W7W/RS-036 Shriner Peak 15 Sept, 2013

Shriner Peak is located in Mt Rainier National Park along the the east boundary.  It takes about 2 hours to drive to the TH from our house in Tacoma, WA.  The hike begins at 2400 ft ASL and tops out at 5834 ft in 4.2 miles.  The first 2 miles gains more than 2000 ft.  The summit offers fantastic views of Mt Rainier, Mt Adams, Mt St Helens, and into Oregon on a very clear day.  There is an old historic Fire Lookout (which houses two National Park radio repeaters) as well as two primitive back country camp sites.  The closest water is at Shriner Lake about 1.5 miles down hill way off the beaten path.  

Shriner Peak is the high spot in this photo which was taken about 1.5 miles from the summit.  It's beginning to look a bit like fall in the mountains.

Shriner Peak is home to one of the four historic Fire Lookout buildings in Mt Rainier National Park.   This photo was taken near the end of our stay when the rain clouds were beginning to look threatening.  

The WX was predicted to be a nice mostly sunny day with a chance of mountain thunderstorms in the late afternoon.  It seemed like it would be a pleasant hike with 60 deg F at the TH but after a short time it was becoming increasingly hot and humid.  After a mile the trail leaves the tree canopy into the open for sunshine from the south.

 I've been to Shriner Peak many times over the last 15 years.  At least 5 of those times I've brought a QRP rig and worked some CW on 20M.  After I started participating in SOTA I came to Shriner in Aug 2012 for its first activation.  No other SOTA ops have been here since and now I am back.  I set up at my usual place, campsite #2, a nice spot off the beaten path.  

In the trees at campsite #2.  Trekking pole holds up my PVC Pipe Coaxial Dipole for ARPS self spotting.  My pack substitutes as a desk with the radio on top of.  The 44 ft doublet is to the left.  The bright red thing on the pack is an Acme QRM Cutter microphone (link below).

The usual station of KX3 w/ 3S Lipo bat, 44 ft doublet antenna fed w/ TV twin lead+4:1 balun- held up with 18 ft carbon fiber fish pole was set up and OTA at 2100 UTC.  

3 QSOs on 40 CW,  10 QSOs on 20 CW,  10 QSOs on 20 SSB,  3 QSOs on 30 CW, and 2 QSOs on 40 SSB.  I usually attempt to make SSB QSOs on activations but am rarely successful.  I am pleased that I could give 12 SSB chasers points on this outing.  Also, this was my first time operating on 40M SSB.  KF7TTM, Kathy a pretty new ham in Seattle answered my 40M SSB CQ not knowing what SOTA was.  I encouraged her to Google it.  Maybe she's a chaser now.

Normally I say something about the trip back to the TH was uneventful.  Not the case this time.  The predicted thunderstorms in the mountains came true for us.  When we descended to 5000 ft we were in the clouds which was dark and eerie.  A few BOOMs were felt and heard.  About an hour into the hike a hard rain broke out and we ducked under a tree to to put covers on our packs.  10 minutes later the rain ceased and the remaining trip to the TH was dry. 

Info on this hike can be found here:  http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/shriner-peak

A few more photos can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kr7w-sota/sets/72157635825779756/

Info on the Acme QRM Cutter microphone can be found here:  http://kr7w.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-acme-qrm-cutter-microphone-for-kx-3.html

End or report.  Best Regards,

Rich KR7W
-30-


 

W7W/RS-035 Tolmie Pk 09 Sept, 2013

Prologue:  In 2012 I retired from many years of Telecommunications and Mobile radio work.  January 2013 I became a volunteer (one day a week) at Mt Rainier National Park's Telecom- 2 Way Radio Shop.  During the summer months I have been hiking to the Parks four historic fire lookout buildings to perform radio system repeater upgrades.  Each lookout is located on or next to a SOTA summit.  If the work is completed in time then there is time for SOTA activity.

I arranged to work on the Tolmie Pk radio system on a Monday so my hiking partner, Ms Pat WT7N could accompany me.  We began our hike on a not too hot but sunny almost fall day at Mowich Lake, elev 5000 ft.  We hiked the Wonderland trail upwards to the high point of Ipsut Pass.  Then downhill and back uphill to Eunice Lake and then another 1000 ft gain to the lookout at approx 5900 ft.  The total elev gain is ~1100 ft in 7.5 miles RT.

This shot of Mowich Lake was taken 1/4 mile from the TH.  

Here's Eunice Lake fed from snow melt.  The small box on the ridge top is the lookout building.  The white arrow shows the approx location of the SOTA site.  It's another 9/10 mile to the summit from here.

Here's the Lookout.

At approx 1330 LT we headed east on the summit ridge to get away from other visitors to the LO site.  From the LO site it looked a bit higher in elevation towards the east.  We set up on a sort of precarious hogs back rock formation.  The Fish pole mast was strapped to a snag tree and the doublet wires were carefully strung out along the ridge back and attached to trees.  On the return trip along the ridge back I noticed that the LO looked higher in elevation.  Not to worry... Everyone still gets their points cuz I am sure I was in the activation zone.

Old worn out snag tree holds up 18 ft fish pole mast. 

KR7W at the op position.   

I only worked 20 meters.  22 CW and 1 SSB QSOs were made.  Thanks to all of the chasers who took the time to give out their STate... as it is nice to know where my 6 watts from a compromise antenna is making it to.

The hike back was pretty uneventful. Info on this hike can be found here:  http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/tolmie-peak     

Oh yah... more photos can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kr7w-sota/sets/72157635826118454/

Credit goes where credit is due:  Pat WT7N took all of the photos.
End of report.

