Getting some summits done while backpacking in the Eastern Sierra!

Getting some summits done while backpacking in the Eastern Sierra!

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!!

This is a summit you don't do in the summer! Except I did. Murray Hill is a nice summit for cooler months, or in the dark.

Lots of fun summit-to-summit contacts made in the High Sierra.

A quick overnight trip to the Sierra foothills, with some exciting contacts made!

I'm always trying to combine radio fun with my various outdoor activities—including backpacking and camping. But for quite a while, I've wanted to do a camping/backpacking trip with the primary purpose being radio fun—on a summit! With the SOTA "Flavours" Challenge 2020 going on, I also needed to get some contacts made on 160 and/or 80 meters—bands that work best at night. So, without much planning, I decided to do a quick overnight trip!