SOTA - PISTOL HILL W7A/PE-074

Local Vail SOTA opportunity, Pistol Hill W7A/PE-074.

Great hike if you stick to the trail off Pistol Hill Rd. - Don't be tempted to park off Colossal Cave Rd. and take the tower access...

Popular hill as we lost about an hour to a couple of hikers who enjoyed talking about radio, the views and local history. Great conversation while the radio sat silent.

Nice bench on the top, no shade. 

MFJ Big Ears at 6' Did a great job on 6m, 20m and 40m even when I forgot to retune it...

Got skunked on 2m as I had no takers on 144.41fm or 144.200usb using the ELK antenna. Today I refused to work 146.520 as I was only looking for those interested in SOTA and ssb. 

Radio was the IC-705 with an aux. Bionenno 3ah battery to get my full 10watts.

Very impressed with the performance of the 705. No complaints. 

Thanks KF7WI, WW7D (WORKED PRIOR), AEOXI, NS7P, K6HPX (WORKED PRIOR) for 20m within minutes of getting on the air.

My son Douglas KI7LLD  for the 6m contact on 50.125usb as he tuned his 20m dipole for the contact.

K6MXA for pulling me out of the noise for a 45 report on 40m 7.207 S2S (Summit to Summit) as he was on W6/SC-397. Only 10watts....

View to the south gives you an idea of the hike if you decide to rough it in.....

My brother Estell KI7OFN operating his 857d, always has the flags up.

IC-705, Z100plus tuner.

2021 January VHF Contest - ROVER KI7OFL/R DM31 Start..

Worked the VHF Contest Jan 16th 2021.

Started the day at 7am with final set up of the mast antenna's for the ride. The prior day was installing all the electronics.... Not an easy task.

While inspecting the truck, I found a leaking water pump on Friday at 2:30pm, burned the remainder of the day installing a new one to be ready for the long drive ahead of me.

Noon start I was way west in DM31ox, this is just outside of Lukeville which is the entrance to Mexico.

Made the trip on 2m and 6m with K7EME in Tucson AZ. Not a sound from anyone else. Worked this grid for an hour before heading north.

Next was Gila Bend, no contacts but a great lunch.... Why the Mask? Covid19 is a worldwide epidemic.

Then over to the Maricopa area to work several grids. By this time it was late, we were tired and I decided to make the run home to DM41.

Learned a lot with this VHF Contest and rover. Think I will try again in June..

Plan is to be LIMITED ROVER for the January 16th 2021 VHF Contest

Equipment available: 

Yaesu 857d, ICOM 705, Icom 5100, Kenwood D74 (222mhz). Maybe the Dx 3000 running 100w on 6meter.

Will be starting in Tucson with DM42 a 1900.

Quick test 12.13.2020 - Yaesu 857d 

Set up took 8 minutes. Drove down to the historic area of Canoa Ranch just outside of Elephant Head at exit 56 off the I-19 Freeway. Found several RV's set up in the desert.

Slipped the mast into the hitch (This is a 2' Extended square tube as it is designed to be used at camp, with my tailgate down and my truck tent). 

Placed the Diamond A430S15R2 on the mast followed by the Diamond A144S10, connected the coax and slipped it up about 15'. First issue is the coax is cold and hard, very unforgiving as it is in the 36*F neighborhood (Will bring it inside prior to the January contest). 

59 Signal report into the Globe area with N1AV (Jason) and AC7FF (Dave) working SOTA on Pinal Peak W7A/AW-009. I Figure this to be about 150miles on 144.41fm.

Also checked in on the SWOT Net 144.200usb with 59 reports both ways. 70cm was fair to KI7OFN, figure this was due to my coax not allowing me to swing the antenna, will fix this issue.

OK, on to the next step.