening daily across the planet, activators, especially the apasionada, ferret radios to wild and distant peaks, setting up a temporary radio station and then hoping that the co-dependent chaser community hear, respond and make the trek worthwhile. All things being equal smiles abound.

Within this rarefied world is another notable accolade where activators assume a dual role of activator and chaser. The chance to communicate from one peak to another is special in that two apasionadas get to experience what their weak and faint signal must sound like to chasers but unlike most chasers get to do it in a “electrical” noise free environment. Often a faint and perfectly audible voice from a distant location plays in the headphones. This contact unsurprisingly is know as a Summit to Summit (S2S).

Some in our community are legendary in the pursuit of S2S contacts such as Colorado based Cary (KX0R) and Dave (N6AN) here in SoCal.

Sadly, I’m not one of these legends nor anywhere close.

As with many activators, my initial goal was to attain the coveted Mountain Goat award which in true Western style I achieved in a respectable two year window having shlepped my gear up 100+ mountains. The equivalent chaser award, Shack Sloth took me over seven years to achieve through only S2S contacts, no comfy chair for me!

Truth is I’m never quite as aware as I could be about other activators concurrent efforts and pretty much all my S2S contacts have been others calling me.

I love to mix up my hobbies and pondered the practicality of applying technology to my deficiency.

I kicked the tires on an idea, in hindsight possibly overkill of creating a small PC centric solution for the 2023 G/LD event that Mark M0NOM organized. Reasonable progress was made but I became distracted and then further distracted with a return to the UK.

My morse code dabbling has spurred a re-interest in past projects primarily to complete and/or use some of what I’ve done in the past.

Green for go!!

Peaks can be cold, dusty, beautiful and throughly inhospitable. Two problems exist that limit my S2S enjoyment; awareness and too much fiddling to get on frequency.

Improving awareness could be as simple of an LED lighting up or possibly a bank of LEDs conveying opportunities immediate and those slowly drifting into history. A green LED could indicate a new and current S2S opportunity, yellow some or one that are aging out dictating prompt action and red for opportunities that are most likely missed.

Less fiddling might be a winner

On a busy Saturday, details of activators scroll by on our notification web site in a random and jarring way. I’m reading one, checking the time, frequency and suddenly the line is displaced down one or two or more slots. Lost, I attempt to regain acuity and give up in my transliteration from web to frequency readout on my radio. Another S2S is missed.

Tailored for my iPhone screen, a list of current activations is displayed with a color coding to denote age matching the LEDs. Sorting them narrows to band (maybe 10m for the current 2024 challenge), geography, calls, mode etc.

Quickest way from A to B

Once upon a time people paid me to write software.

During the dawn of computing we used a gamut of languages from labor intensive assembler to one of a multiple of block structured languages and even the grand daddy of “object oriented” in the form of Simula 67. As someone, that was ejected into the ranks of shepherding software engineers, I often lamented at how long software development remained in what appeared an efficiency neolithic age. ChatGPT has dispelled that notion but along the way graphical almost cartoon like systems have surfaced.

As a quick and efficient way to develop a working system, Node Red is actually quite easy to master and satisfying in the immediacy of usable software. Maybe not appropriate for large scale mission critical system, it never the less has a real and valid place.

Zeros at 7 o’clock

Raspberry Pis come in many shapes and forms but alas have been far too hard to find for far too long. Rummaging through my “junk box” yielded a Pi Zero W, forgotten and feeling inferior to the newer and unobtainable Zero 2 W, its pressed into serviced simply based on its size and ability to sit neatly on my newly established “flight deck” aka a clip board.

The Pi OS comes in two or three flavors one known as “headless” but unlike a Zombie can be counted on to do useful things. Installed along with Node-Red on my forgotten Pi Zero W and it’s single USB serving as a conduit to the CAT interface on my KX2, I’m off to the races.

In addition to QSY-ing to a frequency, pressing CALL with send W6PNG in morse or S2S an declaration of opportunity.

LED Duration

On that same busy Saturday, it’s plausible that the Green, Yellow and Red LEDs are on all the time somewhat negating their value. I need to experiment with durations which could vary depending on time of week or an event. For example, maybe on a busy day green is only for displayed ….

Predicated on cell service

Cellular service is seemingly everywhere even in remote parts of the Western USA especially atop a peak. However, a peak’s height and hence reception of/by multiple towers can confuse things such that we often end up with no cellular service. Go figure.

I’ve learnt that sometimes it’s worthwhile to pause, try something and then consider refinement and next steps. There’s lot of things I could do beyond determining if the current prototype is usable and useful.

Certainly this work/project has been a great complement to hiking in that it’s a brain work out.

Any comments, thoughts, suggestion or ideas how to evolve this little project are always welcome.

The arc of radio kits is waning.

Easy to work with parts are going out of production in deference to tiny, minuscule equivalents that are a machine’s dream.

Many wax and wane about the glory days of Heathkit, that American landmark that defined a small corner of 1960s American history. The mantle is passed, grabbed or offered and Elecraft catches it and define their own place in kit history. Better than Heathkit, similar build detail but simply a better performer.

Truth is, a high percentage of electronic kits end in tears. Good intent isn’t sufficient to win the day.

Somewhat like driving on a windy mountain road, success is a function of paying attention and staying between the white lines and so build details are a key success determinant.

I hadn’t really intended to go to this party as I’ve never really been a “morser”.

I did attend a different Elecraft party, by buying and building a K2 replete with a family of add-on modules. Hard work but the results still hold their own 20 years on and a life time of new technology to out do the little K2.

Last orders have been and gone. Kicking myself but now “happily” paying over the odds to someone that was quicker off the mark than me and I now have a K1 kit with a small family of add ons.

Remember Covid? Who doesn’t!!

Stuck at home and wondering what has happened to my travel centric life, I turn inward, pull out my K1 kit, power up the soldering iron and relax into a final journey. Screw this build up and no replacement is in sight.

Analog radios are essentially math machines. All those capacitors, inductors, transistors etc are simply crunching on RF signals, pulling out, suppress some, amplifying others to the point that something “intelligible” pops out a speaker or headphone. Analog radio designs are old dating back into the 1920s and 1930s. Different designs and approaches have been pioneered and some stood the test of time.

Eric and Wayne love one of those design approaches, termed “superheterodyne”. It’s in the K2, the K1 I’m about to tackle, the K3 and even the very recent KH-1. It’s a fine approach defined by copious parts count and great performance. The value of the designer is to align all the resistiors, capacitors, transistors, etc into something that is optimized for size, cost and performance. Think tubes of paint and imagine a painting by a five year old versus that by Cezzane. Both start with the same raw material but the end results are markedly different.

Buttons, I love buttons. I’ve long thought about this passion for buttons and knobs and irrefutably tie it to far too many visits to the Science Museum in Kensington, London as a “wee knipper” during the go-go 60s.

Eric and Wayne don’t just love super-heterodyne designs but modular super-hets. Filters are an essential part of any radio both to improve its performance but also to meet FCC requirements to be a good HF citizen and not create unnecessary interference.

As amateur we have access to many bands, shortwave and beyond. The K1 design separates bands into “insertable” filter boards that support 2 or 4 of a limited subset of shortwave bands. It’s a build time decision and my eBay special came with a 2 band filter board that I opt to build for 80m (a night time band) and 40m (a jack of all trades band).

Building the main board….

Possibly overkill but a wonderful peace of mind and potential time saver, I methodically test every and I mean every component before I solder it in. Resistors are checked that the value matches what is demanded, transistors are verified as handling might have zapped a part of it, joints are verified for connectivity and yes, I’ve found dud parts, I’ve found wonky joints and feel all the better for this obsessive attention to detail. Time is never abundant but this journey should be savored and made all the sweeter by a “safe” arrival.

Weeks turn to months and months into years. Under appreciated and under complete, a shoe box emerges with an almost complete ATU. Distracted and pulled away onto house projects, consigned the almost ATU to an ignominious plastic home.

Wire wrapping Dunkin’ Donut like miniature rings, installing a few more components and magically I’m done. Three years in the making and the sense of completing an incomplete project is an additional reward.

An unexpected QA member verifies what I have built, listens for tell tale relays clicking as a match is sort and a wink and a thumbs up convey this build journey hasn’t ended in tears.

Well done me!

Time well spent and a very enjoyable build.

It’s a wonderful little rig but technology has marched on and the KX2 in most all respects remains my “go to” radio for SOTA.

However, it’s a keeper and to borrow a line from Charlton Heston….“from my cold dead hands….”

SOTA summit: Blind Spring  https://sotl.as/summits/W6/ND-067

Activation Date: December 26th, 2023

Unique: Yes, peak number 280

Call sign used: W6PNG

Portable operation: Yes

Radios: Elecraft KX2

Antennas: SOTABeams Bandhopper 60/40/20

Band/Modes used: Morse (CW) on 40m

Operating highlights:

• Great views of the White Mountains
• Morse code (CW) activation number 4

Pack weight: Approximately 15 lbs

Drive: Jeep

Hike:  ~5 miles R/T with 1,300 ft ascent. 

Hike and AZ profile:

• Old Jeep trail and then a lot of bushwhacking past a false peak to Blind Spring
• Pile of rocks, slabs to sit on and places to jam a fiber glass mast into

Recommend: Absolutely

Solo operation: With Rico M

Cell Coverage: Good cell coverage 

Photos: Copyright Paul Gacek 2024

It’s not often that I think of deer and even less often deer in headlights, however at this point empathy abounds and I’m feeling rather uncomfortable.

Lots of sounds, dits and dahs akin to a barrage of shells. Unlike shells these are wanted and everyone seems to have accommodated me, by spacing characters and matching my speed. I’m pretty slow but it all feels like a German autobahn, fast and far too fast!

Chances are the first character is a K, W or N and it is.

W what I ponder and send morse “W?”. Ah, I hear an OT and surmise accurately that WB6POT is calling me. He is and one is in the bag.

The fun continues and while I haven’t really given much warning of my arrival, I seem to have coincided with Red NJ7V’s activation in Arizona and presume I’m getting his party goers on the way out. I assume Elliot and Ken are coming. K6EL seemed more manageable to me but still requires a K?. Despite umpteen practices of sending K6HPX I send a medley of incorrect characters but manage to fumble through this. Thanks Elliot, thanks Ken.

