The Trip

Started out at around 0430 for Grass Mountain. I was excited to do this mountain due to it was my first SOTA peak I did when I started a little over a year ago. This one is fairly close to my house so the drive was only about 40 minutes. When I got there O parked down the road a ways. You could drive up to this one but that would be breaking the rules.

Morning Sunrise

The smoke from the Sand fire was quite prominent looking South towards it.

Smoky Valleys

The Activation

The wind was crazy up on the mountain! I have to lash the Jackite using a tree, tie-down strap and bungy cord. Although this setup worked and it didn’t fall once the Sotabeams dipole was blowing all over.

The Setup

I was bound and determined to makes things work today. Being that I haven’t activated in over a month which was giving me SOTA withdrawals. There was a found a log which I could set the radio on. The first band I tried was 40 meters. I called for about 15 minutes but no joy.

Setup

Then it was onto 20 meters. Propagation must have been good because the band was quite busy. Although things were busy it took me a good half an hour to get 5 contacts. Between the wind and the lack of chasers I decided to call it quits. The first time I activated this mountain the weather was  calm. This place holds a special spot in my heart as it was my first Summits on the Air activation. It gave me a taste on how fun this stuff really is. I have a condo with HOA and had never heard such clear signals until I went atop Grass Mountain.

A tower on the mountain

Looking South

Thank You Chasers