Best Regards,
Rich KR7W

W7W/RS-038 & RS-030 Mt Attenuator and Bearhead Mtn - 01 Sept, 2013

North of Mt Rainier National Park, across the Carbon River resides 6 SOTA peaks seemingly within reach of Forest Service road 7810.  The Green Trails map revealed that Mt Attenuator and Bearhead Mtn had trails to their summits.  About FS 7810... it's a 9 mile drive to the TH with some crater sized pot holes where a smaller car like a Civic could experience damage if a wheel went in. But I think the Civic sized car could make it going very slow.  My Subaru had no issues.

Looking across summit lake is Mt Attenuator, W7W/RS-038.  Keep walking north on the trail around the lake.  No need to look for the boot path to the summit as the wide beaten path goes to the summit.  The trail that continues north is hard to find.

On a sunny Sunday, 9/1 at about 10:30 am hiking partner Ms Pat WT7N and myself were at the trail head at the end of the road.  A .9 mile hike upward took us to a T intersection at Twin Lakes.  We headed north to Summit Lake for 1.5 miles and then a bit further on the beaten path we were on top of Mt Attenuator.  This summit doesn't have a name on the map so the SOTA ARM for WA named it for us.  I think it should be called Mt Summit or Summit Mtn since it in view of Summit Lake.

Interesting factoid:  Looking at Google Earth I can see that Summit Lk is part of prominent SOTA summit.


The summit has enough room for many picnickers and one radio operator.  I strapped my 18 ft fish pole to a small dead tree and extended the doublet legs out with mason line.  After the first hikers came up I realized my line was interfering with the beaten path.  Lucky I was done making QSOs on HF and removed the obstacle.  18 HF Qs and one 2M QSOs were made.

The usual set up for KR7W HF operation:  18 ft fish carbon fish pole, 44 ft doublet fed with TV twin lead to 4:1 Balun, KX-3 set for 6 W w/ palm paddle, 3S LiPo battery.  The radio sits on my pack as a desk in the shade to prevent over heating.  The coaxial dipole connected to the aprs 2M radio is also strapped to the tree.

From Mt Attenuator, views of Mt Rainier and Coplay Lk can be had to the south.

It's Sept 1 and the blueberry bushes are beginning to show fall is on the way.  This view shows Summit Lk and Bearhead Mtn, our next SOTA stop.

The trail to Summit Lk is described here:  http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/summit-lake

After returning the 1.5 miles to the T in the trail at Twin Lakes... we decided to head south 1.3 miles to the boot path up to Bearhead Mtn.  The trail heads gradually upward to the turnoff.  This is another one of those trails where the turnoff is the beaten path and the regular trail to the south became a rabbit trail.  The .8 mile to the summit was pretty challenging for us late in the day.

This is Bearhead Mtn as seen from Mt Attenuator.  The trail traverses around the right side and the summit assault is on the far side.

The usual Geo Bench Mark.

Same set up as Mt Attenuator above.  

As I arrived on the summit, I noticed three hikers in a group.  We said the usual "Hi" and moved on to pick a place to operate.   The radio was on the air at 4 PM LT, which was an hour later than I had planned on.   During my hamming one of the hikers came by and asked me what I was doing.  This nice lady was from Sweden and I took some time to explain to her about ham radio and the score keeping game called SOTA.  She took my picture with her Nokia smart phone to show her friends back home.    Four 40M, 21 20M, and 3  2M QSOs were made. 

Pack as a desk for the radio.  Soft Heather bushes to sit.  No bugs to complain about on this trip.

The 20 meter band was in pretty good shape and this made making QSOs pretty easy and plentiful.  Thanks to Chasers on the east coast who waited around for me.

The first 4 QSOs were on 40 meters.  KH2TJ was on a summit and weak to copy but the S2S QSO was made.   

The hike down began at 5 PM LT, a bit latter than I like, but the trip back to the TH was uneventful.  It was a pretty successful SOTA outing with two summits visited.  The drive down the crappy 9 mile FS road was in the daylight which was a good thing.  

Trip info to Bearhead Mtn can be found here:   http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/bearhead

End of Report.  Thanks for reading this far.  Best Regards,
Rich KR7W

W7W/RS-005 - Mt Fremont - 30 Aug, 2013

Prologue:  In 2012 I retired from many years of Telecommunications and Mobile radio work.  January 2013 I became a volunteer (one day a week) at Mt Rainier National Park in the telecom-2 way radio shop.  During the summer months I have been hiking to the Park's four historic fire lookout buildings to perform radio system repeater upgrades.  Each lookout is located right on or next to a SOTA summit.  Sometimes it's easy to combine work and play.  

I did not take a camera on this trip, but here's the historic lookout building from afar.  The actual summit route is to the right side of the foto.  .  This foto was harvested from the WWW.

On a foggy Aug 30 my supervisor and I hiked to Mt Fremont Lookout to upgrade and perform maintenance on the radio system.  After the work was complete we hiked to the proper summit of the mountain.  From the lookout, 1/10 mile south and 140 vertical feet, got us to the top.

This view, looking north, is from the Frozen Lake intersection of many trails.  The actual summit is about 3/4 of the way over from the left, horizontally in the middle.  The trail along the mountainside leads to the lookout, which can be seen if you squint or press CNTL + .  This foto was harvested from the world wide web.

Armed with a 2 meter handy talkie attached to my coaxial dipole antenna - we took turns calling CQ SOTA on 146.520.  I made 7 QSOs.  One as far away as Aberdeen, WA... which is very close to the Pacific Ocean.  I'm still amazed and pleased about the number of hams who monitor six-five-two and who want to make the QSO with the far away ham.

Mt Fremont is not a drive close to the summit kind of activation... but is a pretty easy summit to achieve 8 points if the activator is willing to do the hike.  The scenery is spectacular too.  Info on this hike can be found here:  http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/mount-fremont-lookout

End of report.  Rich, kr7w