SOTA outings by KØMOS and contributors

Tag: amateur radio

  • WØC/FR-Ø88 (Mount McConnel) – 2nd activation

    This was a re-activation for me. If you are looking for all the details on how to get there and other useful info, you can find the original trip-report with the necessary details right here. This post has only a few specifics from today’s activation.

    Waking up this morning,  I was not sure whether I saw fog or smoke when I looked out of the window. However, my nose was clear about what was going on – it was definitely smoke… coming from a large wild-fire (Hewlett fire) just a few miles north of here. It has been burning for the last six days and consumed over 7300 acres (~30 square km) in the Poudre Canyon, one of my main access routes to SOTA summits. Checking the Web confirmed that Co14 was closed between Ted’s Place and Rist Canyon due to the fire. I was planning to activate Mount McConnel, an easy hike of ~4,2 mi (6,8 km) and 2110 ft (643 m) ASL, about 10 miles up the Canyon from the fire. The road closure forced me to take an alternate route through Rist Canyon to get to the trail head. The early morning drive along the small and winding road was very enjoyable and I reached the trail-head ahead of schedule. The bridge over the Poudre River to Mountain Park Campground (where the TH ls located) was still closed for the season – so I parked the car on the downhill side of the road on a small gravel strip and started my hike. The temperatures were perfect, low 60s with a light breeze. Wildflowers started to come out everywhere and I quickly found my rhythm heading up the trail.  Hanging out with my own thoughts, I almost stepped on a large male Dusky Grouse who panicked and flapped nervously into the trees. He almost gave me a heart-attack, but I was glad it was just a grouse and nothing more predatory. Shortly after that incident we had another encounter. This time it was a little more civilized and relaxed, at a safe distance. He displayed his square tail but did not allow me to take a good picture – too bad. By the time I reached the summit, it was partly cloudy and with all the particles in the air from the raging fire not too far from here, the views were not as good as I had experienced last time.  I used the top of a tree (growing below the cliff) to attach and tune my antenna for 17m. My first contact was with Kriss/KA1GJU/AM who was en route to San Francisco. He was just about 50 miles east of me at 36’000 ft (~11’000 m) and was kind enough to use his unique position and 400 W radio to drum-up some more contacts – thanks a bunch Kriss. 17m was not very productive so I re-tuned to 20m and worked most of my regular chasers. By the time I could not copy any more chasers, more clouds already moved in and the winds picked-up too. A sign to pack up and head down.

    Thanks for all the contacts and spots.

    Update: Sadly, since then Mount McConnel has now been consumed by the Highpark fire as well. As of yesterday, two more SOTA summits are within the burn area.

    Some video impressions:
    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azvG7_AnVAk

    Please post comments or questions through YouTube.

    ATTENTION !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers. Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • WØC/FR-127 (Signal Mountain) – 2nd activation

    This was a re-activation for me. If you are looking for all the details on how to get there and other useful info, you can find the original trip-report with the necessary details right here. This post has only a few specifics from today’s activation.

    Signal Mtn. – View from the summit

    From my prior activation in September 2011, I knew that it was going to be a long hike (11.7 mi/18.8 km – 4064 ft / 1239 m) mostly within the tree-zone. The two summits (Signal Mtn and South Signal) are just pushing their ‘heads’ above the treeline providing some amazing views.

    My backpack with Yagi

    Besides my normal gear, I also carried a ‘tape-measure’ Yagi antenna I wanted to test on the summit. The first two miles of my hike went as expected but the following 2-3 miles through the forest were extremely difficult. A winter-storm must have destroyed large parts of the Bulwark Ridge. Trees were lying around everywhere. And I am not just talking about dead-trees… large and healthy trees were broken apart like tooth-picks, blocking the way to the summit. It was a very time-consuming and exhausting hike, climbing over trees or trying to find a way around it. Often I

