Another easy summit along our road trip along the I-95, with discreet parking and a short hike through pleasant woodland. Plenty of room at the top for antennas, not many people about.
Ascent
There are several parking spots along Fire Tower Road, but the official trailhead parking is at the top, with space for 2 or 3 vehicles. The trail itself is easy to follow and leads gently up through woodland, taking 20-25 minutes to reach the top.
Summit
The official AZ isn’t immediately obvious and the trail appears to head downhill again before you reach an area to your right which has been recently cleared of trees, making an ideal place to set up.
Contacts
The Spooltenna worked well in this location on 20 and 40 but I decided to spend a few minutes tuning it on 10. This time I had it set up in an inverted V configuration using the 7m Tactical Mini as centre support and some young trees to hold up either end. Not sure if either of those were factors, but it seems to be quite narrow banded on 10 with most of the activity being outside the sweet spot.
Regardless, I heard plenty of traffic and managed to get into a couple of QSOs before putting out a spot – just one bar of signal on the mobile. Mainly local stations this time but at least there were two S2S contacts made and I gave somebody a complete, which means that they have not only made a contact with this summit but activated it themselves too. I love it when that happens.
| Time | Callsign | Band | Mode | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16:28 | KC1QXL | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 16:29 | WX1S | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 16:30 | K2CPT | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 16:32 | KG6CIH | 7MHz | SSB | S2S W1/AM-006 |
| 16:34 | AC1Z | 7MHz | SSB | S2S W1/NL-020 |
| 16:36 | KC1MXB | 7MHz | SSB | A complete for him! |
| 17:00 | KC3RT | 14MHz | SSB | |
| 17:01 | KB4LOA | 14MHz | SSB |
Descent
Nothing spectacular here, same way down again and back at the car in just under 20 minutes.
Summary
This was an enjoyable activation which didn’t take long at all and fitted in well with today’s travelling plans. Easy to reach from the I-95, convenient parking, enjoyable hike. Next!
