Category: outdoors

A SOTA Weekend

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The Girl passing by my KX1 station while we were on Hot Springs Mountain for a SOTA activation.

I wrote this over a year ago, but never got around to posting it. I am not sure why. Perhaps I set it aside to look for a photograph for the header. Or, perhaps I simply forgot about it. Nonetheless, it is not a bad story so I think I will tell it.

This weekend was a study in contrasts. Saturday, a friend and I drove up to the activation zone of Prison Hill, at the south side of Carson City. The trail to the top is no challenge for the 4Runner and I’m not a hard driver.

So I had the luxury of computer logging, full output power from the KX3, a table to work from, and a nice chair. The antenna was a kit-built EFHW in inverted-L using a SOTAbeams 10m travel mast. It was a fun afternoon with a friend and my dog, although neither of them participated in the radio fun (the friend is licensed; the dog is not).

This morning I decided I had so much fun yesterday that I would do it again, this time Hot Springs Mountain. It was just doggo and me. I attempted an approach from the west side, but the last half-mile was a rough trail of scrabble and I did not think the 4Runner would traverse it.

So I drove around to the south side and up a sand wash. The sand had a little moisture from the last snow and I was able to stay on top of the sand by keeping up my speed.

I expected the sand ravine near the top and there it was. I was sure I could get down to the bottom of the ravine, but figured that’s where I would stay.

So, I got out my KX1 kit (shack in a small Pelican box), a bottle of water, a 3Ah LFP battery (gives just a little more output power from the little KX1 and will run forever), and the SOTAbeams mast.

The SOTAbeams travel mast leaned up against a rock cairn atop Hot Springs Mountain. An end fed random wire is affixed to the top of the antenna for the activation.
Doggo has four-paw drive, but not so this old man. She sprinted back and forth urging me on while I trudged up the remaining quartile mile of trail, pausing now and again to catch my breath.

There was a cairn in the activation zone and I found a way to stabilize the mast against the cairn with a Voile strap I brought along, just in case. I stretched the wire I carry in the kit along the mast and threw the second bundle of wires I use for a counterpoise on the rocks.

The radio matched the antenna readily and the 40m noon net (7.2835MHz) NCO heard me. So I knew I had a working station.

Over the next hour and a half I worked 17 stations on 40m, 30m, and 20m, including a couple of summit-to-summit operators. Doggo sat patiently next to me, enjoying the sun and the view.

I was on 20m when the antenna was blown over by the wind a second time. It had come up near the end of my operation.

I finished landing the fish I had on the line and announced my QRT, followed by a post to the SOTAwatch portal. It only took me a few minutes to tear down and head back down the hill.

I should mention that I used the backup key for this activation. The key I had been using failed during the first part of my activation. Fortunately, I keep the factory key in the kit as a backup. It’s not my favorite key, but it is a working key.

The contrast in the two ops is striking. Saturday was what I’ll GLOTA (glam-SOTA), with all the luxuries one could want in the field. Today I earned my contacts the hard way — by humping up the last, steepest, part of the hill.

Both days were good. Today was better. I’m whupped!

Daily Image — NDOT

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The sign at the main entrance. I have walked past this sign many, many times.

Over the last eight years, there is no telling how many times I walked past this sign for the Nevada Department of Transportation. I know Ki and I walked past it many times on our daily sojourns. Now Sera and I are walking past it as I give her foot a rest from the rough sand and sharp brush of the sagelands.

A couple of weeks ago I started carrying a camera (other than my iPhone) on a daily basis. This was written about before. So long as the carrying of said camera nourishes me, I will continue to do it.

I am sure that not every outing will be fruitful. My Instagram feed is full of these images from daily outings. Much of it is not very good work, but it represents a substantial body of work. There are years’ worth of images on my IG feed. It is a pity that FB ruined IG so.

I started posting on VERO again a few days ago. VERO is much like IG was before FB bought it. Then (and there) I followed a double-handful of other photographers and creative types. Every morning there was some joy at seeing what other interesting people were creating.

Now I find it a doomscroll — looking for the dopamine hit from finding something interesting or amusing or odd. I do not really want to leave IG, because there are people there I follow that are doing interesting things. But the signal-to-noise ratio is poor and I am wasting part of my day every day looking at things I do not really care to see in order to find the very few I want to see.

I do not know if it is possible to offload my images in a stream. If I could, I would be very tempted to reclaim my work from IG and close my account.