    Devastated Forest

    had a difficult time finding the trail again. Finally, the last 1-2 miles above the tree-line provided more challenges in form of big, soft, and deep snow-fields. Without having any ‘floatation-devices’, I was post-holing through approx. 3-4 ft of snow. Luckily I brought my gators – keeping at least my feet dry. It took me almost 4 hours to reach the summit (compared to 3’10” in September). The view from the summit was worth it though. After setting up my antenna, I  was hiding from the wind behind the small stone-shelter on the top. The wind behaved kind of strangely… completely calm for several minutes, followed by very strong gusts for a couple of minutes and back to complete calmness again. One of the stronger gusts took my antenna down (again), just after switching from 20m to 17m. Unfortunately the stinger of my shock-corded whip got bent during the process . I guess its time to use some of those spare parts. I took it as a sign to leave and packed-up my gear, knowing that it would take me quite a while for the ~6 miles climbing over all the trees again. At least it was downhill this time. I have to admit that I was pretty tired by the time I reached my car.

    Thanks for all the contacts and spots.

    Some video impressions:

    Please post comments or questions through YouTube.

    ATTENTION !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers. Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • WØC/FR-Ø61 (Taylor Mountain) – 2779 m / 9134 ft

    Taylor Mountain (WØC/FR-Ø61) is part of the Front-Range of the Rocky Mountains and located south of Estes Park, close to the towns of Boulder and Longmont. Now that I am writing about this activation, it occurs to me that I should have left the first activation of this peak up to Jerry/KDØBIK – it would have been a nice touch for the first activator to share the same name than the mountain. I guess it’s too late now – sorry Jerry. You can still try to first activate Taylor Mountain in the Sawatch Range.

    Trailhead: 8415ft / 2565 m
    Summit:   9134 ft / 2784 m
    Elev. gain: 908 ft / 277 m
    Roundtrip: 3.5  mi / 5.6 km

    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:
    Taylor Mountain is close to Denver, Boulder, Longmont, Loveland, Estes Park and Fort Collins. Go west on CO 66 (Ute Highway north of Longmont) towards Lyons. In the quaint village of Lyons take a left (south) onto 5th Avenue or CO-7 which is also St. Vrain Drive. Continue on CO-7 through the gorgeous St. Vrain Canyon until you encounter CO-27 on your left. From there it is another 2.2 mi (3.5 km) to where you have to take a right onto Taylor Road, a dirt road that leads through a small subdivision.  The trail-head is now just 0.7 mi (~1.1 km) ahead of you.

    Parking/Trailhead

    View Larger Map

    Red Tape:
    Taylor Mountain is managed by the National Forest Service. There are no permits or entry fees required. The parking possibilities at the TH are limited which might not be an issue as soon as the FS opens the gate to all the forest roads up there.

    The Ascent:

    Elevation Profile

    For most of the way you can hike along forest service roads. The TH is located at FR-330. A gate blocks access to the FR system – it was still locked for the season,

    Taylor Mountain as seen from TH

    preventing access of motorized vehicles. FR-330 leads gently up the slope through a thinned out pine forest. Several larger areas were completely cut-down… the purpose is unknown to me but a good guess might be to control the Mountain pine beetle infestation. Soon you will encounter the intersection with FR-330B – take FR-330B towards the right. FT330B is not much of a road and feels more like a hiking trail (for most parts anyways). A sign indicates where FR-330B ends… but a narrow track continues uphills and eventually reaches the summit. Navigation or terrain is not much of a challenge and this, combined with the short distance (3.5  mi / 5.6 km round trip) makes it an easy morning hike.

    The Summit:

    View from the Summit

    The summit is rather flat and the highest point is defined by a large stone cairn with a summit register in a peanut jar. The views are limited due to the trees but you can take a peek through the trees at some 14ers near the Continental Divide. Longspeak and Mt. Meeker are visible as well as some peaks in the Mummy Range. The summit can easily accommodate several activators and provides ample space and trees for antenna and guy-lines. I made 20 contacts in ~40 minutes on 20m and 17m.

    The Descent:
    I followed the same route back to the car but managed to get lost on my way down, loosing the faint trail just a few minutes after leaving the summit. A look at map and compass and a little bit of bush-whacking finally brought me back on the trail.

