{"id":456,"date":"2025-08-11T04:25:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T04:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inventwave.com\/w6test\/?p=456"},"modified":"2025-09-08T21:39:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T21:39:17","slug":"456","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/w6sota.org\/web\/2025\/08\/11\/456\/","title":{"rendered":"W6\/SD-026 Windy Peak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2018-01-27, Activating W6\/SD-026<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s SOTA mission was to a mountain in the Lagunas, W6\/SD-026 – 5764<\/strong><\/a>.  This trip had a bit of a surprise.  Not like a couple of days ago when I scored a QSO with a guy in New Zealand.  Today\u2019s surprise is just seeing unexpected vistas. There is a shocking view from a lookout going up the Sunrise Highway that looks out onto the desert, down several thousand feet.  I enjoy the Lagunas because it\u2019s nice getting up in the pines, cool air, and not seeing a sole on the hike.  It\u2019s not all pine but it\u2019s a hell of a lot nicer than the pure rock piles around my house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Summits On The Air (SOTA) is similar to geocaching.  It pulls you out to places you wouldn\u2019t normally go on a typical weekend making each SOTA activation fun due to the exploration aspect.  SOTA also poses a small challenge to figure out the rout, do some recon on-line, and I get a nice hike… and yes, get to play with my ham radio toys.   I\u2019ve enjoyed the several trips I\u2019ve taken out to the Lagunas.  Another small surprise was making a contact in Hawaii.  The last bonus was that I finally got a confirmed SOTA to SOTA contact on HF.  Kent, N6WT, was activating W6\/CC-028.  It\u2019s a mountain just north of LA.  He came in very week but we were able to communicate.  I think he was running low power, he gave me a good signal report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip up the mountain was easy.  There is a very heavily used trail that I took for the first half mile then turned to head up the mountain ridge to the summit.  Adam, KJ6HOT, gave me the info I needed to get started and mentioned that it was marked with cairns and the path a bit overgrown.  It was clear where the turn was but I never saw the cairns.  The chaparral isn\u2019t as thick here so it was easy to pick a path and rejoin what looked like the trail.  (You can see the route HERE<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As I got closer to the top, the wind was blowing pretty hard.  I think the temp was about 60 but the wind definitely chilled me down.  After putting on another layer, I went to work.  The summit had a metal fencepost sticking out, allowing me to easily secure the mast section of my MPAS antenna to it.  I thought I could avoid using guys, but after putting up all the sections, the wind was really bending the antenna over.  I put one guy on the windward side to take some of the pressure off.   As you can see from the picture, the antenna is bent over pretty good in the wind.   I setup my operating position off the peak.  That position, and being on the ground got me out of most of the wind, and therefore a bit warmer.  I used my voice-activated headset, and I had a bit of an issue with the wind kicking on the transmit at times.  A small adjustment seemed to fix it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as I got setup, my brother called me and let me know he was almost at my house.  I had forgotten he was dropping by on his way to Tucson.  He was going to drop something off for me and take a quick pit stop.  I told him how to get in and asked if he would turn my radio base for a quick VHF test from my position.  Using just the whip on my radio I was able to get into the house but it was pretty scratchy.  He got out on a quick test no problem.  Range was 37 miles and I don\u2019t think I had perfect line of site so I was getting some bounce action.  I had the jpole with me but I didn\u2019t get it out for a test. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today was \u201cwinter field day\u201d for Hams so the band was packed with other operators.  Field day is a day that encourages hams to go outside, anywhere and operate completely portable, without commercial power etc.  For me and the rest of the SOTA operators, every outing is \u201cfield day\u201d.  Some guys have huge mast systems on trailers, others are like me and go for light and portable.  Some are 100 watts, some operate \u201cQRP\u201d, low power at about 5 or 10 watts.  QRP is a challenge to see how far they can go.  Getting contacts today would be easy for me today.  Finding an open channel to call \u201cQC\u201d proved a bit more difficult.  I picked what I thought would be good.  I had stations just above and below me and my first contact suggested I move up 5 so I change frequencies and went back to work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had planned to do a second summit but decided to sit in the sun and relax instead.  After I filled a couple of pages in my log, I decided to try 40 meter.  After hooking up the antenna tuner I found 40 meter to be pretty quiet.  I did a self-spot using sotagoat app on my phone and made a few contacts.  Most were in the western US.  Band conditions are at the absolute worst right now but it did work.  I had a nice chat with John, K3JH, about about what we both like to use for SOTA activations and his plans to get back into it after knee surgery.  I also talked to one ham twice.  Chris, W7AMD,  saw my spot on both 20 and 40 so he decided to just try and see if it worked.  He was actually waiting for a friend of his doing SOTA at the same time.  Hopefully they connected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The express down the mountain was easy.  I let Sulu take the lead and she did a better job than me finding the trail.  It\u2019s amazing, as soon as we hit the intersection with the other trail, she turned left with confidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Contacts<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Date<\/strong><\/td>Call Sign<\/td><\/td>Date<\/strong><\/td>Call Sign<\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>AE9F<\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>N4EX<\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>K6EL<\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>NS7P<\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>AB6SO<\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>KI4NS<\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>K7JFD<\/strong><\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>W7AMD<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>W7RV<\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>W8DC<\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>W5ODS<\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>N7MSI<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>KX0R<\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>NE4TN<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>W7AMD<\/strong><\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>KG3W<\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>N0EMU<\/strong><\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>WA9STI<\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>N6WT<\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>W2SE<\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>KE6RS<\/strong><\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>K6BOS<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>K3JH<\/strong><\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>KI7AAY<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>ND9E<\/strong><\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>KI6EAB<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>K0WPM<\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>KD0YOB<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>KA4KSV<\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>K0VRF<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>VE2JCW<\/strong><\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>N7FJC<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>VA2MO<\/strong><\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>W6ERM<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>AH6U<\/strong><\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>N5HIC<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>W5RRR<\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>K0LAF<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>KT5TX<\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>K0EAP<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>AE7AP<\/strong><\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>K7RP<\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>N1GB<\/strong><\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>WB0KIU<\/td><\/tr>
2018-01-27<\/td>W7VI<\/td><\/td>2018-01-27<\/td>W6TDX<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Loadout today:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf     CHA MPAS with spike and additional MIL mast<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf     Yaesu FT-891D HF Radio<\/a> at 100 watts<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf     Yaesu FT-2DR HT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf     Slim Jim dual band antenna for my HT<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf     DDT Ops Anti-Venom field pack<\/a> with food<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf     3 L of water<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf     SOTA Dog<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf     iPhone with and MotionX GPS and sota goat<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf     Hiking pole…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

REFERENCE<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf      My Typical SOTA Loadout<\/a>\u25cf      For more info on SOTA, rules, etc, go to the homepage HERE<\/a>.\u25cf      Ham Terminology<\/a>
\u25cf      SOTA Specific Links<\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2018-01-27, Activating W6\/SD-026 Today\u2019s SOTA mission was to a mountain in the Lagunas, W6\/SD-026 – 5764.  This trip had a bit of a surprise.  Not like a couple of days ago when I scored a QSO with a guy in New Zealand.  Today\u2019s surprise is just seeing unexpected vistas. There is a shocking view from a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tripreports"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/w6sota.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/w6sota.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/w6sota.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/w6sota.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/w6sota.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/w6sota.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1367,"href":"https:\/\/w6sota.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions\/1367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/w6sota.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/w6sota.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/w6sota.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/w6sota.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}