Rex is here and has an easy callsign as it ends with an M and T, very rhythmical to me. I get a kick out of Q with Rex as he is my W6 AM successor.

I have a much stronger appreciation of callsigns since trying morse for real. There’s a ring to some, Fred’s KT5X and in particular the X sounds rhythmical and easy to identify. My UK callsign, M0SNA picked unrandomly and with no thought to morse sounds quite nice to my ear but not so my California vanity, W6PNG.

I’m somewhat flummoxed…a prize catch in the form of a contact with a fellow mountain top activator is coming in as dits and dahs. Dave N6AN is sending S2S to me and I’m not entirely sure how to handle the next set of exchanges. At one level it’s easy or so it seemed as I knew almost without hesitation that his summit to summit was from his personal temple (like mine W6/SC-369) was W6/CT-225.

It’s a horseshoe journey to this peak via Bishop with 30 miles along the base of the Whites. I’ve done all the easy peaks in the Whites and always marvel at its compact majesty that belies the meadow like nature of its upper reaches that transform into groves of the oldest living things; Bristlecone Pines. We try to identify peaks but fail abysmally requiring help from PeakFinder. My now retired accolade is hiding behind the behemoth that is Montgomery. Truth is Nevada never really likes to admit that Boundary is it’s highest point but would rather that Wheeler, the subject of another adventure be it, be it.

Blind Spring wasn’t really our destination but rather Antelope or even Trafton (a dirt road too far for this Jeeper ages ago) and I’m not fully prepared to navigate the optimal way.

The mine road looked appealing on a map but once onto it caution saved the day as it clung to the side of the mountain, was strewn with rocks and ever larger boulders that ultimately would dictate a very difficult down hill reversal.

Rico’s disappeared. I call into the wind. Nothing, I call again. Finally a fix on a voice. This way I shout. We repeat this again but no response. The faux destination has numerous ways around and I fear he’s off on the wrong one. I backtrack to a pinnacle and regain a fix on him. Collecting rusted mining junk like cans is a slow and methodical business.

The West is littered with mines. It’s a story that never ceases to intrigue me but the terrain can be dangerous. Tailings suggest caution, depressions suggest alternate tracks and ultimately we have found our way to the peak and then safely back to the Jeep.

It was fun, very fun. I love scrambling through the western sage, around bitter brush, Mormon tea and all that the Eastern Sierras have to offer.

SOTA summit: Temple Hills W6/SC-369 

Activation Date: January 1, 2024

Unique: No

Call sign used: W6PNG

Portable operation: Yes

Radios: Yaesu FT-857

Antennas: Buddipole dipole

Band/Modes used: 10m SSB (voice) and FT8

Operating highlights:

• See my first sunrise of 2024
• Added (I hope) NV and NM to my 10m phone WAS award (3 states remain)
• 77 contacts!!

Pack weight: Approximately 20 lbs

Drive: Car

Hike:  ~1/4 miles R/T with 0 ft ascent. 

Hike and AZ profile:

• Trail is easy to follow and if you get lost what can I say….
• Picnic bench with drop off to east

Recommend: Absolutely

Solo operation: Yes

Cell Coverage: Good cell coverage 

10m SOTA challenge: Yes, activation #1

Photos: Copyright Paul Gacek 2024

The Internet is a double edged sword being both great and terrible at the same time. Somewhere on that spectrum lies Instagram’s impact. Ten years ago, Horseshoe Canyon would get 3,000 visitors a year, today it gets almost 5,000 a day courtesy of Instagram.

While not quite in the same league as Horseshoe, my local peak has gone from sleepy backwater into a “destination” every weekend and seemingly this holiday Monday. Hordes of happy people look east and await sunrise.

I shuffle by, smile profusely and engage the couple occupying by favorite picnic bench about a happy 2024. Thinking permission might be the best way to go, I ask and up goes my antenna.

It’s a very slow start and I’m wondering about the virtue of this early morning adventure.

Two voice calls into the Carolinas are all I can muster

Breaking out the laptop and cranking up the much loved, much vilified digital FT8 program, doesn’t seem to yield much but I’m reluctant to call it quits.

This is day one of the all year 2024 SOTA 10m challenge. The vagaries of the sun cycle make 10m only truely viable in the peak period which is pretty much now and so a little more perseverance is required. Seven (a measly count by all counts) is all I manage on FT8.

Bands and propagation are fickle. Sometimes from this same location, I seemingly have worked all of the UK by now.

Things pick up and my two voice contacts bloats into seventy and all in all I’m a happy camper.

The Yaesu 857 has proven its worth as a “light” feature packed 100w rig despite some limitations such as being noisy. That noise has swallowed Jamie’s (N6JFD) summit to summit attempt from 4-land.

A good start and I have the rest of 2024 to refine, add and do better on 10m including morse.

Happy days!!

SOTA summit: Sotekollen  

Activation Date: May 23, 2023

Unique: 260th

Call sign used: LA/M0SNA/P

Portable operation: Yes

Radios: Elecraft KX2

Antennas: LNR 40/20/10 Trail friendly end fed

Band/Modes used: 20m SSB (voice)

Operating highlights:

• Spectacular views of a Norwegian fjord
• Amongst “best” views I’ve seen out of 260 unique peaks

Pack weight: Approximately 20 lbs

Drive: Car

Hike:  ~3 miles R/T with 1,600 ft ascent. 

Hike and AZ profile:

• Trail is a mixture of easy to follow and boggy/rock area
• AZ is flat, a little boggy in places
• GaiaPro track -> here

Recommend: Absolutely

Solo operation: Yes

Cell Coverage: Good cell coverage 

Photos: Copyright Paul Gacek 2023

The hotel is remarkably empty and she asks what time I want dinner. Its already been a full day, one activation earlier and a long and winding drive north from Bergen. Canned sardines seem unappetizing and with a little mental scheduling I say 7pm.

It’s already 2:15 when I set foot on the trail. It’s steep, maybe 1,600ft in 1.5 miles. The ground is muddy and like any trail through a forest, roots are exposed that add to the need for dexterity.

The shy figure descends past me, back toward me obviously not wanting to be seen.

The trail ascends, twists and I settle into a rhythm that has left behind the huffing, puffing and occasional “burning” muscle to which I wish I had eaten the banana that sat in the trunk along with my unwanted sardines.

The grass is healthy green and moss has grown up trunks ad along branches. All signs of a wet wet environment that is typical of a fjord that is an offshoot of the North Atlantic. Everyone seems to claim the prize for the wettest place in Norway but in this case this remarkably remote place of Brekke might actually be the winner.

I’d picked the hotel as it is literally on the waters edge and have already seen the expanse of water and granite slabs holding the ocean back and 30 minutes later I see my first almost breathtaking view up possibly 700 ft.

It’s a little bit of a fast and furious activation. Canned sardines seem so unappealing and I really do want to be at my car at some reasonable time. I’ve always been a fast up hill hiker but two knee surgeries later and a knee that is not “clinically silent” as my surgeon described it, has me typically descending with poles and slowly.

I guess Norway’s proximity shouldn’t surprise me with the consistent and relatively “loud” Polish stations I’ve heard so far which are always a thrill for this half Pole and I try one of the ten Polish words I know, dziekuje, but I think my thank you is lost in the ether.

I nab more European stations from Spain eastward and when my calls are no longer answered despite spots, I pack up by rote, adjust my pack and sigh a little as I turn my back on this spectacular vista.

Cycle 25 seems to be misbehaving at this point and we seem to have lots more Sun activity that is “trashing” radio communications mine included.

It was really a random find and reality exceeded my rather minimal expectations. I think the sedum roof was the draw and made me think of trolls, Loki and other things Norwegian. The promise of a room overlooking the fjord sealed the deal and State-side it would have cost about a million times more.

Pushing it on the trail had me back sooner and unbeknownst to me expanded my dinner options from just meat balls to that plus salmon. Meat balls always makes me think of the Swedish Chef from the Muppets and so I opted for the salmon and with no regrets, oven roasted and it tasted simply perfect.

At one point, I’d convinced myself to bring a reasonably sophisticated Canon DSLR, matching manly tripod and a MacBookPro that might rival nVidia when processing Large Language Models. However, limited space and sense prevailed and I brought an ancient Canon camera and diminutive tripod plus a variety of filters.

My heart has been more into the hiking and views but I pulled the gear our in the vane hope that an 11pm sunset might yield something.

I’m a sucker of mountains and water. The views on this hike will stick with me for a very long time. The camera just can’t capture the expansiveness, the cold North Atlantic gusts nor the nuances of the greens and browns that made up the landscape. Much of the hike was perched on the edge of mountain dramatic drop offs. All safe but adding to the sense of wonder.

Such a memorable hike and I doubt I’ll ever return but hope you too can experience this.

Sheer magic, sheer bliss.

Life is beyond good.

SOTA summit: Haugjelsvarten  https://www.sotadata.org.uk/en/summit/LA/HL-017

Activation Date: May 18, 2023

Unique: 254th

Call sign used: LA/M0SNA/P

Portable operation: Yes

Radios: Elecraft KX2 and Yaesu VX 8G

Antennas: LNR 40/20/10 Trail friendly end fed and J Pole

Band/Modes used: 40m 20m SSB and 2m FM (all voice)

Operating highlights:

• ~30 shortwave contacts across UK and EU
• Spectacular views of Norwegian landscape and Bergen
• First “real” Norwegian peak

Pack weight: Approximately 20 lbs

Drive: Public transports to cable car

Hike:  ~8 miles R/T with 1,200 ft ascent along a “trail” of sorts. 

Hike and AZ profile:

• Trail is a mixture of easy to follow and good luck finding it, maps help
• AZ is flat
• GaiaPro track here –> https://www.gaiagps.com/datasummary/track/4fe35f990d6225cb43708233c1e7c36a/?layer=GaiaTopoRasterFeet

Recommend: Absolutely

Solo operation: Yes

Cell Coverage: Good cell coverage 

Photos: Copyright Paul Gacek 2023

Stepping off the ledge, I was confronted with trails rugged and groomed. Picking one at random had me regretting my choice as it was far more rugged than groomed. While not normally a consideration, I’d tweaked my gammy knee earlier in the week and groomed is my necessary preference.