    Some video impressions:
    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jUbml6wBNg

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

     

    ATTENTION !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers. Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • KX3 for SOTA?: A Rebuttal

    After reading KDØBIK’s blog post comparing the new KX3 with the FT-817 under the aspect of using it for Summits on The Air (SOTA), I felt I have to defend ‘my’ little radio a bit. No doubt, the KX3 is a great rig and has tons of new features and advantages compared to the FT-817. I also freely admit that I am not an experienced ham, nor did I ever have the opportunity to see and/or touch a KX3 in real life. My stated opinion is based on the KX3 manual, pictures, videos as well as my personal experience with the FT-817 and a few activations for SOTA. I am offering my view on the categories Jerry created in his article.

    Weight – Advantage KX3:
    Based on the numbers Jerry provided, the KX3 is indeed 20% lighter compared to the FT-817. Not sure whether this includes the optional 2m module (I doubt it, since it is not yet available). For a fair comparison however, we have to add the additional weight for the optional module, since the FT-817 has the 2m capability. As a result, the difference is a little less. In real numbers this boils down to an advantage for the KX3 of less than 0.5 pounds (< 226 g). Don’t get me wrong, carrying 0.5 pounds less to a remote summit is great, in my case however this can achieved with a few days of dieting :)

    Size – Advantage KX3:
    Based on the numbers provided in the article, the KX3 indeed has a huge advantage compared to the Yaesu. If my math is correct it takes up nearly 50% less space! That’s a lot… space in a backpack is always an issue and cannot be mitigated with a diet. What is unclear to me is whether the provided measurements are just for the case of the radio or if it includes the protruding knobs/buttons/dials etc. So maybe it’s not that big of an advantage after all… we will have to wait for an update on this issue.

    Durability and Ruggedness – Advantage 817:
    I completely agree with Jerry on this point. What bothered me the most on the KX3 when I did my research were the buttons/knobs/dials/paddle, especially under the aspect of taking the rig to a summit. I am curious to see how fragile/problematic these protrusions  are. Being extra careful might just not cut it… a backpack can be a crowded place on a longer hike.

    LCD Display and Control Panel– Advantage KX3:
    No kidding – the huge display and the control panel are certainly a huge advantage on the KX3. Even though I do not need glasses, seeing all the necessary info on the tiny display of the FT-817 can be a pain in the rear – and so is the fact that you have to push buttons and dial through endless menus to make adjustments.

    Portability and SOTA Readiness – Advantage KX3:
    I strongly disagree with Jerry on this point (keep in mind I never touched a KX3). The lack of a feature (2m module) cannot make it an advantage for SOTA! Specifically if you  substitute the missing feature with an additional radio, which adds weight and volume to your pack (eliminating the stated advantages above). At best it is a draw… in my opinion, the FT-817 has a clear advantage in this category mainly because of the protruding knobs/dials of the KX3 on the one hand, and the acknowledged ruggedness of the FT-817 on the other hand.

    Speaker Audio Output – Advantage 817:
    Can’t really judge this point but I am sure Jerry is right on the mark with this. Personally I am always carrying ear-buds to an activation (but I hate to wear them), just in case I have company on a summit – so far I was lucky and never encountered a soul.

    Other Features and Functionality – Advantage KX3:
    An increase of your output to 10W might be nice under certain conditions. It will increase your signal slightly but you have to carry extra power sources to the summit – again, eliminating certain advantages mentioned above (weight/volume) – I would say it’s a draw.

    The huge VFO knob, certainly an advantage during operation, represents a drawback in terms of ruggedness (needs to be seen) and ability to pack the rig.

    The ability of the KX3 to decode PSK/RTTY and CW is certainly a great feature – how useful this is for a SOTA rig I am not sure – time will tell.

    A missing piece in this comparison is the price tag. Configuring the KX3 with a microphone and a charger, as well as with the 2m option will run you approx. twice the price of an FT-817.  If you can justify this for your SOTA rig – go for it.

    Where the KX3 will shine are areas of less importance to SOTA activators. SDR and data mode features are great but have limited value if you are looking for just a SOTA rig. The wide open front end of the FT-817? Certainly better on the KX3.  For me, the KX3 does just not have enough advantages to say good-by to my FT-817 – but I am using the radio only for SOTA.

