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6m Activation of the Highest Peak in the Northeast - Mt. Washington, NH

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by AB1OC, Sep 5, 2017.

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  1. AB1OC

    AB1OC Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    [​IMG]

    The Nashua Area Radio Club
    has continued to have fun doing SOTA activations with our portable 6m Station. We recently activated Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. Mt. Washington is the highest peak in the northeast with an elevation of 6,288 ft.

    [​IMG]

    Our station was solar-powered and used a pair of LiPo packs on an MPPT charger as a backup when the sun was obscured by clouds.

    [​IMG]

    Our portable 6m station used an IC-7300 operating at 100W into a 3 element yagi on a 22' push-up mast. The setup allowed us to make over 50 SSB QSOs on 6m during our time on the mountain.

    It was cold at times when passing clouds engulfed the mountaintop but our club had a great time with the activation! The views were tremendous and mountain topping is a great way to have fun on 6m. You can read more about our Mt. Washington Activation here -

    https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/01/sotapota-activation-on-mount-washington

    Fred, AB1OC
    President, Nashua Area Radio Club
    https://www.n1fd.org
     
    AE1N likes this.
  2. N5EAL

    N5EAL Ham Member QRZ Page

    Wish I wasn't evacuated by Harvey. I would've tried with my 100 watts and OCF dipole.
    (Hopefully we'll get back soon. Water is dropping pretty good, I'm told.)
    Glad everyone had a good time.
     
  3. WB2WIK

    WB2WIK Platinum Subscriber Platinum Subscriber QRZ Page

    Hope it was fun!!

    Doing it during a major VHF contest probably would yield a lot more contacts, and there's one coming up.

    I've been to the top of Mt. Washington a few times, including driving and taking the old cog railway. The WX up there can get very nasty very fast, but it looks like your operation had fine weather, so thank your blessings.

    Do it again, preferably for the June VHF QSO Party next year, you should make a lot of contacts.
     
    AE1N and KO1C like this.
  4. W2JBL

    W2JBL Ham Member QRZ Page

    Great to work your expedition. I'm new to 6 and when I heard your signal had no idea you would hear me from Carmel NY (250 miles). I was only using 50 watts to a quad loop at 20 feet. What a surprise to find you only had 100W and a modest antenna with such a big sgnal here.
     
    AE1N likes this.
  5. KO1C

    KO1C Platinum Subscriber Platinum Subscriber QRZ Page

    I 2nd that idea! I'd love to hear you on during the next VHF contest.
     
  6. N4NDR

    N4NDR Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    Mt Mitchell in North Carolina is highest peak in Eastern US... Not Mt. Washington.. But as title says Mt. Washington is highest in NE USA.
     
  7. KF5FEI

    KF5FEI Ham Member QRZ Page

    I think Mount Washington holds the record for the coldest / windiest place in the U.S., though.
     
  8. AB1OC

    AB1OC Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    Thanks everyone for the comments and encouragement. Mt. Washington can be a very cold and windy place. We were very lucky with our activation - we had mostly clear weather and it was not too cold. We have done two other activations this year which coincided with VHF contests. They were both in NH - Pack Monadnock and Mt. Kearsarge. You can read about those activations at the following links -

    https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/30/6m-sota-station/

    https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/20/mt-kearsarge-sota/

    We are hoping to do one more activation here in New England before the cold weather hits. Would anyone link to suggest another peak in NH or MA??

    Fred, AB1OC
    President, Nashua Area Radio Club
    https://www.n1fd.org
     
  9. K1FBI

    K1FBI XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    Who asked you
     
  10. WB2WIK

    WB2WIK Platinum Subscriber Platinum Subscriber QRZ Page

    Having grown up back that way I know lots of good spots, but you're discussing "drive-up" locations, and there are fewer of those.

    Mt. Watchusett in MA is about as good as Pack Monadnock -- just slightly lower, but also farther south and closer to Boston, Hartford, NYC, NJ, all points south, etc -- so it's pretty good.

    Mt. Monadnock is much higher than Pack Monadnock and has a way better view to the west, but no paved road.

    I've activated Slide Mountain, NY twice (el. 4204') on VHF-UHF and it's better than all of those, looking west; however not anything like a paved road, it's a backpack trip. KT2B and I spent an overnight in the August UHF contest back in the mid-80s and using lightweight portable gear we did really well...it was amazing hearing stations in the midwest just pounding in on 432 MHz. But the closest you can get a car is the parking lot at the bottom, and it's miles of hiking to reach the summit.

    Cadillac Mountain, ME is a drive-up and very well paved. Not all that high, but surrounded by ocean in three directions and a great location. We did the June VHF contest from there in '86 I think it was and did well (got our picture on the cover of QST for that). We were working mobiles on 146.52 FM simplex who were up in Montreal from there. And of course working all over VE1 was easy, you could see it. Good shot down the coast, too -- worked many 2m SSB stations in VA and NC and they were surprised we were in Maine.

    Have fun!
     
  11. W1FBV

    W1FBV Ham Member QRZ Page

    New England's first snow was on Mt. Washington a few days ago.
     
    K2CAJ likes this.
  12. N1NDN

    N1NDN XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    It's not the coldest place, but definitely the windiest on record. I believe the warmest temperature they ever recorded up there was 73 degrees.
     
  13. K2WH

    K2WH Platinum Subscriber Platinum Subscriber Life Member QRZ Page

    Congratulations.

    Before SOTA, back in the 70's, I guess I activated Mt. Washington more than once on 2 meters with my portable 7 element beam and my ICOM 202 SSB portable rig.

    Rig was in the back pack and a broomstick was the antenna boom with holes drilled in it for the elements.

    The broomstick doubled as a hiking stick.
     
  14. K2WH

    K2WH Platinum Subscriber Platinum Subscriber Life Member QRZ Page

    Well, you have the entire Presidential range there. I also did SOTA (before it was SOTA), from not only Mt. Washington but Jefferson and Webster.
     
  15. WB8VLC

    WB8VLC Ham Member QRZ Page

    The coldest windiest place in the US is not Mt Washington but you are close in that it does have Washington in its name,

    The coldest windiest place in the US is in fact 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C..
     
    W0AAT and AE1N like this.

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