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SOTA Mt. Davidson W6/NC-423: Rockmite to Japan!

 We talked to Japan using the little RockMite 20! It was our first SOTA on Mt. Davidson here in San Francisco, and it was almost a total wash until I heard JG0AWE!



and here's the video from the outing:

Summit:

Mt. Davidson W6/NC-423

We wanted to get there really early, (the park opens at 5), so we took the 43 from Geneva and Madrid. We got off at Juanita, walked through the neighborhood to the northwest side of the mountain, and began our hike. And then, our hike was over. Terminated by the closed trail ahead of us. The city is still catching up with all the trees that were downed by the rainfall last month. A brief walk up Dalewood Way—that felt like it was almost straight up—brought us to the southwest trailhead. About ten minutes later, we were at the summit with the cross made famous by Dirty Harry. The cross was built as a WPA style project during the Great Depression.

Pro tip: If you can wait to depart until a little bit after 6 AM, take the 36 from Glen Park BART station towards Forest Hill. The Myra Way and Dalewood Way stop is right at the southern trailhead, which as far as I can tell is the shortest hike.

Radio Details:

The radio was our RockMite 20. I ran into what's been a frequent problem of late: there were trees to hang an antenna from, but their branches were too high for the most part. About an hour later, I finally had the radio up and running, and then nothing for about another hour till 14:00 GMT.  


QSO/RBN spot map:



Happenings of Interest 

And then, we reached Japan! I heard JG0AWE. I didn't think the RockMite could do DX, at least not that far. I mean, sure, Japan has heard the little radio before—via the RBN—but I didn't think an actual QSO was in the cards. Turns out it was, so once I responded to the 'clearly made up' callsign, I was very, very surprised. 

And then I though back a few minutes, and I was very, very embarassed. There had been another person that just kept calling good morning (GM over CW.) I'd completely dismissed them. It Was Scotland! Huge eye roll on my part. I deserve it.

QSO Log

Table containing QSOs in text

Callsignrx RSTtx RSTTime (GMT)Frequency
JG0AWE22955914:2014058.3

Unschooling Highlights

The gang were along for the hike and the explore. They were as psyched as I was that we in fact communicated with Japan. The youngest, 8 year-old Tawnse, came up with a plan to celebrate: sushi and ice cream. We finally got to do that yesterday.

POTA tx QSL:


QSL rx album:


References

Mt. Davidson




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