    I am looking forward to KDØBIK’s updates on the SOTA readiness of the KX3 and his real-life experiences. It might just be the perfect rig after all.

    73, Matt / KØMOS

     

    ATTENTION !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers. Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • WØC/FR-15Ø (Thunder Peak) – 3083 m / 10134 ft

    I had planned a double activation for today. Thunder Peak or WØC/FR-15Ø was the first on the list.The weather forecast was great for the Estes Park area and a friend of mine joined me for the hike. We drove into Estes Park and were surprised to see how much snow the mountains got during the week. Dark clouds were hanging in the Mummy Range (Continental Divide). A stiff wind greeted us when we left the car at the trail-head. Light snow-flurries were present for the first part of the hike, even though we had blue skies above us.

    Trailhead: 8244 ft / 2513 m
    Summit:   10134 ft / 3083 m
    Elev. gain: 2051 ft / 625 m
    Roundtrip: 4.5  mi / 7.2 km

    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:
    Take US34 from Loveland towards Estes Park through Big Thompson Canyon. Thunder Peak is on the south-west side of Estes Park. Stay on US34 towards Rocky Mountain NP. Go left on County Road 66 (or Tunnel Road), following the signs to the YMCA campus. Follow the road all the way to the end. There is a campground at the very end – as well as the East Portal of the Big Thompson Project Pipeline. Park your car at the loop of the road (there is room for about 10 cars on a gravel strip at the south side of the loop.

    Parking/Trailhead

    View Larger Map

    East Portal with Reservoir

    Follow the dirt road at the end of the loop (SE) towards the reservoir and East Portal trail-head. The kiosk of the trail-head can be found when you follow the road on the right-side (north) of the reservoir.

    Red Tape:
    At the East Portal of the Adams Tunnel is a small (really small) reservoir – and the surrounding area is Federal property. You are not supposed to park, fish, boat, pee etc. within 100 yards of the dam – Homeland security and such. Thunder Peak is within the RMNP, ergo it is a fee area and their rules apply (no dogs etc.) I am not sure about RMNP entry fees… since the parking lot is outside of the park, I think you are not required to have a NP pass. I have a yearly pass anyway and therefore did not look into this further.

    The Ascent:

    Elevation Profile
    Turn left after the Horse hitch

    For the first few hundred yards we followed the dirt-road on the north-side of the Reservoir to the kiosk. We continued on the dirt road along Wind River (more like a small creek) to a concrete retention pond. About 20 yards before the pond there is a faint trail to the right which continues to follow the creek. It was hard to see on our way up and we missed it. The result was some bush-whacking until we found the trail again. [UPDATE (3/13/13): There is now a new sign pointing you into the right direction. You cannot miss it.] On the opposite site of the creek are some nice rock-outcroppings. Right around the horse hitch we left the established Wind River trail and turned towards the drainage between Thunder and Lightning Peak.

    See what I found

    First we had to cross the creek which was easy with the current water-level. We kept going along the drainage through lodge-pole pines and areas of aspen groves -always staying on the left (NE) side of the drainage where we encountered more open areas. As a result we made good progress. Interestingly, the soil in the drainage was very soft and sandy – sometimes we found big piles of sand as if a few kids had destroyed their sand-castle. You can’t get lost if you stay in the drainage and keep going all the way up to the saddle between Thunder and

    Where are we?

    Lightning. From there you can see the summit and head up there. We wanted to shave off some time and took a more direct line to the summit since we were aiming for a second activation. Every now and then I verified our position with the GPS to see whether we were still on the plotted track. Heading up the south-west side was quite a work-out… it was rather steep (around 30%) and with the soft and sandy soil it felt like climbing sand-dunes. Having enough momentum was sometimes crucial to overcome a section.