But, I ruminate. Today’s image is a reflection on the many times my companions and I walked past the NDOT entry sign. The lot is nearly empty on weekends, when the workers are off doing their own thing. It gives Sera and I a chance to take in the space and for me to be aware of anything interesting to capture with my camera.

This morning’s walk was a good walk, if a little late and a little warm. The Girl enjoyed the hunt for ground squirrels and the wet grass. I enjoyed the chance to ruminate on all those times Ki and I walked a good part of this route.

Tomorrow we head out to Summit Lake, Nevada for field work. I will be in the field most of the week collecting supplemental topographic data. There will be some different things to photograph and I will have Internet service in the evenings at the research station. I hope to post a few images while out there.

It was a good day. Life is good.

Daily Image — C Hill

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This is one of my favorite places in Carson City. There are so many memories of playing with Ki here.

The Station 51 park is one of my favorite places in Carson City. The structure looks like it was a gathering place when the site was the state school. Maybe it was a mess hall. I am not sure. But I always enjoy the sight of it in the morning with C Hill in the background.

It is a tradition that every year the graduating high school class “converts” the C into the last two digits of the year. At some point it will be changed back to “C”.

When Ki and I returned to Carson City late in 2015, I rented long term at the Plaza Hotel. Our walks took us the couple of blocks east to the Station 51 park, where we interacted with human and canine friends almost every day. When Older Son and DiL came to visit, we would take Ki over there for her daily outing. I have some cherished photographs of those family times.

Later, in 2016 I rented my place here in Carson. Ki and I continued walking the few blocks to the Station 51 park, as well as walking out at Riverview Park and Silver Saddle Ranch. We walked many circuits around the perimeter of the park.

After Ki died and Sera came to live with me, I continued the tradition for a while. But Sera is a different dog and is mildly reactive. Her reaction always depends on the confidence of the other dog. After a number of encounters that I did not like, we began walking the Silver Saddle trails more because there is less traffic.

She loves to walk along the river where she can get in the water. But as time went on there was more traffic there and more of the other walkers we did not know and their dogs were not always the best behaved. So I started walking the upper trails more, where Sera can be off lead and the probability of running into another dog is reduced.

Sera injured one of her feet a week ago, probably by jumping on the brush chasing lizards. She has a small cut between her pads and the loose sand irritates it. Several times she would race past me and then drop on the trail to lick her paw.

I decided to walk her in town for a few days. There is less sand and more grass. That is good because it reduces the pressure on her paw and she loves grass. We walk early before the traffic rises. The grass is often wet from irrigation. She will roll around crazy or dive onto the wet grass as we walk. She loves it and that makes me happy.

So we are revisiting our walks to the Station 51 park and I am seeing things that remind me of the times there with Ki. Those were good times. Now I have memories of spending time there with Sera. Those are good memories too.

I am grateful. Life is good.

N.B. The photograph was made with the Fuji X-T5 and the Fujinon 60mm f/2.4 macro lens at f/8. It is a very good lens and the right focal length for the shot.

Daily Image — Just Dancing

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This is a daily capture from morning walkies.

The Girl and I walked in-town again this morning, but earlier. I had a breakfast date with an old friend and did not want to wait until after breakfast to walk. The Girl overheats if it is warm and there is too much sun.

So we got out early and walked north to the Station 51 park again. On the way, I noticed the Forever Dance sign and decided it might make a good image.

The equipment was the Fuji X-T5 and an old 105mm f/2.5 Nikkor lens on an adapter. Post processing was light with a little contrast adjustment, increase of saturation, and a little sharpening.

Daily Image — Marigold

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We walked in town Sunday. This marigold asked me to shoot its portrait. So, I did.

The last few outings, I noticed The Girl stopping abruptly to lick her right front foot. Then she runs off again to hunt lizards.

In the afternoon and evening she limps. For the brief moment she permitted me to look between her toes, I noticed a lot of inflammation and what looks like a small laceration. So I decided that a day or two off from the crazy lizard hunting (not that the lizards are crazy, but she certainly is) would be appropriate to give her foot time to rest and heal.

In the field she bounds over the brush and will often bounce on whatever bush the lizard ran under in an attempt to make it flee. So she sometimes injures a foot.

We walked north from the house to the Station 51 park. It was the state school for many years. Now the buildings are used for storage and the quadrangle by dog walkers and other park users. It is infested with California ground squirrels and they are destructive. Sera also likes to hunt them.

Nonetheless, it was pleasant walk even if she chafed at being on-lead the entire time. It is good work for her. It is good practice for me.