Maps are our friend and I jockey across an intersection of trails and soon start into a climb. I have no real idea of what to expect. The ground cover is unexpectedly browned grass pressed flat from snow and wind. The geology is nothing but what you would expect of a place that is an upheaval of ancient lava and strata shaped into fjords, islands and water courses. The trail is angled sheets of rock pristinely contoured into multi-layered sandwiches.

I scramble up over wet rock and loose compacted earth always mindful of my gammy knee. Slow and constant versus an athletic springbok is who I want to be today.

I reach what is plateau and settle into a journey across an almost featureless terrain following not cairns but rigid and sometimes bent metal posts that draw the eye a thousand times better than a cairn. This is about practically and not some notion of unnecessary impact. It’s muddy under foot, wooden boardwalks have been installed periodically and some of the ground is so obviously dangerous in that you could be waste deep with one wrong step.

The sky is grey and textured in an artist’s broad brush strokes. This is coastal Norway and only a few miles from the capricious, fickle and stormy North Sea.

I happen upon a lake. It’s small but the distant wooden structure is a draw to my eye. There’s something appealing that I’m compelled to photograph and I jockey around the shore for the time bound perfect shot.

Walking further I’m surprised to find my small lake experience repeated on steroids. A large, almost sumptuous family home greets me in the middle of no where. I’m perplexed as to its us, is it a fabled Norwegian multi day hike cabin, a Red Cross rescue station or just simply a family home.

My plateau continues punctuated occasionally by a scramble up 50 or 70 feet and contouring around many stone pillars that in England would be a peak marker but here are either the folly of man or a conspiracy to confuse.

Winter 2022 in the Northern Hemisphere has been brutal, relentless and extreme. Norway hasn’t escaped an over abundance of cold and snow.

I stare upon the small snow field, studying the tracks across and pondering the wisdom of traversal. I’m alone and think it an odd end to be lost in a late spring Norwegian snow field and wonder if I should walk across with my hiking pole flag poled above me. I have no idea how deep the snow is nor it’s compactness but trust the tracks are recent and the occupants of the shoes made it to the other side. Stepping across is both reassuring and a little nerve racking.

I’m approaching my destination, the high point on this plateau that is nestled on an eastern drop off that funnels the wind from the North Sea into a constant 20+ mph wind.

Expeditious is always my watch word and I find a short 30″ post in the ground that is a perfect anchor for my mast.

40m is a struggle netting only 3 contacts.

I worry that my end fed, too close to the ground plus the flat nature of my plateau is conspiring against me. We are 12-24 months off the sun cycle peak and generally radio conditions should be better and better. However, recently the sun has favored the North Light Brigade which is the Ying to the Yang of Team Radio. Maybe I’m skunked.

The sun is a fickle mistress and 20m dances and sings with loud S9 signals both ways. For a few moments I’m the King of Poland netting so many complimentary Polish operators in SP and SQ land.

A thoroughly unexpected bonus is 5 summit to summit contacts into France, Germany and Austria that net me 54 more points toward my 1,000 point Shack Sloth goal. This is great and I’m thinking I’ll reach the goal soon with this trip continuing, the upcoming G/LD event or Andy and Paul’s Friedrichshafen roundtrip.

Couples waft by all seemingly in my age bracket. No poles, nimble feet and physiques obscenely bordering on the Olympic has be marvel about the Norwegian life style.

Reaching my ledge, I count people and find myself first in line for the cable car down.

Her garb suggested trail runner of which I had seen so many today and asked how far and how long. I couldn’t tell if she was Australian or Norwegian. We chatted on the way down about hiking options and Norwegians desire to almost over celebrate National Day.

Comparing countries is a risky business as all are not equal by any measure.

To me, Norway is a remarkable place.

A thousand miles of coast, abundant natural resources, a sense of stewardship, a miniscule population and a reserved sense of austerity that collectively mixes to create a place unquestionably worth visiting for all and especially the outdoors inclined.

I’m spoilt.

It’s not that I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I wasn’t.

Nor is it that I live in California as it’s not unequivocally the Golden State anymore.

It’s simply that we live in an age of abundant digital maker products.

The most recognizable in this niche world might be the runaway British success that is the Raspberry Pi.

All good history buffs know the Romans made remarkable things long before north Europe was “civilized” and so it is with the Italian Arduino boards that brought us the word “Blinky”.

What makes this a Golden Age is the accessibility to not just boards but boards at price points that in some cases are as cheap as a cup of coffee but also the abundance of supporting material that allow a broader audience to successfully own, use and adapt this potpourri of gems.

While Brits and Italians might be unlikely movers in this digital revolution, the landscape is very global with not just a strong leadership from the US but a remarkable Chinese component.

My entire adult life has been spent in and around tech. The first whopper of a computer I used as a student had little donuts wired together by amazingly adapted humans that was its central run time memory.

We’ve come a long way from the nostalgia piece above.

An oasis of abundant opportunity for me and all the way down to kids in every school and almost every home.

Now that’s a Golden Age!

Station automation, an unlikely interest area ….for me

My first exposure to the need and value of station automation came during a trip to Prince Edward Island, Maritime Canada in 2018. Renting K6LA’s station was a journey into an Aladdin’s cave of radios and gear. I was fascinated.

In my quest to touch as many bases, I broadly wanted to build a “learning bench” for ham radio station automation. With so many options and avenues, I decided to use the Feather family of boards from New York’s unusual success, Adafruit. These standardized and not surprisingly small boards have a fixed form factor and standardized pin out configuration while offering a huge mix of CPUs and interface/connectivity options. Exactly what I need for my station automation learning bench that presumably needs various communication methods, expand-ability and various ways (switches, screens etc) to interface and communicate intent.

Documentation and examples wins the day

The battle Royale between Motorola and Intel in the 1970/1980s was won hands down by Intel and not through having a better design (they didn’t) but through having an amazing support system for designers and manufactures with detailed documentation, examples etc etc.

This is what makes Adafruit so attractive to me and in consequence I’m happy to pay a premium versus an eBay or Amazon el cheapo clone/knock off/look alike.

Whether it’s a Jeep borne or plane borne radio station, small, light and rugged are keywords for gear and many commercial systems fail the small and light metric. Wires galore is another aspect of ham radio and this is somewhat a hassle when assembling a portable/transportable radio station

My “learning bench” therefore is aimed at using digital maker technology to reduce, streamline, make more redundant/resilient some of what I’m dragging around in the hold of a plane or the roof of my Jeep.

Twiddling gear with 12v

Any radio that finds itself in close proximity with others quickly finds a medley of filters, switches etc being brought into play to protect one radio from another. Radio receivers are stunningly sensitive devices often multiplying a weak signal a million fold to extract a voice and conversely a radio transmitter, typically feet away from the receiver is pumping out huge amounts of energy that could reek havoc in a receiver.

The “standardized” method to instruct automated filters, switches etc that make up the safe separation of receive and transmit signals is by twiddling voltage to either zero or twelve on pins tied to certain functions such as engage a 10m filter, or engage a 40m filter or route radio waves from this input to one of many outputs.

With this in mind one half of my learning work bench would be a platform to assert twelve volts on different connectors attached to an automated filter, automated switch etc.

Having built one before and wanting to do better and staying within the spirit of learning more, I decided to design a simple board using KiCad, freely available software and have my design manufactured by a service in the US. Once I have my board/PCB, it’s my job to populate it with whatever my design dictated in the way of chips, transistors, resistors etc.

Splitting things.

Part of my premise is that too many wires and cables exist that connect station gear together and as more gear is added, neat and tidy becomes a rat’s nest. In a “permanent” station this can be hidden and typically once done, isn’t reconfigured often. In the Jeep or DXPedition world, the station is being constructed and de-constructed every time.

In my photograph above of the Stack Match and associated black control box, the thought is to split the black control box and locate the 12v twiddler functionality next to the Stack Match and “remote” the front panel (used to select antenna combinations) to a “control head” either being a world of buttons or a Node Red accessible.

The connectivity between the 12v twiddler and control head could be one of many including WiFi (my favorite), LoRa or even wired ethernet or CanBus.

Remote “control” side of my “learning bench“

As a kid growing up in London in the 1960s, I vividly remember seeing NASA’s Mercury capsule on display at my ever favorite London Science Museum. Buttons and switches everywhere and with them a lasting love was born to press things.

Decades later the passion is still strong and I design another Feather centric PCB that has 18 buttons and a 3.2” touch screen. My left red, grey, green stack is used to “instruct” my remote 12v twiddled attached to the Stack Match to select one or two antennas with various phasing options.

Step one – design and prototype

Google can be your friend and searches throw up everything from ideas lost in ads to ideas so succinctly shared that it’s a joy to borrow, enhance and experiment my way forward.

Free to you, free to me

While it’s fashionable for some to deride large US tech companies, truth is they pioneer a lot of advanced software techniques and tools making many available for free. Maybe less altruism than pragmatism and being pushed by the open source movement, either way we the community (both hobbyist and commercial) benefit.

Microsoft’s Visual Studio has long been considered a professional grade development environment and the “community” edition has more features than I’ll probably ever master but its my go to for embedded development were possible.

Step two – Learn KiCAD

Day one is always intimidating when tackling something completely new. As I really had no idea what level of sophistication was needed in a PCB design tool, I shied away from Autodesk’s Eagle product as the free looked too feature restricted and I plunged headlong into an oddly successful European piece of free software called KiCAD.

YouTube can be your friend sometimes and it’s hard to get radicalized watching software tutorials. A slow and often painful iteration of watch, pause, try cycles day after day eventually got me to a design I thought might actually work. Success is much more than transcribing an electronic circuit design to KiCAD’s visual language as ultimately it’s about manufacturability. Parts and especially similar ones (such as a connector for headphones) come in a mind boggling variety of subtly similar packages. Ensuring my choice has the correct dimensions for pin separation is critical. If my board expects three pins from my headphone connector arranged in a straight line but I order one with them in a triangular layout, I’m screwed.

