Station Peak is one of the more remote peaks of the White Mountains. With Rex's SUV we were hoping to get all the way to the base, but we had bikes if the road turned out to be too rough. From the main road we turned right towards the Crooked Creek Station (road 5S01). Past the station the road got much rougher. We made it a few miles down before it was too much for the Pilot.
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| On the way. |
A short distance after starting my bike decided it had had enough, and the rear wheel came loose. Luckily, we had the tools and strength to get it back where it belonged. Thankfully it was the last real problem I had with my (very old and cheap) bike that weekend. After riding downhill a few miles, we turned off and headed up (road 5S01B). Around the place this spur road ended, there was a small station with two guys working. They were doing something with the cattle grazing in the area.
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| Station Peak. |
From here there was no road or trail, and it was too steep for the bikes, so we left them by a rock and walked the rest of the way. On the way up we went straight. It was a decent route, however our return route was better. On the way down we hiked to the col to the east of the summit then followed the reentrant back to the bikes. I think I would take this route up next time.
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| Large meadow where we left the bikes. |
The summit was covered with flying ants or something like that. It was pretty bad when the breeze didn't blow. There was marginal cell service, and we were able to get a few spots out. Sadly, the bands were in terrible shape, and I barely got my contacts. We could see rain moving in, so we packed up quickly and got out. Back at the bikes we rode back to the road, then up the hill to the car. It is hard to bike at elevation. So hard.
This peak is the easiest in the White Mountains, by far. The main road goes around the peak just below the summit. However, the only nearby parking is to the south, at the last switchback below the peak. We parked here.
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| Radio set up at the summit. |
From the pullout, it was about a five minute walk up to the top. I was pretty out of breath despite spending the night at 8000 feet. I guess it takes more that eight hours to acclimate.
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| Pointing at tomorrow's goal, White Mountain Peak. |
There was good cell service on top, and the bands were open. We shared a KX2 so we could eavesdrop on all the QSOs. It was a quick and easy activation.
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| Bristlecone Pines. |
We didn't spend too long on top since we wanted to get another peak or two before heading to the end of the road. We were feeling good and hopeful, so we decided to try and get Station Peak next.
KE6MT, N6RUN, and had decided to go to the White Mountains for some peakbagging and SOTA. In order to acclimate a little, we left after work on Thursday and drove through Yosemite to spend the night on top of Lookout Mountain. I was around 11:30pm when we arrived at the turn off from 395, and with Rex's SUV we quickly made it to the top.
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| Trying a midnight activation. |
It was a bit hard to see, but my guess is a sedan would've had a lot of trouble getting up to the summit. There were a few rough or sandy sections. We put up our tents, then quickly put up an antenna. Saurabh called CQ for a while, but only got two contacts. Since it was late, we went to bed after deciding to just get our contacts in the morning.
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| Sierra in the background. |
In the morning I woke up first and got on the air. Since it was light across North America, it was easy to get contacts and I quickly got a dozen or so. As the other took their turns, I packed up and made breakfast. Once we all had our contacts and had finished packing up, we headed back down the hill and on to Bishop.
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| Despite a few trees, the views were excellent. |
At the Great Basin Bakery, we met up with Adam K6ARK who was in town for his own trip. Properly fueled with tasty sandwiches, we headed into the White Mountains and our next summit, Peak 10920.
One of my goals for 2024 was an electronics “Wildcard” where I would finish my QDX transceiver kit or some other ham related project. Today I will mark this one complete, as I finally got my QRPLabs QMX Multimode Transceiver on the air and completed a couple of FT8 contacts.
I did have a few glitches trying to get the rig on the air using WSJT-X (version 2.70 rc6). The first had to do with the short USB-C cable that came with the kit. When I tried using that, I received a pop-up message saying the USB device was unrecognized and had failed. Several folks said they had issues until they changed the USB cable, which I did, and that appeared to work just fine – COM 6 came alive.
The next issue had to do with setting the rig in WSJT-X. The manual suggested “TS-440”, which was a choice that appeared as “TS-440S”. However that did not work, and returned a pretty long failure message when I tried to the Test CAT function. The manual also suggested “TS-480”, which did appear as exactly that (no “S” at the end). That fixed the issues and WSJT-X was now in control of the QMX.
A few minutes later at 1842 UTC I responded to CQ POTA N0WHA EM91 who was -04, and received a -15 in return. At 18:48 UTC I responded to CQ POTA N4NR EM64, who was +04. I did receive a -14 report and a 73 in return. Both stations confirmed the contacts in their POTA Activator logs. So the QMX is working.
In the photo below, you can see the QMX attached to an Elecraft T1 QRP Antenna Tuner, and if you look closely you can see a 3dB attenuator installed in line with the QMX. The QMX lacks a tuner, and if it detects a high SWR, will immediately shut down the transmitter. This quick response prevents the T1 from being able to do its job. By inserting a 3dB attenuator, that guarantees no matter what the antenna load, the worst case SWR seen by the QMX is less than 3:1 – a value that no longer cuts out the transmitter. When the T1 is tuned correctly, the 3dB attenuator can be removed. If you leave it in, the 5 watt output of the QMX is reduced to 2.5 watts. 3dB of RX attenuation really doesn’t matter on the receive side.
In the photo below, you will see the exchanges with N4NR as well as the waterfall.
There’s an old saying in the amateur radio community that when it comes to antennas... I recently learned of the passing of my old friend, Carter Craigie, N3AO. He was an avid QRPer, an excellent CW operator, and one of the nicest people I have ever met.
I first met Carter sometime back in the 90s, when we were members of the now-defunct Eastern Pennsylvania QRP Club (EPA-QRP). Later on, Carter and I were members of Chester County (PA) ARES-RACES. Carter served a two-year stint leading the organization as the Emergency Coordinator (EC).
Eventually, Carter and his wife, Kay N3KN (former ARRL President), moved to Blacksburg, Virginia. Although I rarely saw him in person after that, I had a bunch of QSOs with him over the years. He was a regular participant in QRP field contests, like the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt and Flight of the Bumblebees. He was also an active member of the Straight Key Century Club (SKCC).
Looking back through my logs brought back some memories. Carter always tried to work me when I was out camping or traveling. He seemed to know my go-to frequencies and operating habits and would always seem to find me. I remember being on a camping trip to the Thousand Islands in New York back in 1999. I turned on the radio one morning, and without touching the tuning knob, the sound of Carter calling me greeted me. We had some nice rag chews on those trips.
During the year-long National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) event in 2016, I used to text Carter whenever I was out activating a park. Within minutes, I would hear Carter calling me for a contact. He would always make sure to spot me on the NPOTA Facebook page.
While it’s sad to know that I won’t hear Carter on the air anymore, I feel truly blessed for having known him. Rest in peace, my friend.
72, Craig WB3GCK
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