On the way back home, I noticed some domestic flowers in the pots outside one of the State buildings. I paused a few minutes to work the flowers with the X-T5 and the 35mm f/2. Satisfied that I had an image for the day, we continued home. There, Sera drank a good bit of water and ate her breakfast.

It was a good outing. It is a good day. Life is good.

Daily Image — Mount Scott

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On morning walkies, The Girl sniffed about while I made this capture of Silver Saddle Ranch and Mt. Scott.

I have not written about it yet, but I bought a new camera. I carried the Fuji X-T1 for a long time. The new X-T5 has been getting a lot of attention recently. I started carrying a camera again on my daily activities. So I decided to buy a new camera with an upgraded sensor and processor.

I picked it up on Saturday and charged the batteries. I have been carrying it on my last few outings. This is one of the results. I used the in-camera Fuji Velvia film simulation and touched the result up just a bit in my iPhone with Snapseed.

It was a good day. We got out earlier, it was cooler in the (earlier) morning, and the light was better. Life is good.

Daily Image — Antenna Testing

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A fellow member of The Tech Prepper’s Discord sent me an antenna to test. The Girl and I took it to Washoe Lake.

I sat on this project for almost three weeks. A fellow member of The Tech Prepper’s Discord channel offered to send me an antenna to test. It is a linked, end-fed, half-wave antenna. It covers the 20m, 30m, 40m, 60m, and 80m amateur radio bands. It is intended to be set up low so that the low bands will provide regional communications (near vertical incident skywave, which is technical talk for bouncing off the ionosphere).

So we drove up to Washoe Lake where I would have room to deploy the antenna. I did not get out a radio, but used the antenna analyzer to test it.

After about an hour of playing with the antenna, I got Sera out to play in the water a bit. It was hot.

Daily Image — Desert Peach

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I am not positive this is Desert Peach, but it sure looks like it. I sure think these are pretty flowers and Nevada is alive with wildflowers this year.

My desire and my goal is to make a good photograph every day. I wrote before that this is part of what nourishes my soul. And it does. The creative process and focus of looking for a subject and then working that subject is brain healthy. It forces me out of my head and into my environment (with one eye on The Girl, of course) instead of me spending the outdoor time and energy thinking about things.

I think this is Desert Peach. It seems a bit early for the blooms to show, but the colors look right and the leaf shape looks right. In any event, I like the play of light and color. Post-processing did not take much, a bit of adjustment to exposure and contrast, a little bit of additional saturation and some sharpening, and finally a crop to eliminate extraneous material.

The capture was with the Fuji X-T1 and the Fujinon 35/2 at f/4. I did shoot this one in RAW format for more detail in post.

The Girl hunted lizards while I puttered with the camera off the trail. It was a good day. Life is good.

Parks on the Air AAR

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The Girl and I stopped briefly at the south side of Mono Lake for a short break. There is still a lot of snow in the Sierra Nevada.

This week I was tasked with travel to Southern California for a field walk. The project is just getting started and doing a site visit is a critical part of forensic engineering.

I activated Manzanar National Historic Site for Parks on the Air. The place is a testimony to the mistreatment of Japanese-American citizens about 80-years ago.
On the way down, I stopped at K-0845, Manzanar National Historic Site. In 2014, Ki and I visited Manzanar on our way back from Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, where I had a project. It was in January, so the weather was good for a visit to Death Valley, which we did. On the way north we spent an hour or so at Manzanar, walking the site and taking in what we, as a country, did to our Japanese-American fellow citizens. It was wrong. The site feels wrong.

Be that as it may, Manzanar is also a designated Parks on the Air park. I wanted to activate it. And time spent outside the rig for a few minutes is always good on a long trip. Sera got out of the rig for a run around while I got out the station. It was hot enough and there was enough traffic that I put her back in the rig.

I setup my folding table and chair under the rear hatch. Sera found a spot in the back out of the sun. It did not take long to put out an antenna and get the station on the air. In less than an hour I made my activation running 15 watts. I put everything away, gave Sera a drink, got one myself, and we got back on the road.

We spent the night at a Best Western in Sherman Oaks. It was noisy with city energy and the neighbors had a small dog that barked. This irritated Sera… she growled and grumbled several times that night. I rested some, enough to be up early to deal with accumulated email and the market.

There is a Denny’s in the facility, so I got some coffee and breakfast. Of course, I took The Girl some of my bacon and sausage, plus a couple of scrambled eggs for her breakfast.