    The Summit:

    On the Summit

    The views from the summit are spectacular. There are quite a few SOTA peaks right in front of you. To the south are Estes Cone (WØC/FR-Ø39), Longs Peak (WØC/FR-11Ø) and Mount Meeker; to the East, Lily Mountain (WØC/FR-Ø50), Twin Sister Peak East (WØC/FR-Ø37) and West. To the north we could see Emerald Mountain (WØC/FR-Ø58 ) and Eagle Cliff Mountain (WØC/FR-Ø68 ) and finally to the west, the Continental Divide and the Mummy Range with too many SOTA summits to list. The summit was very windy but the skies to the west looked a lot friendlier than earlier in the morning. Setting up the equipment was very efficient due to the fact that I had help and Phil/NS7P was my second contact after just a few CQs. His spot posted on SOTAwatch attracted the usual chasers within minutes (thanks guys).

    The Descent:

    Ben running downhills

    The descent was quite fun… the soft and sandy soil allowed us to run/slide downhills towards the saddle and finally turn north into the drainage again, following our ascent route back to the trail-head an car. We only took the time to exchange our empty water bottles with full ones and off we went, heading to the second summit, a ~30 minutes drive.

    Some video impressions:

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    ATTENTION !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers. Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • Ultra-lightweight 2m Yagi for SOTA

    Yagi – Dimensions

    I am always carrying my HT (Yaesu VX-7R) as a backup on my SOTA activations. It saved my butt on two occasions when high winds prevented me from setting up my vertical Buddipole. Since high winds are not unusual at higher elevations I was looking for a better antenna compared to the stock rubber-ducky for future activations. I found an antenna I really liked on Youtube, created by David/KD7MNI who was inspired by a design by Paul/KD5IVP. Paul even shared his plans online. I based my own plans on the info provided by David and Paul and after a week-end it was ready to test. A lightweight arrow-shaft houses the piano-wire for elements nicely but I was not happy with the dangling RG-8x… even wrapping it around the arrow-shaft made it awkward to transport… so I never actually took it to a summit until last week, when I activated Mt. Herman (WØC/FR-Ø63) with Steve/wGØAT.

    Yagi on Mt. Herman (photo by Steve/wGØAT)

    On the summit I had a real problem with my Buddipole coax and had to rely on my 2m 3-element Yagi to be able to claim my points. So… did it work you ask? YES, it sure did… the furthest contact I made was with Ken/WB9QDL who was in Thornton in his car (~60 miles). Not that the distance is unusual for a 2m contact with 5W but we had the opportunity to compare the signal with Steve’s HT. According to Ken, my signal and audio quality was better than Steve’s HT with a 17″ flexible whip antenna.

    Remains of a Yagi

    Good enough for me. I decided to take the antenna on my double-activation of Lily Mtn. & Panorama Pk. to see what it is capable of. Unfortunately it never came to another test. The antenna was strapped to the outside of my backpack. The light-weight arrow-shaft broke apart during my ascent through the forested area to Lily Mountain without me noticing and I lost some of the piano-wires which were stored inside.

    My Conclusion: It seems that the antenna was just too flimsy and not rugged enough for my purpose. Most trails around here start well below the treeline and there is always a part where I have to bush-whack through trees.  The arrow shaft is too long to be stored in a backpack and thus needs to be strapped to the outside. Using another container to protect the antenna seems to defeat the purpose of having an ultra-light antenna. I guess it is time to try a tape-measure antenna next  :)

    Video of the antenna in action:
    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeTrAPNo8tQ

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    Check my other Yagi-Uda construction attempt.

    ATTENTION

    !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
    bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
    Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • W6/SN-048 (Banner Mtn.) or is it?

    I successfully activated W6/SN-048 (Banner Mtn.) today – or so I thought. It seems that either the coordinates provided by the SOTA database or the summit name and elevation are wrong as of 3/12/2012. The provided coordinates (N39.30640030 / W120.26529694) are taking you to the top of Schallenberger Ridge (2276 m / 7469 ft . Since the nature of the error is unknown to me, I am not providing a full trip report and mislead another activator. I am adding the short version I posted on various Yahoo groups instead. If you are planning to activate Banner Mountain as it is currently defined in the SOTA database, I suggest to wait for clarification on either the correct coordinates or name/elevation of this summit.