In the States we are spoilt in having electronic parts stores that literally carry 100,000s of components (at least pre Covid). Parts acquired and time to be patient as I wait on my PCB.

Step three – outsource to PCB manufacturer – OSHPark

Hobbyist PCB manufacturing has transformed from etching copper with toxic chemicals that not only are harmful but hard to dispose of practically to a world of remarkable choice driven by the Internet. With a standardized language to define how to manufacture a PCB, options for boards in my hands in days from China exist through to more prosaic US manufacturing taking weeks. Philosophically believing in supporting local and domestic businesses, I opted for OSHPark. Used and loved by many hobbyists, I submit my design, share credit card details and sit back for what seems an eternity and then 21 days later its just like Christmas.

Step four – Stuff those boards and success!

Successful PCB design is a little binary in that the smallest issue or error can render the project an abject failure. Diligence, checking and rechecking prior to submitting the design to OSHPark paid off and after rather joyfully stuffing and soldering buttons, capacitors, connectors and all manner of mundane garden variety components, first power netted success. Issues did exist but were easily remedied with a little solder and wires.

A better, more contemporary button cluster and LCD…Node-Red

I recently made a serious effort to master the fundamentals of Node-Red. Simplistically, it’s an easy way to create applications with visual display/interaction accessible via a web browser. Node-Red could run on my contest logging computer that has limited free real estate and could serve up a web page to control a “distant” WiFi connected 1703. In essence the iPhone is replacing my remote control head with my 18 buttons and little screen.

What’s next?

This has been a fun start to a journey. Learning is rewarding but it’s even more rewarding when the designed boards pretty much work.

An obvious next step is to experiment using a low pin count M0 ARM CPU chip or even the new RPi 2040. Enormous amounts of reference designs are available to help me along. However, ideas seem to begat too many other ideas and the world of LoRa is interesting in of itself.

Grounded.

No travel, no vaccine, no toilet paper, no eating out and for some no work but for me these deprivations come with copious amounts of time to reflect on life and turn this into something positive.

Maybe it would easier to just rent a house.

Even if you find one that looks promising, it’s still quite possible that it’s cramped, or noisy or worst still, the spectacular mountain view that the owner is convinced is a deal closer, blocks those weak singles that this is all about.

We are all creatures of comfort and having spent countless hours clamoring to remote and sometimes hostile peaks, setting up and operating under the elements, the idea of a Jeep seemed so obvious and seductively appealing. What could be simpler, thought this perennial optimist.

After all, a cooler can come filled with beer, cheese and crackers. Sleeping in the Jeep offers a quicker deployment solution to a tent and far more practical in defending against scorpions, snakes and bears.

I’m chastising myself for not seeing this sooner but lock downs has our mind set skewed.

As a wilderness mountain top radio guy, I’ve gone beyond awe, as to the practically of the Elecraft KX3 radio system. It’s modular, you can add a gizmo (PX3) to visualize the airwaves ensuring I find contacts quickly and I can be a real player with the outboard signal amplifier (KXPA100).

I’d sort of refined this almost to the absurd on a trip to St Kitts in March 2020.

It’s a long drive up 395 east of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. Dust bowls that were once lakes come and go. Whitney is straining to ensure you see it really is the high point in the lower 48 and Mt Rainier is simply a wannabe. A solitary guard tower is a reminder to a different mind set in a different era. Marijuana is available on tribal land just off of 395 and eventually the road lurches east across the state line and into Nevada.

Time counts in contest.

Borrowing One by One callsigns is a fun privilege with the added advantage of declaring yourself quicker than saying W6PNG or M0SNA.

My real player station isn’t really that. I’ve compromise on antennas and one is an abject failure.

My Jeep dash looks cool with the KX3 and PX3 plus a great view. However, the sun is relentless and with my nose facing west to admire the view, the afternoon progressively becomes more and more brutal.

My less than stellar performance in Nevada as K7E hasn’t really deterred me. Years ago, Ken Zaremba, my then boss described me as tenacious. As it came with a smile, I said thanks and promptly looked the would up in the dictionary. I liked the descriptor.

Four Days in Purgatory…W6E in the Mojave Desert at 98F

Game on and the KX3 is replaced by its more manly sibling the K3s, the puny 100 watt amplifier by an equally manly 500 watt beast and my menagerie of imitation antennas by at least one real antenna, a 10/15/20 HexBeam supported by something that wouldn’t deliver a repeat of my afternoon telescoping, from 30 ft to 6ft in 3 seconds.

I find myself not sitting with my radio in my Jeep at 8,000ft on Frazier Mountain but rather in the flat, arid Mojave desert. Summer 2020 in California has been fire after fire after fire, to the point that I wonder if after a decade more of this if anything of California’s wilderness will be left. I’m still in the front seat but with my nose pointing east and neither my radio nor super sized amp are anywhere less inconvenient than the drivers seat.

I make futile attempts to block the sun with clothing, bedding etc but I’ve never so wanted the sun to set.

Starring into Scott’s ex TV van makes me realize my Jeep is really just a mobile ghetto that is in need of some serious …..

I’m inspired by a Cow that is Scott’s Wilderness Lounge

The 35″ tires aren’t really necessary especially if your lead scout for a TV van designed for modest off pavement work. Truth is a Rubicon just looks more convincing with them. However, the batwing awning is a real plus and over time I add side panels.

With shade and additional stowage addressed, my attention turns to a better operating location. My preference is still the front passenger seat but space isn’t practically available to mount the K3/P3/KPA500 without “removing” them and at the time the K3/0 was (and still is) a piece of unobtanium.

After experimenting with being a bit of Jeep baggage in the stowage section its clear neither that works nor the front passenger seat.

A more boutique solution is required.

Having flown in excess of 2.5 million miles, tray tables occupy an odd space in my pysche. The drop down ones make me think of too many hours in rif-raf class but some variation of that seems appropriate given my space constraints are similar to what the tyranny of airline executives hath wrought on passengers.

My neighbor Mark loves to brainstorm “construction” solutions.

Our first attempt is actually quite effective and a million times better than upfront in the gold fish bowl in purgatory.

Mojave Desert shake down during CQWW WPX CW May 2022

CQP 2022 – Frazier Mountain

Littering the desert and mountain camp sites

At first I thought it was odd.

Pink boxes here, yellow ones there, black ones, small ones, large ones and a cooler almost as large as my Jeep are scattered around the desert and the mountain. The choice of color aids quick identification and presumably pink is one tenth the cost of a manly black or classic yellow SAR.

Jeep interior is small and certainly not Dr Who’s Tardis

After two trips I realize the wisdom of pink boxes in the desert as I seem to spend for ever moving things around the Jeep either to find something or to relocate while something is put in its “permanent” place such as the radios, amp or even my sleeping mattress.

It doesn’t work. Too much time and energy are spent and I need to transport things roughly where they will be deployed. Better still I should bring less as I don’t quite have the room Scott has for boxes galore.

Table iteration two..wires in situ, mounting points for tablets

It’s almost three years since my epiphany and summer plans dictate that any CQP 2023 refinements be done now.

After re-thinking Drew N7DA and Matt K0BBC time with the table, I felt that keeping the back seats fully up would give people more room to slide out from directly in front of the in flight dinning table.

Speed of deployment was another goal by reducing the time spent rummaging for (and packing back up) wires, connectors etc. It seems trivial but truth is setting up the station with antennas can take 4-8 hours and any savings especially if in many areas add up to something meaningful and much appreciated under the cruel bright western USA sun.

A huge science project with no limits nor end?

Clearly this is a direct result of Covid as in a better would it would have been St Kitts again, or Saba or St Martin and not the back of a Jeep but I’ve done something tangible to expand my operating options away from my RF challenged home.

With that in mind, I need to draw the evolution of the Jeep station to a close and enjoy what I have.

….but I’m a dreamer and an optimist and still have flights of fantasy around an “how easy” an M/2 HP setup would be, however my “Fields of Dreams” has been a hard sell to others particularly around the Jeep being fine for one but possibly not two.

What’s clearly apparent to me is I love making things, learning about new areas including station design and automation, as much as I do operating what I’ve built or learnt about. It truly is that the joy is the journey as much as the destination.

We’re hurtling toward the peak of Cycle 25 possibly 3 years away and then its downhill into the abyss of limited propagation and even more limited easier long distance contacts.

I don’t want to look back saying I could’a, I should’a…

SOTA summit: Ben Nevis  GM/WS-001

Activation Date: September 1, 2022

Unique: 251st

Call sign used: MM0SNA/P

Portable operation: Yes

Radios: Elecraft KX3 and Yaesu VX 8G

Antennas: LNR 40/20/10 Trail friendly end fed and J Pole

Band/Modes used: 40m 20m SSB and 2m FM (all voice)

Operating highlights:

• ~50 shortwave contacts across UK and EU
• Spectacular views
• UK’s tallest is in the “bag”

Pack weight: Approximately 25 lbs

Drive: Fort William, Ben Nevis visitor center parking lot

Hike:  ~10 miles R/T with 4,400 ft ascent along an incredible trail. 

Hike and AZ profile:

• Trail is legendary and labelled the tourist route
• AZ is huge and very rocky
• GaiaPro track here –> Ben Nevis

Recommend: Absolutely

Solo operation: Yes

Cell Coverage: Good O2 coverage 

Photos: Copyright Paul Gacek 2022

I’ve stumbled into the clouds that thicken and then break to reveal three large man sized cairns. The opaque view of a door wide open, many feet above me entering into a dark and uninviting chamber is like something out of a Steven King film. Ahead, the trig point is perched eight feet above me on a pile of rocks. The metal frame, rusted and padlocked together adds to the oddness of this place that I currently share with no-one

This isn’t Burning Man but the rather the surreal peak of Ben Nevis, the UK’s high point very early on a September morning.

I push up my mast that now seems to be rid of that pungent odor that set in having never properly drying out after recent wet activations.

I’ve been plagued with problems recently.

My simple VHF role up antenna that has been a gem seems to have netted zero contacts on the last three activations. Putting this down to time of day and local mountains blocking my signal, I sally on until it dawned on me that maybe it is broken.

