When planning my Mount Gleason activation I came across Mark’s (KD7DTS) video on activating Table Mountain. Being a drive-up I thought I’d add that as an option. Since I was back on the road around noon after my Mount Gleason/Little Gleason adventure I decided to go for it. I’ll be honest, this is a boring drive. From L.A. you have to drive all the way around since you can’t drive highway 2 to Wrightwood. I was lucky driving in from the west but still, make sure you have a good podcast (I recommend Ham Radio Workbench!) or some music to listen to during your drive.

Table Mountain is a ski resort in the winter (when you can get an extra 3 points). There is a huge parking lot and an open restaurant (with flushing restrooms). I parked my car there and walked the last few hundred yards to the top.

This is another rather flat top with tall trees for your antennas. You have a great view towards Palmdale and Mojave.

I started with my newly assembled TinyGawant antenna from Ara (N6ARA) on 20m. I never got it much below 2:1 SWR and only bagged two CW contacts. I then switched to a cheap quarter-wave telescopic antenna and got a couple more, including Jordan (WC6J) on Ramsey Ridge (W6/NC-327) some 400 miles north of me. Finally I switched to SSB and got DJ (WW7D) as my first voice contact ever on my QMX. Then it was time to pack up and head to Sonic in Palmdale for a well-deserved chili dog!