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Morse code on Mars
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There is Morse code in the dust of Mars¡ until the next dust storm anyway. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/p7f8oR5ELwk FD
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Action Plan: W5N/CO-013 Cerro Rendija Wednesday March 5, 2025 Don and I will depart my QTH by 0800 en-route to trail head parking. All roads up are in good shape. Last time I parked on the pull out I was informed by a Ranger that I must be within 9 feet of the road. see GPX drive Its a .9 mile hike up to the summit. see GPX hike See previous pics. Very rocky on top but there is areas just below the summit that are grassy with pines. 73 WB5USB Geo...
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Wagon Mound Activation Report
Wagon Mound/EL-016, and West Las Mesas del Conjelon/EL-014, proved to be everything I was hoping for. The weather was ideal... sunny with a little breeze. I activated with Matt/KF0RIG. For Wagon Mound, we parked at the cemetery, and hiked up, heading for the juniper on the right side of the summit (just like KT5X's posting suggested). In fact, studying and memorizing the SOTA postings was a great help for both summits. I'm happy to report, there's not a bit of snow or ice to deal with. I wore trail shoes (with grippy soles) and waiters (for the scrubby vegetation). The approach to the base of the mound seemed steeper than I expected from looking at pictures. The slot was awesome, with plenty of solid hand-holds. As you go up, near the bottom of the slot, pay attention to a rock that you'll need to use for your descent. It won't be visible when you descend, so it's good to know it's there. Once on top, the same Juniper that we used for a heading, is the one where the register/cairn is located. Looking at the callsigns in the register that came before me made me feel like it was a special honor to have my callsign associated with theirs. For Conjelon, we downloaded (from the SOTLAS page) and used K1JD's gpx track. Also, be sure to get the required NM Rec Access Permit, and display it on the dashboard of your vehicle. My permit took three days to get from online application (Sunday) to email inbox (Wednesday). Even though we had a track to follow, really, your going to have to do a lot of route finding through scrub oak to get to the rim of the mesa. The most important bit of advice I can pass on is to make sure you hike up onto the mesa at exactly the location along the rim that the gpx track does. Being left or right of the entry point you will either cliff-out or be climbing rock. Once on top of the mesa, it's about a mile of open, easy terrain to the last pitch and summit. The 360 degree views of both summits is impressive. Thanks to KT5X for finding his mic for a local contact. My other high points were a couple DX contacts in the Canary Islands, a S2S in W0C, a S2S in W5O, and being N0MTN's Complete for Wagon Mound.
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Palomas report
Best way to get local SOTA ops to join you, is post your intentions here, Ray. Glad you enjoyed The Wagon Mound and Conjelon. John and I ascended Palomas today (followed by the nearby Crest). Palomas road from Placitas is getting rougher. Very little snow on the trail already. Road above Palomas still has melting snow, I wouldn¡¯t go in either direction without good tires. Palomas means ¡°dove.¡± We heard doves coo¡¯ing. Either we heard the doves, or perhaps we were being surrounded unknown natives. Little joke there. TNX to locals for the chases; N9KW, WB5USB, N5XR, NM5S, and NM5D fd Fred, What a fantastic list of fun SOTA peaks to climb! I¡¯m already rearranging my SOTA schedule to make room for Cabezon and Pedernal. Thanks a bunch for putting this list together for me¡ very much appreciated! I¡¯m always looking for operators to activate with. If anyone reading this thread has an interest in any of these peaks, and wouldn¡¯t mind a tag-along, please reach out to me to coordinate something. My email: rgierlach@... So many peaks¡ so little time¡ Ray / KD8EQA From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Fred Maas via groups.io Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2025 9:11 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [W5N-SOTA] Activation Plans for Thursday, 27th Ray, other northern NM peaks that may be of special interest to you if you like hands-on climbing: Cabezon W5N/SM-019 ¡ similar to but higher than the more famous Devil¡¯s Tower in WY. in this area, also SM-033, SM-034, SM-037, SM-036 ¡ this area deserves a multi-day camping trip. You will LOVE IT. Area roads MUST BE DRY. Also visit Guadalupe Ruin nearby. Pedernal W5N/SE-018 ¡ made famous by Georgia O¡¯Keefe. Also visit nearby Mesa Viejo, W5N/CC-020 vy picturesque. And then there is Cerro Blanco, W5N/CC-011. This mountain of marble, was once limestone. The limestone was turned to marble by a meteor impact. Fd
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Other Peaks Similar to Wagon Mound