It was and today my jerry rigged repair seems to work. I contemplated bring just this small VHF radio. Others have successfully nabbed four plus contacts. I reach down to Glasgow and over to Mallaig. Silence, I call, listen, get colder and eventually give up.

My second realization of failure was my KX2. I had dropped it off my desk a few weeks back and optimistically believed it worked as it powered up, appear to send and made all the right noises. Hart Fell was a shortwave (HF) struggle and I’m now convinced its generating a virtually imperceptible signal. Weak to start with and now essentially useless.

Ben Nevis isn’t a jaunt in the park. The trail might be manicured, contoured and everything a tourist might want, but it’s still 4,400 ft ascent over 5 miles and with that pack weight is a consideration. Hiking Scotland year round can offer anything from winds, to rain, to snow, to bright sunshine within the same day and Ben Nevis is a notoriously capricious peak that can appear sunny at the trailhead only to be engulfed in a blizzard once you arrive.

A variety of clothing seems sensible. Fluids to drink seem essential. Something to nibble on can revive the body and the ten essentials (first aid, compass,…) may heal or save the body and so the weight goes up and up. With all of that I really debated about an HF rig given my ultra lite KX2 was hors de combat but as a well trained Boy Scout leaving little to chance I brought one.

The ground below me seems to occasionally rock from side to side as I deploy my fishing rod with guy lines and a flimsy and less than optimal bit of wire pretending to be an antenna.

My near solitary journey up hauling my gear found me creating my own rain forest that despite being captured by wool had me progressively getting colder and colder while putting my antenna up. A down parka goes on, a rain shell, a woolly hat, another hat. Hot tea goes in, a chocolate power drinking but I simply can’t reverse or stem the shakes. People are calling, lots of them. I can’t write, I can’t read what I write, I try to correct my pencil scratchings and they keep calling. I have to stop, get up, swing my arms. move around, rock across the rocks again and settle back in.

Operating over almost two and half hours I net almost 50 contacts across Europe from Greece to Portugal and over to Finland and points between. Its a great haul for me plus 6 coveted contacts with other people like me up a mountain with a radio.

I had fretted about parking. A run thorough the parking lot the afternoon before revealed zippo free spaces. At 5:15am, I had the choice of any of 80 spaces bar three. Civil twilight, that time before sunrise that the sky begins to lighten wasn’t far off and my headlamp lit the bridge, the trail, the stile and all the nuances of this exquisitely built and maintained trail.

Three teenagers pass me heading back to the trailhead sharing that they set out at 2am. Wow.

The sunrises, lights the surrounding hills and reveals my first glimpse of Fort William the the sea lochs and land lochs all around. It’s breath taking.

They pass me and I ask for a snap. He obliges and hands my phone to his partner and she takes it very seriously with various backgrounds and orientations. Thank you, strangers.

That’s it, no one else goes by and I have a solitary and I think unique experience of ascending Ben Nevis, tourist free with sunshine vistas.

It’s taken me 2 hours and 59 minutes from my car to the set of the Steven King film that is the collapsed volcanic peak of Ben Nevis. I’m happy.

I’m getting impatient or maybe it’s boredom. Descents are always hard on my knees and I’m 30 minutes from my car.

She passed me by and I commented that she’d picked up her pace. Sharing that her friends had released her of companion duty reveals a US accent.

“Where you from in the US?, I ask. “San Francisco Bay Area”, she responds. As a twenty year Bay Area resident I’m intrigued. Sebastopol is a great town in Sonoma County, most famous as the home of Schultz, the Charlie Brown comic author. Frequent visitors in the 90s, my wife and I always enjoyed it as a destination with its mix of historic California bungalows, Hippy feel and that extra sense of safety having declared it self a “Nuclear Free Zone”.

She works for FaceBook and we talk about possible changes in the way people interact with her given FaceBooks perceived influence on politics and all things divisive. She’s on a hiking tour. I share my passion for mountain tops and radios. She laughed saying that explains why my pack was so big. It was all welcome and made that last 30 minute disappear in a heart beat.

“Do you have flights?”, I ask staring at the 22 options. “No but you can get thirds”. I look at the details and share she’s gone over to the dark side. So many West Coast IPAs. She laughs and pours me my first three beer tasters.

I believe in rewards.

SOTA summit: Hilton Peak  W6/SS-125

Activation Date: June 22, 2021

Unique: Yes, 235th

Call sign used: W6PNG

Portable operation: Yes

Radios: Elecraft KX2

Antennas: LNR 40/20/10 Trail friendly end fed

Band/Modes used: 20m SSB (voice)

Operating highlights:

• Great views of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains
• First time activations
• Hardwork

Pack weight: Approximately 22 lbs

Drive: Leave Highway 395 at Tom’s place and park at end of Upper Rock Creek

Hike:  ~16 miles R/T with 3,600 ft ascent to ~12,500 ft peak. 

Hike and AZ profile:

• Trail for first 4 miles and then a scramble to second 4 miles. 1 mile ridge route at end with lots of exposure (class 3 or 4) and high risk of severe bodily damage/death if you misstep or are simply SOL.
• AZ is small and very rocky
• GaiaPro track here –> Hilton Peak

Recommend: Not really

Solo operation: With Rico M

Cell Coverage: Good ATT coverage 

Photos: Copyright Paul Gacek 2020

The stats remaim somewhat fixed. It was almost 16 miles round trip, 3,600ft ascent and up to 12,500 ft half on trail and the other half scrambling off trail.

What made it all the more memorable and far more difficult was the two bad decisions we made that turned this into a somewhat scary and sketchy journey to one of many “unclaimed” Sierra SOTA peaks.

First in comes at a price.

We’re late and dawn has broken as the Jeep glides up the mountain road to one of the highest entry points into the California Sierra Nevada mountains. In contrast to twelve months early were everyone and their dog had “discovered” the great out doors during the period of seemingly perpetual lockdowns, no-one is around. Over the entire day we saw no one and our journey was punctuated by periods of long silence quite possibly because we’ve talked ourselves out or maybe the more insidious, that retirement can render you more boring than a working stiff.

We skirt around Patricia Mountain that we had also been first onto two years earlier. That was hard work too but in hindsight a bit of cake walk. Miles in and having gained very little elevation, we start descending which is always a bane as we will need to regain the lost elevation to ultimately get to our destination.

The lakes are pretty, bursting out of the dense wall of pines or furs. Stopping is always risky as darting objects accumulate around you, followed by the inevitable sawing into flesh as the mosquito does its bit. Hands waving I’m not convinced I’ve been successful and we hastily move on from still and partially stagnant water.

The trail becomes fainter as we skirt the third and fourth lakes, serving as a cue to determine our off trail route to the start of the ridge possibly two or so miles hence.

Some of the terrain looked decidedly similar to Patrica (and why not as it wasn’t more than a mile or two away) consisting of boulders acting as anchors for young aspens. All very pretty but taxing to traverse and here started our first mistake.

Thinking that staying higher and ridge side of this organic barbed wire, had us traversing large and unstable boulders. Somewhere between a tight rope artist and politician preaching to diverse constituents, we find a groove between forward motion and loosing our balance as random large and small boulders rock and shift below our boots.

Half a mile, a mile and on, we are progressively slowing our pace with a comesurate increase in tiredness. Realizing possibly too late that we should have dropped down and out of this terrain we are within striking distance of the turn for the ridge.

Collapsing on the ground, socks off and a fifteen minute break are firsts for me on any recent hike. We’re behind schedule, I’m tired but determined to complete this and hold onto the belief that the ridge will be easy peasy. We just need to get to it.

Euphoria turns to a lump in the throat as we turn onto the ridge. The hidden side of our peak is one perpetual rock and boulder field reaching to the ultimate high point. The ridge is notched with low points and here lay our second mistake. Not wishing to needlessly expend energy traversing the ridge and up and down the notches, we stay 10-20 ft below the ridge essentially on its shoulder.

Stepping forward onto rocks, transforms them into skate boards propelled by gravity downwards and away from our peak. Rocks act as levers shifting others above that seem to want to head downwards after the newly made skate boards.

The crunching was unmistakable and seconds later Rico’s foot hold had disappeared revealing a 20 foot chute of voidness below him as he grabbed onto something solid. And so the Battle of the Shoulder continued foot after foot after foot. Sometimes I retreated to climb higher and over a dodgy collection of boulders. Looking peak ward less often than not revealed progress until ultimately we arrive at a tiny perch that is Hilton Peak.

Truth is I really don’t want to be here but I am. The journey to this point hasn’t been quite what I imagined. Waking up the day before at 100ft above sea level, driving umpteen miles up the Eastern Sierras, activating Reversed before getting a bad night sleep hasn’t exactly positioned me/us for the jaunt in the park we had hoped for.

Food helps and I drink some of my new mountain elixir; Gatorade. Tastes great and almost instant energy.

My antenna is expeditious. No cell signal seems quite expected given the torture to this point but I’m not deterred, fiddling with settings, I find one.

We agree to descend along the ridge. In many respects this is the right decision and the drop off is best “ignored” by focusing directly ahead and below. Rico has jumped the short distance over a crevasse. Full of energy I’d do the same but I’m not and I stop and ponder.

Should I or shouldn’t I?

Shouldn’t is the answer and I mutter under my breath as I back track and descent part of the shoulder only to re-appear on the ridge a few minutes later.

It’s a myth that hiking up is harder than down. Sure, up has muscles being exerted sometimes to painful points but down has the specter of a twisted ankle or knee. We resolve to not repeat the ascent route once past the ridge and follow a more natural stream and dried lake course.

Almost 12 hours and on my brain isn’t performing mental math so well. We should be long back to the car by now but clearly not and no we begin to marvel at how far we went. Almost 16 miles and almost 4,000 ft of ascent.

In of itself that’s nothing particularly spectacular but our two bad decisions made it into a tiring journey.

All fun and I nabbed a first time activation.

I’ll skip the Hilton next time and try the Marriott.

It was like a pre dawn game.

Rolling down the hill I approach one red after another. Timing is everything in this game and I let the car coast, covering my brake. I’m upon it and red turns to green, signaling a win and I coast into the next round.

