7-24-21 W5A-BR-012 Whitney Mountain

 


After a really fun night watching the Presley's Country Jubilee, we left Branson MO and went back into Northern Arkansas, and my wife Michele (KM6GPZ) and I spent some time around Beaver Lake, a man-made lake formed by a dam on the White River in the beautiful Ozarks.  The huge lakes in this part of the country are narrow but they span for miles and miles.  Beaver Lake is over 22,000 acres in surface area.

As we made the drive up to the summit of Whitney Mountain, we were both very hungry but couldn't find anything along the route.  I had read there was some sort of a lodge at the top so we were hoping there would be a restaurant too.  The drive up was fairly easy, but once we got to the top, I found the lodge was closed down and there was no stores or cafes, so we'd have to activate while hungry.  This provided me a bit of motivation to get set up quickly.

In addition to the lodge, there was a (closed) community center and what looked like some residences and other buildings we didn't explore.  In trying to scout out a site, I decided to attach my mask to a fencepost in front of the community center and string up the end fed I normally use.

In retrospect, there was a patch of grass across from the buildings that might have made a better operating location, but it was hot and I was focused on making sure I could sit in the shade.


There was also a large parking lot but we decided to use the only available shade to park the van so Michele could sit and read while I operated.

I got the antenna up and the KX2 connected, and tried to tune up on 20 meters.  For the first time, the KX2 actually had a bit of trouble tuning and it came back with a 10 SWR.  I reseated the coax jumper I was using at the antenna and tried to tune again, and got a 1.1.

Peter, WB6POT and I were texting and he sent some V's and I copied him great, but he could not hear me.  This time I checked to make sure I was transmitting, so I figured it was bad  propagation.  So I sent out a spot and starting calling CQ.  KR6RK came back to me from W7A/CS-038 right away.  After another chaser, Peter came in with a 449 signal report, and I exchanged with W0JSL for my fourth.  I copied W8TK a couple of times but he went away before we could exchange reports.

I tuned up on 40 meters and spotted, and called  CQ for about 5 minutes with no replies.  Then I went to 20 meter phone, spotted again, and no contacts again.  I guess I only get four for this summit.

As I tried to stand I realized I had been sitting on the ground and my right foot was completely asleep so it took a little bit to get back up again.  I tore down and packed up, and we left to go find something  to eat. As I was driving away Michele asked me why I didn't use the comfy camping chairs we had in the back of the car.  Duh!  I am so used to activating summits without chairs I didn't even think about that!

SOTA Activation Info:

Parking didn't seem to be an issue, but it could be if the lodge was open
Minimally good ATT LTE data service, good APRS at the summit itself
Can drive all the way to the top
No parking fee, did not see any permit only residential parking areas anywhere
Several trees to hang antennas, large grassy open area
Very low noise level. 


W5RJD's Log
TimeCallsignBandModeNotes
18:55KR7RK14MHzCW559
18:56KB7HH14MHzCW549
18:57WB6POT14MHzCW449
18:58W0JSL14MHzCW329

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