Today’s expedition is another joint activation with Jacob, W6RWS to Hot Springs Mountain, the highest peak in San Diego County. I’ve done this one before with Adam, K6ARK but it was a new one for Jacob. Jacob stopped by and picked me up and we drove up to the Coyotes Indian reservation by Warner Springs. There is a day campground there and the tribe charges $10 per car to come onto the area.

The hike is up a road that leads all the way to the top which has a very old lookout mounted on it. It’s a little over 4 miles to the top and I’d say the first two miles are the steepest.

It had snowed during the previous weekend but much had melted off. There was a section of the road that still had about four inches of snow. It was cool but not cold. We were both hiking in long sleeve shirts. The forest was pretty and it was enjoyable going through a little snow.

Once on the summit, the top of the mountain provides some nice views. Jacob went up to the highest point and bagged around 14 contacts using his VHF HT with the long MFJ vertical whip. I meanwhile setup at a saddle just down from there with the K6ARK random wire antenna. I bagged 31 contacts via HF & VHF including a few summit-to-summits but no DX contacts. I had quite a pileup on 20m CW and we both talked to a couple of guys we know through the hobby who were up on El Cajon (They mentioned it was harder than expected.... Yup, that one’s a bitch boys). I also talked to my old buddy John, K6MXA, who was on Mount Tule, one that I had never done.

Jake and I both had an excellent time and got the hike with a radio bug out of our system for a while at least.

Expedition Summary

SOTA summits:W6/CD-010 (Hot Springs Mountain)
Points:6
Activation Date: 2020-11-15 (UTC)
Unique: No
Activation No: 218
Call sign used: N1CLC
Radios: KX2
Antennas: K6ARK random wire
Band/Modes used: 20m, 40m, CW (morse) SSB (voice)
Cell Data: Spotty AT&T
Miles Hiked: 9.86 mi
Hiked Elevation Gain: 2,132

Contacts

Date:14/11/2020 | Summit:W6/CD-010 (Hot Springs Mountain) | Call Used:N1CLC | Points: 6

Time	Callsign	Band	Mode	Notes
19:58	K6WRW	144MHz	FM	Summit-to-Summit
19:59	N3XUL	144MHz	FM	Summit-to-Summit
20:09	AA7OY	7MHz	CW
20:10	KR7RK	7MHz	CW
20:11	K6YK	7MHz	CW
20:12	K6KM	7MHz	CW
20:13	KF6HI	7MHz	CW
20:14	WB6POT	7MHz	CW
20:15	K6HPX	7MHz	CW
20:16	NW7E	7MHz	CW
20:17	KB8UIP	7MHz	CW
20:22	N6MKW	7MHz	CW
20:32	K6MXA	7MHz	CW	Summit-to-Summit
20:37	WW7D	14MHz	CW
20:38	K7VK	14MHz	CW
20:39	AC7MA	14MHz	CW
20:40	KG3W	14MHz	CW
20:41	VE7HI	14MHz	CW
20:42	N4ARY	14MHz	CW
20:43	N1AIA	14MHz	CW
20:44	K9OZ	14MHz	CW
20:44	KI5WA	14MHz	CW
20:45	KC4WZB	14MHz	CW
20:46	W7EEE	14MHz	CW
20:48	WB7BWZ	14MHz	CW
20:48	KR7Q	14MHz	CW
20:49	K7MTD	14MHz	CW
20:51	W5GDW	14MHz	CW
20:51	WF4I	14MHz	CW
20:52	K0LAF	14MHz	CW
20:59	N0WAE	14MHz	SSB