Continuing my quest to reach 100 Activator points and 500 chaser points by the end of this year.
My latest venture took me to the Burney CA area this week. My plan was to activate three summits, Soldier Mountain, Burney Mountain, and Lassen Peak. Soldier Mountain was late afternoon before I reached the summit but 20 Meters was still open for most of my contacts. This mountain provides a gorgeous view of the Fall River Valley to the East, almost like looking at Google Earth, not to mention Shasta to the North and Lassen to the Southwest.
The next morning I went to Burney Mountain. The road up the last few miles is not for the faint hearted, luckily I met no one coming the other way. The wind at the top was roaring so I started with my MFJ 20 meter loaded whip. After about six contacts on 20 CW I wanted to try other bands so I put up my 20 ft. Pole with 39 feet of wire. Worked more on 20 and several on 40 but the wind was bending the pole way over. The fire tower is staffed so there is access to a pit toilet! I then proceeded to Lassen Park looking for a camp site but after a weather check (High winds, cold, showers) I decided to forgo Lassen until next summer. If you like the outdoors SOTA is great fun. Any one want to join me on the next outing?
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