Samstag, 28. Februar 2009

South Beacon Mountain, NY (W2/EH003)


A business trip to Boston, MA on short notice gave me the idea to ask Tom, N2YTF for advice on mountain hikes in the area. Many still remember Tom's SOTA activation last year of South Beacon (W2/EH003). Tom went out of his way to supply me with the necessary info on tracks and weather and even offered to acompany me to W2/EH003 - the adventure could begin!

The generous baggage allowance for US bound flights (2 x 23kg) meant that I could take my usual ft-817, buddi stick & hiking gear to the US without limitations. Security let me take the rig onto the plane without major hazzle and I arrived in Boston on a Saturday evening. The activation was planned for next morning.

I set off at 5 a.m. from Boston area ( no problem to get off early with jet lag) to arrive at Beacon, NY at 9 a.m after a 200 mile drive. Tom's arrival was scheduled for 10 a.m. which left me with plenty of time to test the ham equipment on a parking place. Amazingly high local QRM from freehanging power lines prevented me from doing any QSOs.

At 10 a.m. Tom arrived on time and after repacking we head up Beacon mountain. Icy patches slowed us down a bit and the trail was marked in few places only (red plastic marsk nailed onto trees) but Tom was a reliable guide and brilliant company all the way up. Weather was 0°C, sunny and slightly windy.

We stopped half way up for a scheduled CW QSO with fellow OMs from Munich on 20m at 1645 UTC. We established QSOs easily using TOM's IC706 with 50W into my buddistick antenna, the DL station using 200W into a beam. QSO could be maintained even after reducing power from 50W to 5W until the signals faded away when the 20m band closed to DL at 1700 UTC.

We rushed up to South beacon mountain W2/EH003 to arrive there at 1800 UTC only to find the 20m band to Europe already closed. I heard but could not work some Spanish stations but no UK stations to be heard.

The fire watch tower on top of the summit was open to the public and Tom and myself collected the necessary QSOs on 2m SSB and 2m FM.

A nice dinner with Tom and his wife Liz in Beacon concluded this perfect day out..

Many thanks to Tom for his hospitality and bringing me up and down safely - and for beeing such good company.