N1CLC: 2019-01-19 Eagle Peak & Stonwall Peak

Today I decided to hike Eagle Peak (W6/SC-156 - Eagle Peak) and Stonewall Peak (W6/SC-029 - Stonewall Peak). Both of these hikes are pretty easy and not too far apart. I thought about doing Middle Peak and then Stonewall because they are very close together but I really didn’t feel like hitting Middle Peak today given that I’m still suffering PTSD from the last time I went up there and bushwhacked from the west side (Adam says there’s a trail from the east side so I will eventually check that out). I did these two summits at the same time last year so I was fairly familiar with the IAF and routes. Last year it had just quick snowing on the way to Eagle Peak parking lot and when I started down for the car from Stonewall, it started snowing again. I remember really being cold last year up on Stonewall, making some hot tea as soon as I got to the car.

It had been raining this week in San Diego so I was a little worried that it would be muddy up at Eagle Peak but, as it turns out, it wasn’t. We had clear skies and it warmed up quickly. I started the hike with three layers on and was down to one by the time I got back to the car. This is a easy hike and the final ascent isn’t all that hard. There is one place you have to sort of scramble over some rocks but you can actually avoid that if you hook around the north east side at the first false summit.

The wind was howling on the drive up to the area of operation and it took some effort to keep the car on the road as I went up the interstate through Alpine. It was pretty windy at the parking lot, picking up dirt at time and throwing it into your face. And speaking of the parking lot, it was locked, probably due to the shutdown caused by our man-baby president (code name “Orange October). I was expecting a very windy summit but the wind died down as soon as I got the antenna up. Setup was easy and I was launching RF into space in short order. I knew there was going to be a VHF contest in the US today but I was unaware of the “North American QSO Party” was running today. The 20 meter band was packed with guys in the contest so it was very hard to find a spot to park at. I could have just dialed around and hooked up with some guys that were contesting, which I did for a while, but I had put an “alert” on the SOTA web site so I felt obligated to setup and then post a “spot”. I settled on 14.323 and quickly had a pileup of chasers. I had the usual suspects in the logbook in short order as well as a bunus, John (ZL1BYZ) from New Zealand.

With Eagle Peak checked off the list I headed over to Stonewall Peak (just across the street from Cuyamaca where I was last week. Because there was a VHF contest going on I decided to just bring my little HT and a directional antenna. This means I can use my mini-pack and haul less than 10 pounds instead of 35). I packed an extra layer for the wind at the top and headed out, quickly forgetting my trekking poles which I had to turn around and go get. You don’t need trekking poles for either of these hikes but I grabbed a big pipe fitting and was planning on mounting the directional antenna on one of the treking poles and then strapping the whole thing to the rail at the top. I didn’t have time to make a mount this morning and it was going to look pretty frankenstein but workable.

It was an easy hike to the top. I stopped at an area just below the stairs to assemble the antenna. I was planning on testing 2 meter and 70 cm so I had to assemble all of the little pieces. It takes a while since they didn’t mark the elements that screw into the mast. I like the antenna because it breaks down and goes nicely into a little bag though. I’ll mark the elements with colored tape next time to make my job easier.

Once the antenna was assembled and then taped to one of my trekking poles, I headed up to the top, and just as I got to the stairs my Gopro battery died. I was afraid I would but I can’t find my spare batteries.... The wind was howling at the top and I then wished I had packed two layers extra and put them in my bag. I had already put on the one that I did pack while assembling the antenna but it wasn’t enough. I then spent the next 10 or so minutes screwing around getting the directional antenna lashed to the railing so I didn’t have to hold it. The problem with this thing is that it’s designed to be held and if all I’m doing is pressing the push to talk (PTT), and pointing the antenna then no problem, but I also have to write down call signs so I can officially activate the peak. Also the antenna gets heavy after a while.

