For the past few years I've gone up to Loma Alta, W6/NC-350, for the January VHF contest, and this year was no different. It was warm and sunny at the Big Rock trailhead. I was prepared for cold, but was very glad I wore a t-shirt.
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| The Big Rock. |
I took my time on the hike up, since I had a heavy pack and didn't want to get too sweaty. I was starting to regret wearing my thicker pants since it was so warm.
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| Gorgeous day to be out above the Lucas Valley. |
It took a bit less than an hour to hike the 2 miles to the summit. This time I set up in a slightly different spot, on the peak away from the fence. I had put guy loops on both my poles, so I didn't need the fence to help hold stuff up. The view south around Mt Tam seemed a bit better too.
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| Trees shading a rock. |
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| Getting close to the top. |
I had two poles, one for the gain antennas and one for wires. I staked out the bigger pole, then put the two arrow yagis on it. It took a bit of finagling to get the 144/432 yagi balanced and pointed in the right direction, but I did it. I also managed to pull out two of the loops I had epoxied on. I must not have done it in a good way.
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| Two meter EDZ. |
On the other pole I planned to put my extended double zepps for 6m and 2m. The 2m one went up without an issue, but I broke one of the legs of the 6m one while setting it up. This was unfortunate, since it meant I wouldn't be able to use it with my 817 for WSJT-X. Luckily the tuner in the KX3 was able to match the 2m one on 6m.
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The other half of my antenna farm.
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I finished setting up a few minutes before the start, so I turned on 20m to make a few SOTA contacts. The band seemed to be in good condition, with France booming in. At 1900z I turned to VHF to start making contacts.
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| So many transverters and radios. |
Six and two meters were fairly busy, as expected. After the first hour or so working the loud people on those bands I started trying the higher bands. Calling CQ on the 70cm and 1.25m bands got a few more people and mults, and some were even able to go up to 1296.
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| On the summit of Loma Alta. |
I asked quite a bit, but no one seemed to have 902. I was disappointed, I carried up the antenna and transverter but didn't get to use them. Otherwise it seemed to be a pretty typical contest.
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| Shortly before packing up. |
I ended up using the 817 for 2m SSB, the KX3 for 6m and the transverter bands (222, 432, 902, 1296). I used my HT for FM on the three bands it has, 146, 223, 446. On the mountain top, the HT with just a whip seemed to do fine.
Around 5pm local time I shut down and started packing up. I was hoping to get down before it got dark, and I nearly made it. It was dark when I got to the car, but my eyes had adjusted enough I didn't have to dig out my flashlight.
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| Sunset over the ocean. |
Overall this was a very good year for me. I got a personal best score (claiming 4008), and the most contacts and multipliers. There are, however, a number of changes that need to be made.
I need a gain antenna for 6m. I have plans to get one, and a 2m antenna with more elements and gain. But these bigger yagis will need a more substantial pole.
I also need to find a mounting solution for my 902 and 1296 yagis and transverters. Holding them by hand is not a good way to do it.
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| The Bay at twilight. |
I also think I need to go up both Saturday and Sunday. There were probably people I missed who only operated one day, or even an opening on 6m that could've gotten me more multipliers.
I should also take my WSJT-x raspberry pi setup out on some more summits for regular SOTA activations to make sure it works as well as I hope it does.
Overall, it was a great contest, and I've already started thinking about locations to go in June!
