Catalina East Peak Benchmark

Early in 2021 I learned on Twitter that N6DNM would be activating Santa Rosa on May 15. I thought it would be kind of neat to do a channel island activation on the same day and try for a summit to summit contact! So, I chose to research and plan East Peak Benchmark, W6/SC-329 as pretty easy to get to with the regular service to Avalon. The original concept was to stay overnight Friday, but I learned later that it is a 2 night minimum on the weekend. I booked the 7am boat to arrive about 8:30. Surely I’d be on the peak by 11am!

Continue reading Catalina East Peak Benchmark
16 summits between 101 & 405

Summits on the Air

What is SOTA?

Summits on the Air (SOTA) is a form of radiosport that combines portable amateur radio with hiking to designated hills or mountain tops. The sport aspect of this activity includes rules and an honor system of points and awards for operators on the summits (activators) and operators or listeners down below (chasers).

Activators carry portable radio gear up to designated summits and “activate” the peak… Chasers hunt the activators…

http://www.pnwsota.org/content/getting-started-sota
Continue reading Summits on the Air
Show handheld amateur radios

Learning Ham Radio

Why we studied to become licensed operators

Having lived at Pepperdine University in Malibu for a over a decade, we observed that our environment contained some things that we hadn’t seen as much when living in L.A., Pasadena and Burbank. Aside from deer, pumas, sage, sand and sea some of the more notable features were more variable weather than in the basin and valleys, and more frequent power outages… and more disasters like fire and mudslides. The fire and power outages tend to put your communications down at times – we don’t have a telco powered land line and after a while the batteries in the cell towers deplete and your comms are out. Just one of those things that happens for a few hours every few years. But what if they were out for days and weeks?

Continue reading Learning Ham Radio

Eyeballs

Still got ‘em by the way. I’m writing this note to explain my virtual absence at the moment and to give a place for people to read what going on so I don’ t drone on and don’t accidentally tell the same people the same stories again & again.

The summary is, I’m having vision problems and the healing is going to take a few weeks and anything that needs me to see, or sit up, is not going to be possible for a while. Read on if you want the history of how this came to be.

Continue reading Eyeballs

Ranier to Coeur d’Alene and back!

In June of 2017 Cary & I my Mother-in-Law, Marcia Randall took a trip across Washington to Idaho and back – visiting friends, Grand Coulee Dam, the back side of the Cascades and our daughter Meridith in Tacoma. It was a really blessed trip – 7 days in a car with pretty much just joy and wonder and love; we were each praying it would be a great time, we discovered and well, here are some photos.