    Trip report:

    Banner Mtn. – On the trail

    WX looked very promising when I left my temp. QTH at Lake Tahoe. The sun was out and the temps well above freezing when I drove towards Truckee. The picture was quite different when I arrived at the Schallenberger Ridge. The low hanging and fast moving clouds were around sumit level, and the sun was hardly visible. With the help of the nice lady at the museum (Donner Memorial State Park) I was on my way in no time.

    Avalanche conditions were moderate according to Sierra Avalanche Center. Due to the temps, the snow was quite wet. Snow exposed to the high winds was hard-pressed but easy to tackle with my snowshoes. The summit was very windy and hideouts rare. I was determined to activate this summit at (almost) any cost to get my 5th association under my belt.

    Luckily the Buddipole antenna survived the 40 minutes in high wind conditions, however I experienced not only problems with the counterpoise (keeping the counterpoise attached to my ski-pole in high wind conditions is a recurring problem for me), but I also had issues with my SWR… one second at 1.2, the next at >10 and back to 1.2. I tried to rectify the situation but finally decided to give it a try as long as the antenna is still upright. My first contact was with Paul (W0RW) from Colorado who was hiking at > 10,000 ft. This was my first on-air contact with Paul who is normally too close for my activations in CO and it was an S2S as well. A great start, signal reports were excellent (57/58) and I was hopeful that the antenna is
    performing well. Paul graciously left me the frequency for my  activation (Thanks Paul). The remaining signal reports were underwhelming, not sure whether the antenna or the propagation conditions were to blame.

    Two other first on-air contacts for me was Mike (KD9KC) and Bob (KI0G), both in TX.

    A big THANK YOU to Andy (KI6ZHC) and Fred (K6DGW) for their help during the planning phase of the trip as well as to the spotters (N4EX, AJ5C (no copy), KI0G, K6ILM (no copy)) and all the chasers out there.

    I am glad I went out yesterday, we are experiencing heavy snowfall and high gusts for the last eight hours… and the forecast for tomorrow isn’t any better. I doubt I can activate another summit during my stay here but surely enjoyed my snowshoe hike in the forest today.

    ATTENTION

    !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
    bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
    Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • DM/RP-475 (Lerchenberg) – 258 m / 846 ft

    I was in Mainz, Germany for a quick five day business trip with a very dense schedule. Nevertheless, I was hoping to activate at least one SOTA summit and was scanning through my options on Mario’s Adventureradio.de website. DM/RP-475 or Lerchenberg seemed to be the best option for the limited amount of time available to me. The summit is only approx. 7 miles (~11 km) from the Hotel I was staying at. I only brought along my HT (Yaesu VX-7R) to minimize luggage and was hopeful to be able to activate the summit on 2 meters – due to it’s proximity to a larger city.

    A big THANK YOU for all the help goes to

    • DL9MDI – Fred (repeat offender, Fred assisted also my OE activations)
    • DL4FDM – Fritz
    • DF2PI – Bert
    • DF5WA – Bert (joined me on the activation)

    I hope I did not mistakenly omit anyone on my list.

    The summit is not much to speak of (no offense). The “peak’ is just 258m (846 ft) above mean sea-level – about the elevation gain on my daily dog-walk :) .

    DM-RP-475 is within the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and close to the City of Mainz and Frankfurt, a very densely populated area of Germany. The region is fairly flat,  specifically compared to Colorado. My plane landed at 10:30 AM, right on time and I was in my Hotel by noon. My first phone call went out to Bert (DF5WA) soon after, and he picked me up a few minutes later. Bert is a very active SOTA chaser and with more than 42000 points well in the top 10 of all chasers – very impressive!

    He  gave me a quick tour of Mainz, which was founded by the Romans in the late first century BC and is  the home town of Johannes Gutenberg  (~1440) who developed the first printing press. Large parts of the town got destroyed in WWII, but there is still a beautifully restored medieval down-town with old houses, churches, city-walls and towers – definitively worth a visit.

