Grouse Mountain Park

It was a week ago that Ralph and I first checked out this park and where we could set up our radio gear. On that visit we walked up the start of the BCMC trail and switched across to the grind where we came down to its start. We had spotted a few places which would get us above the power lines and provide a good site to operate out of. Returning today we simply parked in the far eastern end of the lot near the trail head and loaded the cart with our gear. Then then fun part, dragging the cart up the steep trail!

Though the distance was not far, the trail was gravel covered and steep enough that it made it a bit of a workout getting the cart up the slope. It being a hot day didn’t help but fortunately the distance was not great. Just above the level of the power lines the trail levels off and widens into an area where some water handling work was being done. The trail continues further up via three different trails one of which is a well maintained stair case. I had reached my location but Ralph was continuing with his gear in his backpack up the staircase.

My first task was to check my compass and plan the orientation of my antenna and then find a place for the tripod. Locating the antenna went quickly but anchoring the tripod proved more of a challenge as the ground was hard packed gravel and rock. It took a few tries to find a place where my stakes could fit between buried rocks to achieve a firm support. Once staked, I raised the mast and antenna. Next was the station itself but first I had to get some shade. This location was fully exposed to the hot sun and no shade was available that would work to hide my station in. This trip I brought my sun umbrella and taped it to the handle of my cart to raise it up high enough and hold it steady. Spread open it provided a large enough shaded spot for me to be comfortable operating in.

Shade enacted, radio ready, I called Ralph to see how he was doing. He was not quite ready but would be in a few minutes. I took the time to get out my lunch and to start snacking. Ralph called back and we proceeded to call each other across the 10 radio bands we have available. It took us 10 minutes to complete and we finished at 1pm. I then reviewed the POTA spots list and started scanning the frequencies for an operator I could hear. I unfortunately could hear none, therefore, I picked a frequency on the 20m band and began my own calling. It took awhile but I eventually had a station in San Francisco respond to me. He wasn’t loud but stated that my signal was quite strong. A few minutes later I had a second California station come by. Then it was fellow club member Ken down in White Rock who managed a weak contact. Jim also from the club was trying to get through on 2m and 20m and though I could just hear him he could not hear me.

Things were then quiet for some time so I scanned the band list again and this time I heard two more parks being activated. Both were in California and we were able to complete the two park-to-park contacts. Another 15 minutes of calling and I finally had a station in Arizona respond, another 10 minutes of calling with no results went by and by then Ralph called and told me he was packing up. I scanned the band one last time and found another park in California. I was able to contact this activator as well. So, I ended up with 7 contacts beyond those with Ralph. Not a good showing for almost an hour of calling.  6 of the contacts were with California and the other in Arizona. No mid-west or east coast at all. The bands were not very cooperative today.

During my time operating a number of people wandered by climbing the trail to I suppose the top.  Few seemed well equipped for the steep hike in the hot sun.  Only one chap stopped to ask what I was doing and he really only wanted to get past my antenna structure as the trail he wanted was on the far side, not the close at hand staircase. Packing up went quickly and soon I spotted Ralph coming down one of steep trails and not the staircase. He said he had a lot of interference from my signal during his calling. I wasn’t surprised as he had ended up positioning himself right above me on the slope.

After a brief chat and time for me to take a couple more photos, we started down the path to the car. Though easier than heading up, now I had to restrain the cart from sailing on past me down the trail. It was a quick descent and soon I was loading my gear into the trunk. I turned around in time to see a pair of deer, munching twigs as they slowly made their way up the trail we had just descended. They were good healthy looking bucks. It was a nice way to finish the visit.

Checking the navcom for the route home showed us a 90 minutes drive. This time It had us follow backroads across north Vancouver to Mountain Highway, skipping most of the North Shore tie-up. We still had a lot of slow moving highway traffic ahead of us but we had A/C so the drive wouldn’t be too bad.