Baldy Mountain W6/CT-105 – Brandon Clark Labs

Activated: 2017-10-01

This peak is in a beautiful area of the lower San Jacinto mountains. The area has a number of peaks like this which are all fairly accessible and provide a good point count.

The trail up to the peak goes along an old road that winds counterclockwise around the peak. The top itself is fairly rounded and is more of a treed meadow than a traditional peak.

Golden retriever hiking — Trusty radio-dog Sledge keeping an eye out for any approaching radio waves

The area is also very RF-quiet, making for a very low noise background.

On this trip I was interested to see if I could use my linked dipole without the mast I normally carried. I designed the linked dipole using the SOTA calculator on this website. The mast is light enough to carry, but it stuck out of the pack so much that it was always catching on things.

Plenty of SOTA operators just throw a line in a tree and hoist antennas that way. Most of my previous peaks were either VHF-only, with no need for a high antenna, or ones where I had the mast with me.

Dipole for SOTA — Dipoles don’t always have to be very high up to work well.

Unfortunately, the “high, unobstructed, overhanging, yet easy-to-reach” branch I was hoping to find was nowhere to be found within the activation zone. All the trees were stubby and bushy. But, that’s life. You screw with the dick you have, not the one you wish you had.

Amateur radio portable dipole — HF gear doesn’t always have to be set up “pretty”. For QRP especially you can get away with some ugly arrangements.

As it turned out, the dipole placement worked surprisingly well, even though at most points the line was only about six feet above the grass. I was able to make quite a few contacts on both 40 meters and 20 meters, my go-to HF bands.

Signals were coming in really well. I worked a handful of stations on the west coast and one or two in the midwest.

N6BSC set up for summits on the air — Shade, good weather, a peak, and a radio. Good day.

The weather was perfect, and a very light gear load was more than adequate. October in southern California is always pretty mild, especially at elevation.

Amateur radio log page for SOTA — Logging need not be complicated. For SOTA a waterproof notepad will do.

The lesson from this peak was that a compromise antenna setup can sometimes work quite well. The important thing is to work with what you have and just get on the air; don’t waste time trying to get everything perfect.

Portable ham radio gear for summits on the air — Basic setup of my Yaesu 817 ND, kneeboard, and homemade PTT switch

Work quickly, run with what you’ve got, and make it work. You will often be pleasantly surprised at the results.

updated 2022-05-14