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
(Update 05-09-2022 – a server migration, plugin and php update revealed the timestamps on this .gpx file are broken. I’ve added fake times so this page renders correctly)
Max elevation: 6529 ft
Total climbing: 2883 ft
Total time: 00:55:43
Date:03/07/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-017 (Mount Gleason)
| Time | Callsign | Band | Mode | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:26 | KI6PMD | 144MHz | FM | 59 59 |
| 20:37 | N1WAX | 144MHz | SSB | 59 59 |
| 20:45 | N0RSR | 14MHz | SSB | 49 55 |
| 20:45 | NQ7R | 14MHz | SSB | 55 59 |
| 20:46 | W7FAS | 14MHz | SSB | 59 57 |
| 20:47 | K0YO | 14MHz | SSB | 45 55 |
| 20:55 | NG6R | 14MHz | SSB | 59 57 |
| 21:15 | K2J | 14MHz | SSB | 59 59 |
| 21:21 | WW7D | 7MHz | SSB | 22 45 S2S W7W/CW-085 |
| 21:23 | N6DNM | 7MHz | SSB | 55 44 |
| 22:44 | K6LDQ | 144MHz | CW | 599 599 |
Edit – December 5th, 2022. I found some old photos and additional info about an old lookout tower which was once on to of Gleason. Description and photos borrowed from firetower.org without permission.
http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/mount-gleason-lookout-site/
Description
Constructed in 1927, this 60′ M8 tower with non-battered open X-brace steel (NOX-B) cab was probably the only steel tower lookout structure on the Angeles National Forest. It was torn down in the 1950s during the Cold War to clear the site for a Nike installation.
