Capturing the Art of Nature
A quick jaunt up Grant Hill
It felt good being back on the trails enjoying a touch of nature
Category
Summits on the Air
2019
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Though a cool overcast day, it was dry and fairly pleasant to be wandering around in the forest for a few hours. Ralph and I planned to tackle this small summit and cover off both a Summits-on-the-air activation and participate in the Winter Field Day radio event. We picked this site as it has a road to the top which would allow us to bring some heavier radio gear. The higher power isn’t needed for SOTA but it would be useful for the field day event.
The day started off fine with us meeting at 9am and starting our short drive to Maple Ridge and the road to the summit. We made good time and were soon starting up the road. As we came up to the last houses along the road we spotted that dreaded obstacle, a locked gate across the road! That was unexpected and extremely annoying but there was little we could do. So our plans changed and we were bringing only the lighter stuff.
The gate blocked the road at the point it becomes gravel and steep. The way forward may only be about 900m but it had some steep parts for interest. We loaded up the dolly I had brought but unfortunately we had to leave the big battery and the high power radio gear. So we would be operating much like on any of our longer SOTA hikes. Pulling the dolly up the slope was still a bit of work but we got it up in short order with a few rest breaks. Once at the top of the road and next to the Telus repeaters, we spotted a nice wide well-groomed trail to the west which was the direction of the summit as indicated on Google Earth. We only had a short distance in to go to find the high point and a nice spot to set up in.
After resting a bit Ralph starting stretching out his wire antenna for HF meanwhile I set up my 4 element yagi for VHF calling. I was soon on the air while listening to Ralph crashing through the salmon berries and getting snagged by a few black berry vines. After a few contacts, I stopped to help him get the final wires placed. Ralph then used my KX3 radio to make a number of contacts. At first he was not having much success but after some reconfiguration of the antenna, he was in contact with stations across the U.S.
The site we were at was right next to the main bike trail down the west side of the hill and so we had a constant stream of bikers and walkers going past, a number stopped to chat. One guy was an avid 4x4 driver like me and he was planning on getting his license this spring. I encouraged him and said that was how I got started. As noon came, we stopped for a bite to eat, I had my stove so some warm soup was on my menu for the day. It does feel good to get something warm in you when out in the damp cool forest. After eating we did a bit more radio operating. I tried some HF sideband but though I could hear several stations the winter contest crowded out my weak station and I wasn’t able to make contact with anyone.
Once we had our fill, we were able to pack up quite quickly and soon we were on our way back down the road. Heading down went much faster than up and we were soon off-loading the dolly into the truck. Once moving, the truck warmed us up quickly and we had a pleasant drive home. A single point for SOTA but it was our first activation of the year and we both quite enjoyed getting out into the fresh air.