Passing over Lombard, I declare myself the winner and glide into possibly the only free parking space in a city that loves to monetize it’s drivers.

The elements have taken their toll.

Relentless sea water and misty mornings have corroded the metal work. Temporary barriers block access and I search for an opening. I barely make out the figures, hearing Cantonese as the fisherman ready their rods in an available opening and I keep looking. This other game is about timing too as I search for an unoccupied “cubby hole”.

I’ve been here before and will come again.

Cracks in the clouds paint a vista to the east. It’s magical to see the back lit city scape at waters edge. The iconic Ghiradeli sign across the water makes me think of chocolate. Looking north, light catches another city icon that to me is a soulless and sad place. Visiting it once decades ago, I never want to return. Leaving the Rock behind, I look west and see a favorite. Its orange profile lit bright against the dark sky stands out and says San Francisco to everyone that sees it.

It’s a Tuesday morning and I’m at the San Francisco Maritime Historical Park.

I love this place.

The tall ships, the views, the salt air and the museum remind me that San Francisco isn’t just tech and oodles of money. While the history isn’t very long, it’s viscerally poignant to the birth of my adopted home.

Riding shotgun for me

There’s a familiar pattern at the start. A flurry of stations that make this frenetic, that burst of energy and the adrenaline rush is one reason I come. Inevitably things slow.

Running a frequency is typically the domain of “big” stations. Lots of power and fancy antennas that shape and focus that power into a dominating signal keeping all others at bay. With 10 watts and a bit of metal sticking into the sky, I am many things but not a “big” station. It’s easy for my signal to get lost in the ether and in a lull have someone start using “my” frequency.

The voice was unmistakable, loud and clear. Definitely older, male and seemed so much like a voice from the heyday of NASA missions. That distinctive American ascent, maybe from Texas but definitely the south.

“This frequency is in use for a National Parks on the Air activation by a low power portable station”.

Someone is riding shotgun for me and keeping others off my frequency. I pause, think wow and say thank you on the air to my unknown guardian.

It’s left an impression on me. That unsolicited camaraderie, for what is effectively a new radio operator is the beginning of a journey punctuated by many things including the human aspect of radio.

Are we there yet?

A few weeks later, having spent time fulfilling another goal to better understand my adopted state, I’ve wandered south from the border lands of Modoc county and find myself sitting on another water’s edge.

The goose seemed very excited. Circling me, marching back and forth and slowly becoming more assertive. I try hard to ignore him and settle into starting off my late afternoon activation. It’s slow, nabbing five or so contacts of the ten minimum before it goes very quiet.

Mid week, low power and possibly bad propagation might be conspiring toward my lull. I’m calling and calling and getting a little anxious that this might be a bust. Whiskeytown is three hundred miles north of home and I’m not sure I’m coming back.

The voice was loud, clear and instantly recognizable even without a callsign.

“Hey Paul, how’s the activation going?”

“Slowly”, I respond “and I haven’t made my ten yet”

“Let’s see if we can fix that”

Larry had almost always been my first contact on each of my National Park activations. He’s super focused and organized about chasing activators like me. Ultimately, this is why Larry became the number one chaser of the 2016 event with a stunning 460 worked entity points.

As a community, we have used many methods to let others know where we are and what frequency we are on including Facebook.

The posts were clear.

Paul, W6PNG has been out and done many portable activations to help the chaser community.

He’s struggling and needs more contacts.

Get on the air and help him out!!

Reading these warmed my heart and as the contacts rolled in and my tally rose, I thought “wow, Larry didn’t have to do that” and once again it’s the small unexpected action that in some respects are the most memorable. This is camaraderie again.

“You must be Paul”

The door closed and I find myself sitting in the passenger seat with two strangers.

The initial moments could be awkward but aren’t as we chat in an attempt to better understand who we are. We aren’t complete strangers in that we have a common friend that has brokered this meeting but its a risk and could be horribly awful or stupendously wonderful.

Leaving Santa Fe, we’re heading for the hills on the start of three days of adventure. We have two “parks” to activate; Bandelier National Monument and Valles Caldera National Preserve and a series of SOTA peaks.

We wind along interstates and over mountain dirt roads. John has lent me his KX3 to save the hassles of mine as carry on luggage and the gauntlet of TSA. We go north one day, west another and continue to traverse the area burning up Fred’s gas. I’m invited to John’s house for dinner with Fred and his wife. John and Fred are super accomplished SOTA activators ranking amongst the best in North America but in all of this and despite limited interest in NPOTA, we have found our way to two National Park entities that contain SOTA peaks.

As the three days wrap up and I’m deposited back at my hotel, I reflect on what a lucky guy I am.

Its been a fabulous trip to New Mexico. Fred and John the best of hosts and once again, I’m reminded that possibly the most poignant memory is the camaraderie that continues to exist and pervade my radio life.

Somewhere in my corporate journey, I remember reading that younger people collect possessions and as we get older and possibly have too much, our focus turns to collecting experiences and memories.

Thats seems very true to me and the 2016 NPOTA event was a bumper crop of lasting memories.

Thank you ARRL for organizing it.

SOTA summit: Bloody Mountain  W6/SS-122 and Laurel Mountain W6/SS-186

Activation Date: August 19, 2020

Unique: Yes, 215th and 216th

Call sign used: W6PNG

Portable operation: Yes

Radios: Elecraft KX2 and Yaesu VX-8r

Antennas: “Broken” LNR 40/20/10 Trail friendly end fed and 2m Slim Jim

Band/Modes used: 20m/40m, 10w SSB (voice) and 2m FM 5w (voice)

Operating highlights:

• Great views of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains
• 2 first time activations

Pack weight: Approximately 15 lbs

Drive: Leave Highway 395 opposite Mammoth airport and drive up Laurel lakes Road to trailhead at 9,800ft. Definitely 4×4 trail.

Hike:  6.5 miles R/T with 3,500 ft ascent to 12,500 ft peak.

Hike and AZ profile:

• Bloody is all trail and Laurel simply steep over lots of scree making it “slippery” underfoot.
• AZ is larger enough for easy EndFed deployment
• GaiaPro track here –> Laurel and Bloody

Recommend: Yes if you want a work out

Solo operation: With Rico M

Cell Coverage: Good ATT coverage 

Photos: Copyright Paul Gacek 2020

The shape was oddly familiar but it’s non standard color stood out on the edge of the tarn, a mountain lake.

Panning around, I was surprised to see so many other vehicles, campers and presumably fisherman. Looking for an early start and not wishing to navigate the steep road back up we camp in a rock field off the side of the road.

Flagging him down, I asked if it was a Jeep derivative and learnt a little more about Jeep’s history as I admired his restored V6 Jeepster Commando from the late 60s. It seemed too beautiful to bring up this rocky 4×4 road but he has done that and shares he was fishing.

It wasn’t particularly heavy nor unexpected but wet enough to have us scramble into the Jeep.

Cell coverage abounds and with off road history top of mind, we watched videos of a Ford classic reborn. Twenty plus years on from end of production, the Bronco is causing excitement and looking at the videos we think it will be a boon to the off road world. However, once a Jeeper, always a Jeeper.

Camping can be rote which can be good, as routine minimizes the chance of leaving something behind.

Our food and specifically our freeze dried package of spicy Indian curry has been failing us and required a lift. Tapatio MIA we’ve nabbed a promising looking Trade Joe’s alternative. Maybe we over doused our meal, maybe the beers had us momentarily districted but is was foul.

Too late, our evening meal was fire eater hot, not chilly hot but vinegar hot. Even another beer doesn’t cure it.

One of the upsides to sleeping in the Jeep is easily seeing a starry night.

One day, I’ll figure out how to disable the interior light when opening the door and retain my night vision. Even so, it’s a thousand times better than seeing a starry night at home and it never ceases to excite me. Maybe my university fantasy to be an astrophysicist wouldn’t have been so bad at all if I could get beyond being broke most days of life.

Like so many mountain western trails this one climbs, turns and behaves impeccably and I can almost imagine my Volvo making the journey. Maybe its a couple of feet or hundreds of yards but the illusion is dispelled by rocks and more rocks and my Volvo trail instantly becomes a 4×4 Jeep or Tacoma or Bronco trail. Wheel placement is essential and once again I curse for not airing down my tires, its simply optimism and laziness.

There’s an excitement in traveling these trails as you never really know what you will encounter. Winter storms wash out trails that earlier had been rated easy and over night transform them into places you wish you hadn’t taken your precious vehicle. It’s not so much about the cost of damage but more about a guaranteed ride home that I care about. However, today its pretty straight forward.

Dawn broke quickly and our trail is easy to follow. We venture up along a series of switch backs, through copses of trees and slowly ascend toward the saddle. Laurel to the left looks rather daunting and it somewhat makes the decision to pursue Bloody Mountain all the easier. Bloody is further, higher and maybe a better accolade and we head off piste as Rico loves to say. Choice of footing is all about progress versus human damage. We want to gain height and eliminate miles to our peak but in a way that is efficient and safe. Every fifty or hundred yards has us reassessing the terrain ahead and making micro corrections. We have a sense of a trail, unmarked and undisclosed on Gaia maps, find it, lose it and eventually settle into a rhythm along it. Its a team effort as sometimes I’m running parallel to our unmarked trail while Rico finds and follows it only to be replaced moments later as I shout to Rico to follow me.

The trail ascends onto a ridge that defines the terrain for the next mile or so. Its easy going summer time but I imagine in the winter, with sharp drop offs either side this could be quite intimidating.

Our views are generous.

Coming to the Sierra Nevada’s isn’t about coming to another mountain range. At almost four hundred miles long, sporting fourteeners and the great interloper Whitney, that should be second to Rainier, the Sierras are a breathtaking landscape of lunar style granite rock.

If you are respectful it’s an exhilarating experience. I’ve never regretted coming and never left without a unique and lasting memory from my first multi day backpacking trip to the Minnerets through to today.

I love this place.

I’m getting closer to my three hundredth SOTA activation.

I do this over and over because the feeling standing on the peak and looking around the compass rose is for me one of the joys of life. Maybe it’s the sense of accomplishment, maybe the vista, the solitude or the sense of domain. Maybe its deep rooted in my DNA that my ancestors were mountain people. All I know at this point is euphoria.