It took about 45 minutes to get to the site and a couple of hours to see what I needed to see. I visited with my clients a bit, then headed back home.

Wisely, I had a reservation for a hotel in Lone Pine, California. This is about halfway between the site and home. I knew I would not want to drive all the way home after spending the morning on the site. So I did the easy thing and stayed over.

The Girl and I had a nice visit of the Alabama Hills National Scenic Area in Lone Pine, California. I also activated the park.
I checked out early Friday morning, got Sera out for a little constitutional, and then bought a biscuit and a coffee from McD’s. I shared my biscuit with Sera and drove over to K-8300, Alabama Hills National Scenic Area, another designated park. I found a spot to setup the station and got Sera out for a bit. She hunted lizards in the willow brush while I got out my radio station and setup the antenna. Again, there was a little too much traffic so she had to stay in the rig. But it was cool in the morning so it was not too bad.

I had my quota after about 45 minutes. The 20-meter band was the go to band for this activation. I worked an Indonesian station and that surprised me. But DX is always welcome.

I put away the station and was able to make a meeting (virtual) using my iPhone at 1100h local. That did not last long, so Sera and I puttered a bit before heading north towards home.

At the north end of Independence, California (I think) is a BBQ place called the Copper Top. It was lunch time as we passed, so I turned back and bought a tri-tip sandwich. With pickles, onion (red onion), and a few jalapeños (and some sauce) it was good. But it was not as good as smoked Texas brisket. I shared a bite of sandwich with Sera, of course.

Then it was time to slug out the home stretch. I was tired, of course. I stopped a few times to stretch, give Sera some water, and get her out of the rig. Still, it was a tough slog.

I learned a few things, of course.

  • I need to either add another set of blue Voile straps, or add a longer set of Voile straps to the antenna kit. The blue straps were not long enough to go around the 4×4 or 6×6 posts at the Alabama Hills site. I had to double the blue straps and then find a rock to keep the mast in place.
  • I really think it would be better to log on the computer than my iPhone, particularly for POTA activations. The larger screen of the computer is simply easier to see.
  • In addition, I was checking the Reverse Beacon Network for my spots. RBN is a great way for CW and digital operators to determine whether their signal is getting out to the spotter stations. The spotter stations decode the signals they hear and post the calling stations callsign, mode, signal strength, and speed to the webpage. If I am spotted, then I know the station is working because other stations are receiving my transmissions. It would be a lot easier to have multiple browser tabs open on the computer than it is to flip back and forth between tabs on my iPhone.
  • I prefer a more leisurely activation, one where I have (and take) time to operate multiple modes and work through all the open bands to take the calls of the park hunters.
  • But, when traveling, it is also a good break to stop for an hour, make at least ten contacts, be out of the rig for awhile, and get Sera out too. This type of activation has a place as well as the more deliberate, longer activation.

In all, the radio play was a nice break from the drive. I gave a few hunters an opportunity to chase a couple more parks. And Sera got a chance to be out of the rig for a while too. It was good. Life is good.

The Grill, Lone Pine, CA

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This was a lovely find for supper. I am glad the other place ignored me.

I am on my way home from a site walk in Topanga, California. The site walk was a long time coming. I suppose it was because there are so many parties involved in the case. But it was good to get to see it.

I knew it would be too long of a trip to drive all the way back home after walking the site all morning. There was a lot of Los Angeles to traverse and traffic is always bad. So I planned on stopping midway and that turned out to be Lone Pine, California.

The hotel is decent enough if expensive. But it is the Fourth of July weekend and it also seems that since The Shutdown hotels are a lot more expensive than they were pre-virus. Nonetheless, I have a room.

The clerk gave me a heads-up that there are four restaurants in Lone Pine with outdoor seating that will accommodate my companion. I initially chose the Mt. Whitney cafe. But they ignored me.

I traveled a couple of blocks south and stopped in to The Grill. I was greeted as Sera and I approached the pavilion. The server greeted Sera, asked to pet, and brought water.

The proprietor came out, asked about Sera, and told me about his dogs.

I thought “this is the right place. I’m glad I was ignored at the other!”

So I ordered a Cobb salad and a Corona with lime. He brought me a beer glass, but I am old school and just dropped the lime in the bottle like I would at home.

Yes, you really cannot take me nice places.

In the end, the food was good, the treatment was stellar, and Sera met new friends.

It was a good day, a good evening, and life is good.