2020-08-30 Wahl Knoll with AA7OY

I hooked up with Dale, AA7OY again today as we headed up to Wahl Knoll for another fun hike.  It’s not far but it has a beautiful view all the way up and from the top. We met up near the trailhead and saddled up.  Went up the valley from the west wich this time of year has a lot of high green grass.  It’s a beautiful little hike with a gradual incline over about a mile.  We spotted a small group of deer on a ridge.  I didn’t have much of a telephoto but I was able to get a pic of them.
(click on images for larger)

Initially I thought Dale was going to setup on the peak but he went down a bit and setup about 100 yards away.  I setup on the summit and ran my antenna to the peak this time.  My chair was right next to the summit marker.  I had a fantastic view to the south.

 Our objective for the day was to maximize summit-to-summit contacts.  It’s Sunday, so we expected to be able to collect quite a few.  As it turned out, there wasn’t a ton of operators out and there were several stations I couldn’t hear that I normally would expect to.  The solar conditions were suboptimal with a solar flux of about 69, pretty much the worst), but we still had a blast.  The views were fantastic, the weather was perfect and I managed to get 29 contacts, 6 were summit-to-summit.

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Expedition Summary

SOTA summit: W7A/AP-005
Points: 0, I’ve already done this one :)
Activation Date: 2020-Aug-30
Unique: No, activation 197
Call sign used: N1CLC
Portable operation: Yes
Radios: KX2
Antennas: K6ARK random wire 10 - 80
Band/Modes used: 20m, 30m, 40m, 10w CW (morse) SSB (voice)
Cell Data: AT&T if you hold your mouth just right.  Verizon high speed.
Miles Hiked: 2.6 mi
Hiked Elevation Gain: 486’

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Contacts

Date:30/08/2020 | Summit:W7A/AP-005 (Wahl Knoll) | Call Used:N1CLC | Points: 0 | Bonus: 0 | Delete

Time	Callsign	Band	Mode	Notes
16:16	N6WT	7MHz	SSB
16:18	WD6TED	7MHz	SSB
16:18	WA6KYR	7MHz	SSB
16:19	WU7H	7MHz	SSB
16:20	NG6R	7MHz	SSB
16:20	NW7E	7MHz	SSB
16:22	AI6ZV	7MHz	SSB
16:23	AC7P	7MHz	SSB
16:25	K6QCB	7MHz	SSB
16:30	KX0R	7MHz	SSB	S2S
16:30	NS7P	7MHz	SSB
16:31	K6TUY	7MHz	SSB
16:32	WB6POT	7MHz	SSB
16:33	AA6XA	7MHz	SSB
16:35	KF7WI	7MHz	SSB
16:47	WW7D	14MHz	CW
16:49	K0LAF	14MHz	CW
16:53	KR7Q	14MHz	CW
16:57	VE7OM	14MHz	CW
16:58	VE7HI	14MHz	CW
17:01	N4LAG	14MHz	CW	S2S
17:03	AB4PP	14MHz	CW
17:17	KI4TN	14MHz	CW	S2S
17:29	NU7Y	5MHz	CW
17:34	NA6MG	5MHz	CW
18:08	AF7MD	14MHz	CW	S2S
18:14	N6JFD/P	14MHz	CW
18:25	KT0A	7MHz	CW	S2S
18:49	N5NA	10MHz	CW	S2S

Loadout:

●      GoPro Hero8

●      Gregory Zulu 40 backpack

●      First aid kit.  Make sure it’s a good one... like ability to patch up an impalement wound. 

●      Elecraft KX2 10 watt HF Radio

●      The K6ARK Spider Thread Antenna

●   30’ of coax feed line (not needed

●      Slim Jim dual band antenna for my HT.

●      3 L of water (8 lb)

●      iPhone with All Trails, MotionX GPS and sota goat

●      Trekking poles (not today)

●     LNR End Fed multi-band antenna

●   SOTAbeams Tactical 7000hds Compact Heavy-Duty Telescopic Mast TAC7000HDS

●    MFJ MFJ-1714 144 MHz 1/2 Wavelength Antenna for my HT

●   AnyTone AT-868UV DMR radio for testing.

●   Custom wine bottle cork paddles for CW (crafted by K6ARK)

●   American Morse Ultra Porta Paddle for CW

●   Delorme Inreach satellite tracker and communicator.

●      Jetboil MicroMo cooking system (left at the car this trip)

●      Yaesu FT-2DR HT (backup left in the car)

●     Packtenna. (did not take)

●     CHA MPAS with spike and additional MIL mast (and version 2 of the top section) (left in car)

●      Yaesu FT-891D HF Radio at 100 watts  (left this in the car :) )

●    Extra LiFePO Battery (not needed)

●     Helinox Chair Zero Ultralight Compact Camping Chair.

 

73,

N1CLC

Christian Claborne

(aka chris claborne)