Black Mountain, W7A/MN-057

  It's been awhile since I composed a post on this blog. So a little update is in order first before the report.
 
  Been over a year and things have changed since then.  I hadn't been active with SOTA for sometime.  I hadn't even done all that much hiking in general. Last fall my wife Donna aka XYL KB0JOK went into the hospital for back surgery.  Long story-short, after being in the hospital for 3 months, she passed away.  I visited the various hospitals and care facilities at least once a day.  With a full time job, it didn't leave much time to do much.  In March/April I joined back with a hiking club I belong too and got active again.  Then it turned hot.  After watching my weight go back up, it was time to get active again.
 
  The Arizona association (W7A) of SOTA changed since my last post.  Instead of 119 summits and a couple of activators, it is now close to 2500 summits and many active activators and chasers.  SOTA has really taken off in AZ! 

    On Sunday September 1, 2013 I drove to Cave Creek, AZ to activate Black Mountain.  This is a 3397 foot mountain with a trail head elevation of 2195 feet.  Point value is 4pts.  At the summit on this day were hundreds if not thousands of gnats.  Luckily they were only at the summit.  I dropped back down 20 ft or so and they never bothered me there.  So I setup after letting know the local chasers that I had arrived and was setting up. 
 

  From the summit, one had 360 degree views of the Valley of the Sun.

  Looking East/NNE.  In the lower left corner you can see my Black Widow pole.

  To top off the summit activation was a S2S (Summit to Summit) with WA7JTM on 40M.

  With enough contacts in the log, back down the hill I went.

Thanks for the contacts!



more pictures here

until another summit...73 de Jon N7AZ


2M
N7AMA
W7RV

20M
W7RV
KA7CVJ
W7USA
N7AMA
W5ODS
N1EU
W0MNA
N5XL

40M
N5XL

20M
NS7P

17M
N5XL

20M
K3XD
AE4FZ
WB0PTD

40M S2S
WA7JTM



73 Jon N7AZ

Tumamoc Hill, W7/AW-057

  On November 18, 2011, I drove to Tucson to activate Tumamoc Hill.  Tumamoc Hill is a 1 point summit for SOTA "Summits on the Air".  I got to the trailhead (if you can call it that) later than I wanted, but no problem with a parking spot.  Parking is on only one side of a somewhat busy street.  Across the street is a hospital.  Route finding for this summit was very easy as its a paved road all the way to the top.  Several radio towers are at the summit and the whole complex is a 340 acre preserve owned by the University of Arizona.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumamoc_Hill

University of Arizona Science sign with Tumamoc Hill in the background

  Once at the top, I setup on the east side of the summit with an EFHW antenna.

20M EFHW antenna (looking east towards Tucson)

 After calling CQ many many times, I bagged the required 4 contacts for an official activation.  This had to be the noisiest summits I have been on.  I could hear traffic, trains, police sirens from there.

one of many buildings on site

More pictures here:  https://picasaweb.google.com/111647730014658059460/TumamocHill

Many thanks for the contacts!


N7KN
NS7P
KI0G
ND0C


73 Jon N7AZ

Mt. Lemmon, W7 / AW-001

    With a big time lapse since my last activation it was time to play some radio.  So we loaded up the car and headed for Tucson, AZ.  In a couple hours of driving we were through Tucson and was heading up the Catalina mountains toward the summit of Mt. Lemmon. My cousin Jesse was in charge of taking pictures as we made our  way up the Sky Island Scenic Byway.

 I didn't know there could be such scenery.  Driving from Tucson to the top of Mt. Lemmon takes one through 7 different climate zones, the equivalent of driving from Mexico to Canada.  Close to the top we pulled over at a picnic area and had sandwiches, etc that my wife Donna-KB0JOK had made for us.  

Since I had put out a SOTA alert before we left, we hurriedly finished up, as I/we were way behind time.  Once at the parking lot, Jesse and I packed the radio station & accessories and hiked along the fence of the Steward Observatory.

  To get to the summit which is to the north of the observatory property, so we had to hike up and down some steep hills with virtually no trail.  The only trail was stepped down grass made from others.  In short order we made it to the summit.  Once at the summit we had nice views to the north and a nice take off angle for radio signals.  We setup the vertical with elevated radials and attached it to a pole in the ground.  Another pole close by had electrical outlets, but unknown if it had power.

   After calling CQ SOTA for sometime on 20M SSB, NS7P-Phil answered.  NS7P always seems to be there.  Next contact was AD7FC on Timberwolf Mountain, my first Summit to Summit!  After making several more contacts, I switched to CW and worked Fred-KT5X in New Mexico.  At this point my hands were freezing and we broke down the station and headed back for the car and a nice drive back down the mountain.  As I was making contacts, Jesse walked around taking pictures.  One could see the famous Biosphere from where we were.

Many thanks for the contacts!

NS7P
AD7FC
ND0C
VA6FUN
N7CNH
VE3XN
VE3IC
KT5X

73 Jon N7AZ