Grounding myself it’s time for antennas and radios. The little KX2 is unpacked, the antenna deployed and a momentary pray to the sunspot Gods has me calling CQ.

Descending might seem easy but truth is my knees and muscles made me an adept climbing goat. Time lingers, feet turn into yards, yard to quarter miles and eventually the saddle. I fret about retracing our steps and not happening upon a ledge and steep drop off.

Laurel begins to dominate the view and we speculate how the ascent. It looks remarkably steep and that in of itself isn’t an issue except when coupled with scree, almost as mad as ploughing the ocean.

It’s slow going and many a time I curse under my breath. I swear that five more minutes of this and I’m turning around. I look up and see I have made some progress and repeat this pattern of discouragement and jubilation. We keep pushing, feet stepping up, sliding down a foot and trying again to gain altitude. Tenacity is a life winning attribute and we refuse to be defeated, having our laurel simply be Bloody Mountain.

Mountains are magical and what multiples that is the connectedness of standing on one and recognizing that I have done the same on others out across the horizon. Coming back to the Northern Desert is paying huge dividends.

Life is good despite the the never ending specter of Covid.

Friendship, vistas, sore muscles, memories to share around a fire and a glass of whiskey…..what more is there to life?

Lots but that is another blog.

Event: 2020 California QSO Party (CQP) amateur radio contest

Location:  Kern County, California, Western USA.

Date/duration: Early October 2020, 3 nights Jeep camping

Solo: Team of two with Scott Bovitz N6MI

Operating style: Jeep passenger seat

Radios: Elecraft K3s, KPA500, P3 and KAT500

Antennas: G3TXQ 6-20 HexBeam and Buckmaster 6-80 OCF

Power Source: Honda 2200i generator

Call sign: W6E as a Multi/Multi County Expedition 

Placement: TBD

Conclusions and take-aways: See bottom of post

Copyright: Paul Gacek 2020 and selected photos Scott Bovitz 2020

The rush of cold air was oddly irritating. I wondered if I needed it as darkness was a few hours old but the night air was still in the mid eighties. I’m surprised how quickly my body has adapted after being in the desert for four days where afternoon highs were close to a hundred degrees Fahrenheit. I leave the cold air blowing and focus on the drive home.

This wasn’t the plan but like all great plans of mice and men things have gone sideways.

Shockingly brutal fires have ravaged the West, seemingly singling out California for special treatment. Our first choice, up at cooler 8,000 ft, was within the Los Padres National Forest which understandably along with all other California National Forests was closed. No hiking, no sightseeing, no camping and definitely no fires nor generators.

Do you really want to be W6E?

Borrowing 1×1 call signs for special events is a real treat. My first foray was with K7E during the 7QP and being a planful type, I had reserved K7E and W6E long in advance of their intended uses.

Dean’s (N6DE) email congratulated me on my early reservation of W6E. NCCC, the CQP organizers have a one off event to celebrate the 50th year of their club. The jist of it is to get 1×1 callsigns on the air that spell out S E Q U O I A as the last letter and reward participants for making contacts with them. Prior years have had something similar such as Gold Rush and this year’s name highlights another California first, the world’s largest tree. And with that, it’s Bingo. Serendipity has delivered me a Sequoia call sign, W6E.

Dean wanted to ensure I understood this was more like a rave party than cocktails at seven. Standing room only, crushed shoulders, loud noise and potentially very energetic participants. A heavily amplified signal was suggested, as was a decent antenna and given my lack of CW skills, a partner.

After reflecting on all of this and being a somewhat competitive individual, I declared my willingness to turn up with a 500w amplifier, a big boy antenna and even a CW impresario.

I wanted to play competitively, it was that simple.

Hello Scott, N6MI

In the not too distant past, Scott had communicated with me on one of my SOTA blogs. I discovered Scott’s deep experience and fascination with wilderness operating. Unlike my literally pedestrian experiences, Scott has the most perfect mobile contest station know as a Cow. Thinking it a term of endearment, I later discovered is an industry term for a Cellular on Wheels (COW).

Drawing from years of participation and organizing CQP, Dean offered up a series of possible partners with expedition pedigree and coincidentally one was Scott.

Random partnering is a risky affair at best and made somewhat more risky in the age of COVID when people are unlikely to meet ahead of time. Our initial phone calls suggested we were well suited and Scott’s deep experience an irresistible draw for someone that wants to be a better Expeditioner.

Expeditions can be brutal

Almost 100% of my ham life has been some form of an expedition. Whether it’s one of the hundreds of SOTA activations, one of the countless NPOTA events or trips to Central America or the Caribbean, all are similar to the extent that what I have at the destination is what I pack and take with me from my home. Unlike most ham stations, mine is clearly not a permanent station and success is a function of planning, practicing and praying.

Many of the US State QSO parties, CQP and 7QP included, recognize Expeditions as a unique category and allow competition and awards amongst similarly impaired stations. Sadly, the top global contests organized by CQ World Wide, ARRL and DARC aren’t so generous nor enlightened, leaving Expeditioners to compete against more permanent and typically more effective “in country” stations.

Planning and practice makes perfect…..

Amplifiers are power hungry beasts and desert 110v outlets a rarity. I’ve acquired a Honda 2200i generator and three two gallon fuel cans. I had no experience with fuel cans and I was really quite concerned with self immolating in the desert while refueling the generator.

The generator has a reputation for being electrically noisy, I built a filter to suppress any noise or so I thought. I’ve bought 100 ft of seemingly far too heavy 8 gauge power cord to place my audibly noisy generator far, far away from the Jeep.

Last and definitely not least, I’ve perfected solo deployment of my HexBeam over a 3 week period at a friend’s house. 30ft up and a 20ft wing span seemed a tall (pun intended) order for me to do solo. While it’s not super heavy, the fulcrum effect leaves me wondering if it will all topple over on the day.

Waiting in Mojave

Heading north it’s the last town before a long and lonely stretch up highway 395 through the Owen’s Valley. I’ve successfully conquered one of my fears, filling up three gas cans with two mounted outside the Jeep and one stashed within and I now have six gallons to feed my generator.

The gas station sells ice tea in various sizes and I’ve opted for the bucket size, after all it’s hot here and cool drinks a premium as the adventure progresses.

I’ve traipsed across many parts of the Western USA high desert which is frequently littered with sage. A beautify aromatic scrub it sometimes manages to weave itself into a ground cover that’s hard to navigate on foot and almost impossible in a Jeep. In contrast, this lower more southern desert has creosote spaced out sufficiently to drive through. We’re not far off the highway and literally feet off the 4×4 dirt road that brought us to this particularly beautiful spot.

Two entirely independent COVID safe stations

I listen to Scott’s suggestions where to locate ourselves to maximize what little gradual decline the terrain has to offer. In this new and strange world of airborne viruses, we have elected to operate from two entirely independent desert stations spaced out five hundred feet or so. There really isn’t an optimal way to locate my Jeep relative to sunrise and sunset but I try to see how life will be with my tail to the west and the setting sun. As I learn over the next four days glass houses are great at amplifying the heat.

We busy ourselves unloading gear as both intend to sleep in our vehicles. Tents, rattlesnakes and scorpions seem a marriage waiting to end in pain.

Either Jeeps are really quite small or my expedition station gear is larger than I thought.

Boxes, a cooler, antennas, cables begin to pile up outside my Jeep. I refuse to deposit any of the radio gear, amps, panadpters outside the Jeep as these don’t deserve to be gently and relentlessly dusted in desert sand making set up long and sometimes tedious as I’m simultaneously unloading and rearranging things within the Jeep.

To conserve fuel outside the contest, I run my K3s off a battery using FT8 as an easy propagation/performance probe.

• 

• 

80m, guess I should have tried this at home

Despite all my claims to be planful, somethings have been left too late and I’m learning the hard way that 80m isn’t going to be easy.

Placing the OCF at the top of a mast 30 feet above the back of the Jeep might well have been too optimistic as I think a combination of RF, through proximity and poor filtering on my part are playing havoc with my USB connection and the radio. Nothing wants to work and FT8 is a non starter. Not helping was a higher than hoped SWR on 80m from my OCF.

Cranking back the power and using an SDR listening post in Utah revealed all is not lost on 80m. I might well nab a few voice contacts on Saturday night.

The next day things begin to look even bleaker as prior to a CQP practice session at 500w along with my generator, its clear that the generator is RF friendly on all bands but 80m. I have hideous noise approaching S9+10. Clearly, my home-brew power line filter is less than successful. The COW donates two additional power line filters and the trio reduce noise to an irritating but usable S5/S6 and I feel I’m in with a chance Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Solo deployment of the HexBeam, 10 out of 10 score for me!

Mounted atop a 30ft mast, the HexBeam spanning 20 feet or so, is quite a monster compared to my diminutive stature.

When I bought the HexBeam I had always assumed I would be deploying it with someone else but here I am alone in the desert with a daunting task ahead of me. I’m up early as the day heats up quickly and a lot is required to get ship shape ahead of the contest.

For the prior three weeks, I have headed over to a friend’s house and practiced solo deployment of the mast and HexBeam. First attempt was quite hair-raising as I struggled to mate the HexBeam to the mast, so much so that the HexBeam tumbled sideways, fiberglass elements separating and me quickly realizing that it can take a licking and keep on ticking as the elements slid straight back in unbroken. What became apparent during my three practice sessions was to first deploy the mast and set the eight guy line lengths to ensure none are too short and pulling the mast to one side and secondly if it is windy you get some benefit from the guy lines.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Not the radio setup I wanted

My preference is to mount my KX3 and PX3 on my dash with my laptop below on my lap.

For reasons consigned to history, commercial amplifiers sold in the US have a maximum allowed amplification and the net net is that my KX3 can’t drive my Elecraft 500 watts amplifier to full output (I get around 285 watts).

Enter Jim Veatch and HobbyPCB’s Hardrock 500

Jim (WA2EUJ) is the talented award winning designer behind HobbyPCB’s kit business running the gamut from low power amplifiers to DSP radios and much in between. Jim and I have emailed back and forth over the years as I was an early builder of the Hardrock 50 and he has been more than generous helping with technical roadblocks and fantasy SO2R super portable amplifiers.