    The Summit:


    View Larger Map

    Lerchenberg – The Summit

    As you can see on the terrain-map above, the summit is very flat. Finding the highest point is therefore not easy but luckily I had a native guide. The summit consists of mostly farm-land with narrow dirt roads for tractors and other farming equipment running between the fields. Since it was winter, the fields were all barren and wet due to the recent rain. It was a cold, overcast day, making me regret not having gloves and long underwear. Soon after finding a suitable spot for Bert’s antenna, he was on the air in no time on 40m CW. After verifying the local frequencies, I started calling CQ on my HT on 2m, hoping for a quick activation. But no such luck… after 15 minutes of constant calling I had nothing to show for and went back to Bert to verify the frequency. Since each OV (Ortsverein [Regional radio club]) has different calling frequencies I tried my luck on

    Bert (DF5WA ) activating Lerchenberg

    an other QRG recommended by Bert. To make a long story short, I was only able to get one single QSO (DK8IJ) until Bert drummed up some local support via phone. Even then, my  signal reports were quite bad and it took several attempts (in most cases) to complete a QSO. So what was to blame for the poor performance? Well, hard to say but I guess it was a combination of several factors. For one, the topography of the summit combined with my rubber-ducky 5W HT did not make for an ideall combination. The fact that the FSV Mainz (the local soccer club) was playing in the nearby Coface arena (just a stone’s throw away) was not conducive for having a lot of local contacts either. The arena holds over 30000 people and soccer is VERY popular in Germany, leading me believe that a large percentage of local HAMs were either in the arena or glued to the TV following their local club and not listening to a weak signal on 2m.

    What ever the reasons, I consider it another successful activation in a new (to me) association.  Neither the summit nor the outdoor experience was memorable but the warm welcome, help and assistance provided by local  amateurs, specifically by Bert will last. I hope I can return the favor at some point in the future. To wrap up the activation, I was invited to a coffee and a tour of Bert’s shack – thanks again Bert.

    In case you are wondering, FSV Mainz won the game 3:1 against SC Freiburg :)

    Some video impressions:

    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eFUlKINZEI

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    ATTENTION

    !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
    bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
    Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • WØC/FR-Ø68 (Eagle Cliff Mtn.) – 2709 m / 8906 ft

    Eagle Cliff Mountain (WØC/FR-068) is part of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains – just six miles south of Estes Park, right at the border to Rocky Mountain N.P. (the summit is within RMNP). There is no official trail up to the summit, but it seems to be a popular hike based on the faint network of trails. The ascent can be tackled from either County Road 66 (south slope) or from the RMNP side (NW slope via Moraine Park/Museum parking lot). I have chosen the south side of the mountain because I wanted to activate Emerald Mountain (WØC/FR-Ø58) as well (see separate trip-report) – Emerald Mountain is just a few miles up the road and thus the two make an ideal pair for a double activation. Both hikes are relatively short in terms of miles, but steep. The drive up the Big Thompson Canyon took a little longer than usual due to the fact that the road was still snow-covered with icy spots in some areas. When I exited the canyon near Estes Park, the sky was blue and no cloud was in sight – a welcome indicator for a great day ahead.

    Trailhead: 7836 ft / 2388 m
    Summit:   8906 ft / 2709 m
    Elev. gain: 1216 ft / 371 m
    Roundtrip: 2.3  mi / 3.7 km

    Compare this summit with my other activated summits

    How to get there:
    Take US34 from Loveland towards Estes Park through Big Thompson Canyon. Eagle Cliff Mountain is on the south-west side of Estes Park. Stay on US34 towards Rocky Mountain NP. turn left onto County Road 66 (or Tunnel Road), following the signs to the YMCA campus. The TH is right after you pass the ‘Dunraven Inn‘ on the right side of the road. There is a small dirt road with a metal-gate… you have to be very creative in finding a parking spot for your car (see Red Tape). If you pass the gate to the YMCA, you have gone too far.
    A better option (in terms of parking ) might be to take US-34 into RMNP, then continue towards Moraine Park and park on the Museum parking lot.

