I originally planned on riding my bike up to W6/CT-087, which is on the way to Mt. Gleason, but I was feeling good so I pushed through to the further summit. The road up is paved, as there was a Nike missile site up top, which became a Forest Service fire outpost, which, tragically burned down in the 2009 Station Fire. Since it is almost 10 miles to the top, cycling made quick work of what would be above my pedestrian threshold. Once at the top, I setup the station under a grove of pine trees in the shade. I made a few contacts on 2M as the HF antenna got setup. I self spotted on 20M, and made a few contacts. Moving over to 40M and self spotting again, I quickly found it was noisy. I could clearly hear chasers calling me, but there was no getting out on my end. I made a few contacts regardless, including, a S2S. I moved over to 2M CW to practice my code. Made one contact, then another station called, which was a busted QSO because my brain still freezes when receiving.

More info and photos on LA-04 http://www.themilitarystandard.com/missile/nike/la-04.php

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-017

Date:03/07/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-017 (Mount Gleason)

This was a nice hike, but a bit far from my QTH. I intended to do a double activation of Throop and Mt. Lewis, but the temperature was dropping and it was best to head home. The HF bands were kinda quiet, but I jumped on FM Simplex and made a bunch of contacts from Apple Valley to Temecula

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-005

Date:12/06/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-005 (Throop Peak)

This my second time activating Hoyt Mountain, however this time, I hiked up for the ARRL VHF contest and primarily worked 6M and 70CM, with a few contacts on 2M, and a couple S2S contacts. This is on my top 5 list of favorite summits because it’s close to home, and it’s not a popular place for Angelenos to hike; I’d like to camp up here sometime for an overnight activation in the future. See my previous activation of this summit HERE.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-146

Date:13/06/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-146 (Hoyt Mountain)

I was saving the higher elevation hikes for the summer with the idea it would be much cooler and enjoyable when the city below is being scorched by the sun. That’s not the case. It was hot, the route up was in full sun, and I wondered what it would take to loose some pack weight to make the trip up to the summit easier. Overall, it was enjoyable. Solar conditions were not so great, but I was able to make several QSOs on 20. 40M was dead, with only one QSO up to Washington State. Made a 2M CW contact, and a few 2M FM contacts right before heading down to the car.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-010

Date:27/05/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-010 (Mount Islip)

May 10th. This is the second time I activated this summit; read about the first one HERE. 20M was working pretty well. S2S contacts with AG7GP on W7O/CS-073 (20M), and WC6J on W7N/TR-005 (40M). Being early May, the weather was cooler and the flora was green and blooming.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-150

Date:10/05/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-150 (4202) | 

May 9th. Deep QSB on 20M, 40M was a struggle. There was a 6M sprint and a small 2M pile up. Two summit to summit contacts with K6ARK on W6/CT-050, and another with K6PVZ on W6/SC-219.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-012

Date:09/05/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-012 (Waterman Mountain)