Jim’s new 500w amplifier kit, aimed at the KX3/2 and FT 817/8 being just that, a kit, isn’t subject to the same amplification limitations.

5 watts in, 500 watts out seems the perfect amplifier for my preferred Jeep setup.

Ask and thou shalt receive

Using Jim’s prototype Hardrock 500 during my deployment tests, has me pulling in voice contacts from Europe which seems spectacular to me. Easily integrated with the KX3/PX3, simple cabling, quiet when running, rugged, no knobs to get knocked off in transit and a built in ATU all make for a compelling package. I like it and it’s coming to the desert!

Jeep station setup….fumbles, frustration and panic

I setup my preferred station of the KX3/PX3 and Hardrock 500 but I quickly realized that I had skipped the class on using the ATU and given my OCF’s paltry SWR on 80m and my HexBeams slightly high SWR on 10m, I was beginning to feel heat induced frustration drift into moments of panic especially when I remembered my unaddressed Honda generator noise issues.

Maybe I was too quick to swap out the KX3/HRD-500 for the K3s/KPA500 especially as Jim had given me his phone number but for better or worst I did the swap.

What worked

Competitive score

We both worked diligently to get contacts, choosing the best band and putting in the hours. 30 hours non stop isn’t on my list of To Dos as I certainly kipped down in the back of the Jeep in the wee hours of the night.

I nabbed 723 voice contacts and Scott 917 morse code contacts. Others garnered more than us but I think all round we put on a good show and as the Brits love to say “we didn’t let the side down”.

All in all our raw score places us at the top of our category and maybe once verified that position will stand. Our reward will be “real lumber” in the form of a plaque to immortalize our effort. Here’s looking for Santa to be kind.

Partnering with Scott

I’m a social creature and love to be with people. You learn, you joke, you chat and you do.

Scott’s a character and I enjoyed my time with him immensely. I watched in awe as the pneumatic mast hoists his beam. He saved the day for me on 80m and saved my life Sunday morning by delivering a really tasty cup of coffee. We’ve chatted since CQP and I’m optimistic, especially post vaccine that we will partner up and head somewhere remote with our radio stations.

500w and the HexBeam were great

This seems the minimum entry bar for enjoyable voice (SSB) contesting. My forays with 100w and various dipoles, end feds for a contest is to my mind a masochistic journey to disappointment. I have no issues with super lower power (QRP) as I do that each and every week in my SOTA life but for contesting 500w and a beam is it.

Generator

Despite my fears of self immolation, the generator is a practical and useful addition to my expedition station and no doubt potentially useful for a California emergency. One option is to convert it to operate from propane with the upside that one large tank could run the generator for more than the 6 hours I got from a gallon of gasoline possibly 24 hours.

Food

I brought a K2 cooler and loaded it up with pre cooked real food packed in ice. This included lentils, broccoli, hummus and other items I like that I paired with canned fish. Quick, easy, tasty and cold which on my hot summer days was quite welcome. All washed down with that very un British drink, ice tea.

Do differently next year

Personal comfort

Even on a cold sunny day in California it quickly gets too hot in a vehicle. While I thought I could get away with a “naked” Jeep on top of Frazier Mountain clearly the desert location was sheer unbridled optimism (stupidity?) especially as I had suffered somewhat as K7E. Today, in early December 2020, I’ll pick up my Jeep with the Rhinorack Pioneer platform and two awnings offering 180 degrees of shade. Park my tail to the south and I should be better off.

Operating outside the vehicle

This will make a nice option and the awning will help enormously. I have purchased a headless Flexradio 6600 (i.e no front panel/knobs) and am experimenting with PC access. Once dialed in and mated with my KPA500, I’ll have the option to sit outside with a laptop under my awning.

Light me up

Rock crawling is one use of Jeeps and decidedly popular in SoCal so much so that light are offered that can be installed in the wheel wells to illuminate the ground around. I have 4 red lights being installed and hope this will provide a good enough light solution when operating outside in darkness

By the way, if you didn’t know Jeep stands for “Just Empty Every Pocket“

Better 80m solution

The most obvious solution here is to mount the OCF on a separate mast away from the Jeep. SpiderBeam have an attractive 47 ft aluminum big brother to the one I used. Alternatively, I built separate 80m and 40m verticals with miles of radials that are worth wheeling out, testing, refining and ideally deploying. The upside is they’re lighter and I already have them compared to the 47ft mast.

Better in vehicle operating setup

KX3 and hardrock 500 advantages aside, I do have a K3s/KPA500 that I would like to use. One option is to mount a VGA monitor on my dash (already verified) and extend the Elecraft KPod such that it is adjacent to my laptop. As a long term fan and user of Win4K3, all three of these will provide me with a good enough interaction and control of my K3s/KPA500.

N1MM aficionado

I’m a huge fan of this contesting software package for so many reason; well thought through, excessively full featured, constant development and yes, free. There’s so much to the application and just being better versed and more proficient is a perennial goal.

Conclusion

Despite the heat, despite the uncomfortable sleeping, despite the effort preparing, setting up and tearing down it was all worth it.

I learnt tons, compared to 7QP my performance was a quantum leap better, Scott is my new radio buddy and best of all, I have a memory that will last a lifetime.

As the ad says, priceless.

Blog Type: Gear review

Gear: Ultra Lightweight HexBeam Antenna

Manufacturer: G3TXQ UK

Website: https://www.g3txq-hexbeam.com

Executive summary;

• Very portable for a full size 2 element beam
• Resonant on all bands
• Works out of box with no cutting, trimming or fiddling
• Works well with the SpiderBeam 10m aluminum push up mast
• More hands help in building but can easily be done solo
• Need something to hold antenna vertical while building it
• About 3 db gain

Recommend: Yes

If you’ve read any of my blogs you might have picked up that for better or worse most of my radio operating is away from home and quite often atop a mountain. While mountains are wonderful places, a competitive, loud and effective station is generally hard to bring in my back pack. With that I happened quite serendipitously into the idea and world of swapping my backpack for the hold of a plane and the mountain for an exotic destination such as a Caribbean island. However, planes are great but as most know not super generous with seat size nor baggage allowance. With this in mind small and light become keywords in my journey forward.

A radio station is made up of many parts, all contributing to it’s overall success. Simplistically, a failure of any one could spell disaster suggesting all components are created equal but for many the advice is simple; get the best antenna you can, as high up as you can! In a world of equals, antennas are first amongst equals.

Antennas come in various shapes, sizes and more importantly designs. For transmit antennas (because receive can be treated as a separate class) it’s typically about efficiency and directivity. Both of these usually come at a price; size, as in big, large, heavy and potentially unwieldily.

After searching, reading and talking to people, I settled on a style that is more wire than metal tubes and relatively straightforward to assemble/dissemble. Once settled on a wire type the field narrowed to two contenders; the UK manufactured G3TXQ and the German manufactured SpiderBeam (German). While not identical both have great reputations but differ in size (and hence gain/directivity) and in the end I went local and opted for the one that is smaller and Welsh.

Baggage over 62″ is excessive

I have to admit that despite having travelled over two million miles as a baggage minimalist, I never realized that 62″ linear inches was significant in the baggage world. Adding width, height and length of a bag and yielding a number greater than 62″ you are almost certainly handing over hundreds of dollars in excessive baggage fee for each journey.

The HexBeam elements are all around 39″ long leaving a very manageable 23″ for width and height.

Ingenous design

Weighing in at around 13 lbs and ultimately having a wing span around 20 ft, the design is a marvel of simple assembly through the use of fiber glass poles, wire and high strength string/cord.

Borrowing lush lawns and eventually desert landscape

Having very little and of my own, I’m always “persuading” friends to either loan me space or better still space plus a set of hands. With the final result up at 30 ft and occupying space left and right, two or even three people seem the minimum to safely deploy. It seemed unlikely in my mind that I would ever be doing it alone but that was until early 2020 and the relentless onset of Covid changed our whole perspective of socializing and close proximity.

Soggy grass and pub food

If you follow the River Tweed east along the Scottish Border you aren’t far from a gem of the Lowlands and my destination is Jedburgh to borrow Pete’s (MM0INE) hands and back garden. We have happily done this exercise before with verticals and understandably today is about getting the HexBeam assembled and then atop the mast.

Assembly is easy, intuitive and straighforward

The antenna comes with a very useable set of instructions. It’s interesting to watch the antenna take shape. Circling it you slot arms into other arms, circle again I connect cord from arms ends to the top of the central part, circle again adding more arms, attaching more cords until you eventually thread up to 6 pre cut wires covering 6, 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20m. The biggest takeaway was the need for something to hold the antenna vertical while I circled and add to it. First attempt this was Pete’s job but subsequently I have used different supports and for my October 2020 CQP outing had settled on a step ladder.

Second attempt included Keith GM4JKZ and this time coax and a radio. My first contact was fittingly over the Atlantic that body of water that connects my birth country to adopted country. Matt, K0BBC had access to a stunning 4 over 4 over 4 20m stack of Yagis. If he count hear me I suspect no one could but fortunately we both sounded like neighbors chatting over a hedge which you can hear below.

Great SWR and happy faces

Conclusion

The G3TXQ HexBeam is an excellent contest, Field Day or Suitcase DXPedition choice. Robust, great performance, simple to deploy and best of all the wires approach yields a resonant antenna (no ATU needed) for all 6 bands (20/17/15/12/10/6) that has no traps or other paraphernalia that drag down its efficiency.

While I haven’t mentioned it’s support, I used a SpiderBeam 10m aluminum push up mast that I will write about in a separate post but its a winner and easily allows a rotator to be used that will turn the HexBeam through 360 degrees. As a UK manufactured antenna and I commiserate with my M, MM, MW brethren on the 400w national limit, I’ve used it with 700w in the US with no issue and suspect it would easily handle 1500w.

Hats off to Anthony David MWØJZE the current owner, refiner and manufacture of the HexBeam. No regrets buying it and look forward to using it more in 2021 and beyond. Read my upcoming California QSO Party participation as W6E using the HexBeam to turn in a very respectable score with Scott N6MI.