    Parking/Trailhead

    View Larger Map

    Red Tape:

    • Eagle Cliff Mtn. is within RMNP – therefore all their rules and regulations apply. RMNP is also a fee area. You don’t have to pay the fee when coming from CR-66 because you will be parking outside of the regular park entrance. If you choose to tackle the summit over the NW-slope, you have to go through the regular entrance and pay the day fee ($20.00).
    • Parking near/along CR66 (Tunnel road) is difficult. All the signs along the gravel strips on the right side of the road are indicating private property, and promise to tow your car.

    The Ascent:

    EagleCliff Mtn – ElevationProfile

    EagleCliff – Sign

    From CR-66 I hiked west, passing the metal gate on the dirt-road. Two bridges lead over two creeks before the path intersects a trail leading into RMNP (Bear Lake Road). There is private property on your left and right, so make sure to respect the signs. As expected and hoped, most of the snow had already melted away and snow-shoes were not necessary. The ascent is straightforward, with hardly any challenges. You can (almost) see the summit from the base of the mountain and you just aim for it. Pick one of the faint trails through the grassy/brushy and steep slope – all of them seem to end up at the same slightly wooded area in the saddle just below the summit. I tried to stay more on the rocky-section of the mountain (south-west). There are a few rock-outcroppings you have to circumnavigate or, if you feel up to it, you can scramble/climb up with a few easy moves. This route provides mostly unobstructed views into RMNP all the way to the summit.

    The Summit:

    EagleCliff Mtn. – Operating from the Summit

    There is a steep cliff (~60 feet / 20 m) on the north-side of the summit, giving you a great take-off angle. The views are really spectacular – I know… I say that a lot… and it is always true but in this case you can not only see the massive mountains of the Mummy Range, Never Summer Mountains etc. but you can also look down into the Moraine Park area of RMNP. A rather unique view, giving a great impression of the power of the ancient glaciers. There are plenty of rocks and trees to guy the antenna (and I needed a well guyed antenna due to the winds), and within a few minutes I was calling CQ. I logged my first QSO with Rick (N4EX) @ 1730 UTC. It was my first time on 15m and my Buddipole antenna (vertical Versatee) seemed to perform well on this band. In addition to my regular chasers, I met a few new SOTA chasers on this band. I changed to 20m a little later on, since not all of  my ‘regulars’ could copy me on 15m.

    The Descent:
    I took basically the same route back to the car, hoping that it hadn’t been towed.  The descent was very enjoyable and I went rather slow to enjoy the views.

    Some video impressions:

    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCHxwXusMvs

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    ATTENTION

    !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
    bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
    Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • WØC/FR-Ø58 (Emerald Mountain) – 2810 M / 9237 ft – 2nd activation

    This was a re-activation for me. If you are looking for all the details on how to get there and other useful info, you can find the original trip-report with the necessary details right here. This post has only a few specifics from today’s activation.

    Emerald Mtn. – View from the summit

    Today’s activation of Emerald Mtn. was my second summit of the day. Earlier I had activated Eagle Cliff Mtn. (WØC/FR-Ø58 ) on 15 and 20m (see separate trip-report) . Since Emerald Mtn. is just a few miles up the road and the weather was gorgeous, a double activation was an obvious choice. With my earlier acquired information about the trail-head and route, the ascent was a breeze. The south slope was almost snow free and snow-shoes were not required. Without the snow I could even find a small stone cairn on the trail to Glacier Basin campground. The cairn is just before you enter an Aspen grove and after a rock outcropping. That’s where I left the trail and headed towards the summit in an (almost) straight line. Distance and elevation gain is almost identical to Eagle Cliff Mountain, making today’s excursion a 4.5 mi (7.2 km) round-trip with a total of ~2500 ft (750 m) accumulated elevation gain.
    Luckily, the S8 noise I experienced last time on this summit was gone – making me believe that it was related to the approaching snow-storm. The winds however were quite strong – even stronger than last time and I had to guy the antenna really well. My extremities started to get cold thanks to the high winds and the fact that I was sitting in the snow  – even-though the sun was out. I packed-up my gear and went QRT after I did not get any further responses to my calls. It was indeed a wonderful day in the mountains.

    Some video impressions:

    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW6KmzYLnOc

    If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

    ATTENTION

    !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and
    bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers.
    Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!