06/15/2005 | W6DWI W6DWI Single-OP Portable DM16
Telescope Pk. Death Valley NP, Inyo Co. CA USA


I started planning for this Junes contest last September. It was simple and
ambitious, a dream, but one that would not come with out some pain. I would
hike 6.7 miles through the high desert to the minor peak set-up at about 11,000 ft.,
camp for at least 3 nights, and operate the length of the contest on 6m, 2m, and 432
running the full 10w into gain antennas. All told I would need to hike in about 80-90 Lbs
of gear plus water, witch I would take up in a separate trip. I turned out that after a
wet year, there was usable snow at the summit for me to boil for drinking water. It should go with out saying that expedition of this nature is dangerous and anything similar is done at your own risk!

Here is a partial list of equipment:

1 ea. 5500 cu in internal frame backpack
1 ea. Lightweight 2-man tent plus footprint and anodized Al stakes
1 ea. 15F sleeping bag with 900 fill down
1 ea. Light weight air mattress
1 ea. 3x5 hand-woven southwestern wool rug
1 ea. Lightweight stove
2 ea. 22oz. Bottles of white gas
1 ea. 2qt. Al pot and lid
1 ea. Ti spoon
1 ea. Food ramen noodles, beef jerky, dried apricots
5 L. Drinking water
1 ea. Extra clothing wool socks, wool pants, wool sweater
1 ea. FT-897 plus internal batteries.
2 ea. Homemade battery packs (12x10Ah NiMH D-cells)
1 ea. 30W flexible solar panel
3 ea. 20 ft lengths of 9913F7 coax
1 ea. 20 ft. telescoping fiberglass pole
1 ea. Tri-band quad antenna (6m/2m/432 2el/4el/6el)
1 ea. 2ft length of 1 PVC for mast base
4 ea. 4 ft. lengths of heavy wall 3/8 Al tubing for mast base

I started for the summit on Wednesday and ended up camping at about 10,000 ft.
On Thursday I had to do the Last Push twice too get every thing to the top, taking
the antenna, mast and coax in one trip and everything else in a second.That day it snowed on me twice and hailed once. I was on the air
by Thursday night. I heard KA6CHJ, Paul in CM98 2m but missed my chance as he turned his beam father to the south. I did have QSOs on 2m and 432 K6PSK, Ralph in DM03. He could still copy my 432 ssb at 2w.

Friday I had KQ6MU, Mike in Pahrump and K7ICW, Al in Las Vegas to talk to.
We had talked on 6m before I started the hike and they kept company with me throughout the trip. Again it was wroth it to show up early. Word was out that I was QRV, plus with
Some help from Al I was able to find a reflected path with N7JW, Jim in St. George, UT DM37. That night was windy and i thought i might get blow off the peak. I saw flashes off lighting in the far distance.

6m was hot on Saturday morning and about 5min before 0 hour I worked DM42; I had high hopes of hearing some 2m skip. Before the day was done, I had QSO on 2m with EM11. 6m stayed active most of the day, and it seamed that my receiver was constantly
over-loaded. On Sunday 6m was mainly quit except for a few stations in the North West that I had already worked. I was able to spend more time on 2m and 432.

Some of the more interesting contacts I had were not the best DX. On Sunday I had QSO on 2m with KQ6EE, Hon in DM04. I was excited, as I knew that Hon had also hiked to his operating location. He was on Mt. Disappointment running 5W; witch resulted in a 55 signal on Telescope Pk. I had QSOs on 6m and 2m with the noted single-op portable K6MI, Shawn on Mt. Oso in CM97. I had a 6M QSO KG6OQK /R, Ed on Mt. Diablo in
CM97. I can see Mt. Diablo from the roof of my house in CM98 and have talked with Ed from home. I had QSOs on three bands with, Kurk who was at Furnace creak. I did expect to find a soul closer than Trona, CA or Pahrump, NV. I also stayed busy keeping track of N6RMJ /R, Pat and K6NC /R, Mike. It was good to meet up with Mike as I had told him of my plans and knew he would be in range. Thurday a couple of ham that climbed the peak stoped by my camp to check things out.

The DX was good as well. I still need take a close look at the paper log. A glance yields these results:

6m- 54 grids, 116 QSOs
2m- 21 grids, 72 QSOs
432- 9 grids, 30 QSOs

Total score 20,842.

Not bad for a guy operating on 3 bands out of a backpack.

Like January I had some missed grids? What rover in DM17 ??? Failed to get K6NC /R DM23 on 2m, though I heard him. Anyone in CM96, CM86, CM88, or CM89 on 2M. It seamed that no one kept the 2m beam pointed east or southeast long enough for the local traffic to clear out. I only worked on station in DM06 on 2m even though we had a good shot when they pointed my way, witch was almost never. Missed some double stuff on 6m as well as the afore mentioned CM grids plus CM87.

On Monday I pack EVERYTHING out in one long day. By tuesday night, I was safe at home.

So would I do it again? Given the right amount of snow at summit, if I could increase gain and add 222 and 1296, maybe.

I set out to press limits of backpack VHF. For those that thought me crazy, Ive never attached a yagi to a pickup!

Thanks to every one for making it a great contest, Im sure I look back on it for the rest of my life. Extra thanks to wife, Ruth for believing in me.

73 de W6DWI Robin

rjwhiting[at]h_o_t_m_a_i_l[dotcom] -- W6DWI