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ATGP 2013 - Mount Washington - 22 July 2013

Photos documenting our packets are in yahoo groups photo section.

Station was manned by me NT1I and Fred N7FMH. KB1POR showed up with his I-Gate and to provide moral support, I think he really wanted to see the promised continuous lightning which thankfully didn’t come.

EQINOX-12 copied MTWASH-13 solidly 100% of the time on the 445.925 MHz FM channel in spite of all kinds of antennas on the summit of Mt. Equinox.

MTWASH-13 from time to time, had some interference and did have some some trouble copying Equinox. Generally however, Equinox operators said they were successful in coordinating on the 445.925 MHz channel.

Equipment was:

  • D710A running about 50 watts Digipeating only (left mic at home oops)
  • Diamond X-300 antenna on about 12’ painter pole 1/2 up because of wind
  • FT-8900a 445.925 voice at max power to trunk lip mounted CR8900A
  • primary power supply: large tractor battery

This was supported by:

  • D72A with Opek HR-603VU Shape Memory whip for ANSRVR communications
  • FT-1500 with OpenTracker4 & windows tablet w/ Larsen NMO-2/70B mag mount on roof for ANSRVR
  • KB1POR showed up after we we operational with his portable I-Gate for ANSRVR support

We Got there early this year to get a good spot to setup. We picked a spot to the left in the lower lot where it looked good to Surgarloaf and equinox. We only brought a vertical in case the thunder started, for a quick escape. It was mounted with ratchet straps to the hitch mounted bike rack. The full length of the painter pole brought the antenna almost horizontal so we shortened it. The wind was about 35mph and the clouds would puff in through the open windows. It gave the appearance of someone smoking a cigar in the car which is a big no no in my car!

The rain was intermittent but the clouds drifting through kept everything wet. WE initially got voice contact with Equinox a very clear signal, and then the packets came. It was nice to have every one ready at the start. Sugarloaf packets came next. I could hear Sugarloaf talking with Katahdin and when they finished I tried calling Sugarloaf but Tim on Katadin answered and the signal was so good I thought it was Sugarloaf. But I couldn’t get Sugarloaf to respond to my calls. I couldn’t get a cell call to work so I texted Sugarloaf.

I was able to use another carrier and was able to talk to Sugarloaf. That’s how we found out on Mt Washington that the weather was bad for Katadin as well. We were not able to get any thing from south of Camelback-9. We waited around watching the weather and it got dark at about 2:45 so we shut down and went home. It was a pretty good time.

We had no computer capturing packets maybe next year. I did post photos of the d710 screen showing paths and the list of packets.

  • LINK REMOVED - NO LONGER AVAILABLE

73, NT1I John