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 BenchmarkSummits 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).
Continue reading Summits on the AirActivators carry portable radio gear up to designated summits and “activate” the peak… Chasers hunt the activators…
http://www.pnwsota.org/content/getting-started-sota
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 RadioEyeballs
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 EyeballsRanier 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.
The Carys Recommend for Europe
We’re hardly experts in modern European travel, but if we can do it so can you! Here are some resources Cary and Kim recommend that made our trip easier, better planned or more fun. Continue reading The Carys Recommend for Europe
A flood of photos from Venice
This is the final blog from our Europe trip. I loved every stop on our trip, but Venice was the hottest, sweatiest, most emotional and a real highlight of the journey. Looking at the photos it was hard to be selective for the above reasons and also, the details in the photos revealed things I didn’t see while taking them!
Crepes and Stained Glass
On our last day in Paris our first job was to get to Gare du Lyon and drop our bags. Having taken two taxis, we weren’t doing any more of that and I fired up my Uber app for a Van. Good price, considerate, communicative driver – perfect. No more cabs in Paris. Continue reading Crepes and Stained Glass
Paris Museum Pass
Meridith and Cary both being artistic and me being up for anything, we definitely wanted to spend a couple days in Paris at the wonderful museums. We first visited Musée de l’Orangerie, which is in the old Orange hot house of the Tuileries palace. Continue reading Paris Museum Pass
St. Pancras to Montmartre
Saturday was a travel day and our first day exploring Paris! We had to be checked in at 05:45 in London St. Pancras Station to catch the Eurostar (via the tunnel beneath the English channel) to Paris Gare du Nord Station.