My first contact on Stonewall was from a lady on Thomas Mountain (W6/CT-016 - Thomas Mountain) in the Anza desert. The beam antenna brought her in loud and clear. She was up there with her husband. I later got a call from Adam, K6ARK and he thinks he did some CW with her husband who was up there with her. The summit to summit distance was 46 miles. That’s not bad using my little hand held radio at 6 watts. But wait, it get’s better. I also made contact with someone in San Pedro in the Los Angeles area which is 110 miles from where I was. We were both pretty surprised. My last VHF contact was the husband of the first operator that I talked to on Thomas Mountain.

After being on the summit in the high winds, which were at times gusting to 40, I was getting very chilled and my back and fingers were cramping up. I used painter’s tape to secure the antenna to the rail so it wouldn’t leave any marks and it was easy to remove and get off the summit. I climbed down to a spot with no wind, packed up and headed back to the car. Even with the VHF contest going on, it wasn’t easy to get contacts up there. Setting up a HF antenna has to be done away from the tippy top given the number of people that are up there. It would be kind of cool to try my vertical HF antenna up there though.

I hadn’t eaten anything other than trail bars for the day so I was hungry. I stopped at my favorite Mexican food restaurant in Descanso and then headed home.

So there you have it. Someone mentioned that I should continue shooting video so, here you go, a VLOG with the BLOG.

Contacts

Summit	Date	Time	Freq	Mode	Call	Summit to Summit
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1801	14.318MHz	SSB	NE1C
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1810	14.318MHz	SSB	N0XNN
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1812	14.318MHz	SSB	KA0KWU
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1813	14.343MHz	SSB	KD0IRW
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1816	14.331MHz	SSB	KT4Q
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1819	14.323MHz	SSB	W6GAE
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1820	14.323MHz	SSB	KR7RK
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1821	14.323MHz	SSB	N4EX
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1822	14.323MHz	SSB	NW7E
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1822	14.323MHz	SSB	AA1VX
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1823	14.323MHz	SSB	K3TCU
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1824	14.323MHz	SSB	K0LAF
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1824	14.323MHz	SSB	KD1CT
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1824	14.323MHz	SSB	K6MXA
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1825	14.323MHz	SSB	NS7P
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1826	14.323MHz	SSB	K6RKY
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1826	14.323MHz	SSB	N0RZ
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1827	14.323MHz	SSB	W6IPA
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1828	14.323MHz	SSB	ZL1BYZ
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1829	14.323MHz	SSB	W0ERI
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1829	14.323MHz	SSB	W0MNA
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1830	14.323MHz	SSB	W5BOS
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1831	14.323MHz	SSB	K9IR
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1831	14.323MHz	SSB	W5ODS
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1831	14.323MHz	SSB	W4KRN
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1832	14.323MHz	SSB	VE7KPM
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1832	14.323MHz	SSB	KC0JGE
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1833	7. 251MHz	SSB	K6MXA
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1838	18.145MHz	SSB	W6ADV
W6/SC-156	19/01/19	1846	146.52MHz	SSB	WA6MH
W6/SC-029	19/01/19	2145	146.52MHz	FM	N2ZIP	W6/CT-016
W6/SC-029	19/01/19	2240	146.52MHz	FM	KJ6TDC
W6/SC-029	19/01/19	2246	146.52MHz	FM	KK6YB
W6/SC-029	19/01/19	2248	146.52MHz	FM	K6ARK
W6/SC-029	19/01/19	2305	146.52MHz	FM	W6GWC
W6/SC-029	19/01/19	2308	146.52MHz	FM	KK6TOS
W6/SC-029	19/01/19	2310	146.52MHz	FM	KK6UC
W6/SC-029	19/01/19	2311	146.52MHz	FM	KB6WGS
W6/SC-029	19/01/19	2317	146.52MHz	FM	KI6SVI
W6/SC-029	19/01/19	2318	146.52MHz	FM	KM6BIO
W6/SC-029	19/01/19	2325	146.52MHz	FM	N0OI	W6/CT-016
W6/SC-029	19/01/19	2334	446.0MHz	FM	W6RDF
W6/SC-029	20/01/19	41	446.0MHz	FM	KF6ODE