Fred, What a fantastic list of fun SOTA peaks to climb! I¡¯m already rearranging my SOTA schedule to make room for Cabezon and Pedernal. Thanks a bunch for putting this list together for me¡ very much appreciated! I¡¯m always looking for operators to activate with. If anyone reading this thread has an interest in any of these peaks, and wouldn¡¯t mind a tag-along, please reach out to me to coordinate something. My email: rgierlach@... So many peaks¡ so little time¡ Ray / KD8EQA
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Activation Plans for Thursday, 27th
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Matt/KF0RIG and I/KD8EQA plan to activate Wagon Mound, W5N/EL-016, and West Las Mesas del Conjelon, W5N/EL-014, this Thursday, February 27th. The weather is supposed to be warm and sunny, with a light wind. Our planned time for leaving the Wagon Mound trailhead/parking is 8:15am local... activating at 10:30am. For West Las Mesas del Conjelon, our planned time for leaving the trailhead/parking is 1:30pm local... activating at 3:30pm. We hope to catch some of you on 40m. We'll be spotting our bands and frequencies. Ray / KD8EQA
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Weather was cloudy as Don, Scott and I headed out towards Grants. Just east of Grants, Don and I peeled off and headed south toward W5N/CO-014 while Scott continued on to Grants and south to W5N/CO-011. From parking Don and I hiked the .7 miles, up the side of the volcano, to the summit. Temps were warm under cloudy skies and no wind at all. Took a couple of pics of Don on the summit. First time here for him. Mean while, Scott was trying to find his way to Cerro Lobo, but not having any luck, so he decided to bag this trip. Scott then decided to meet us at our trail head. see pics Nice summit but the first part of the hike is steep but then turns into a nice gentle slope. Nice to meet up with Scott, NM5SW, on the trails. 73 all and thanks chasers..Geo WB5USB
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"South Mountain" Cedar Grove
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K5TFL and I were eying that mountain a few days ago as a possible human repeater site in the need of an EMCOM situation. Has anyone hiked up there recently...if not, any known good entry points to get up there aka park and hike? Tom / DM65UD / Edgewood
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Having just retired my very old and extremely worn Mule pack, I failed to transfer the knife from it to the new Osprey. This is obviously why the antenna wire next to the 17m trap broke today. Used my teeth to strip the wires, make a temporary splice and then tie a knot which held fine for the windy activation on 6860. SWR was normal. Only a few DX stations, F4WBN (17m & 10m) and EA4R (10m). Photos of the inelegant but effective field splice on the workbench before repair and, thanks to Fred, of me at my usual 6860 activation spot. 73, John K1JD
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LIVE webcam of the Valle Grande¡ while closed, it gives a sense for how much (or how little) snow is upo there: Fd
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closure
Peak known as 9700, W5N/PW-018, remains closed following the Medio Fire in 2021. Repair of the Tesuque Peak power line will be underway this summer and maybe next with reopening of the area expected when the repair is complete. Barillas Peak, the entire hill, entire activation zone, appears to no longer be under a closure order, BUT I expect that there is a winter gate closing the road until after April 1. Valle Caldera site says that the ranger station is closed for renovation. The road in is certainly gated for winter. There is very little on their website, and with what is going on in Washington, I wonder when or if it will reopen. FD kt5x
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Cerro Brillante, W5N/CO-014, on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, we plan to depart my QTH at 0800 en-route to trail head parking. All roads up are SUBARU capable. see GPX drive. From parking its a .8 mile hike along a ridge line to the summit. see GPX hike. Nice summit with, good views, that sits alone on the southern boarder of the lava flows. Weather will be sunny and warm with little wind. QRV around 1830 UTC. 73 all and enjoy previous pics WB5USB Geo..
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Great weather as Don and I headed out to W5N/CO-011 this morning. Sunny skies, no wind and good temps. The drive to trail head parking is SUBARU capable except the last half mile or so. Must have high clearance. From parking we took the .4 mile hike up the side of the crater to the top. The climb is steep even taking a circular path counter clockwise around the side. Lots of deer trails to follow up to the top. Don set up ops on the east side of the crater while I set up ops on the west side. Saw a nice heard of Elk on the way down. Nice summit. Turns out this summit is on the continental divide. see pics 73 all and thanks chasers... Geo WB5USB
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Action Plan: W5N/CO-011 Cerro Lobo Saturday, February 22, 2025 With warmer weather at lower elevations I picked Cerro Lobo. We will depart my QTH at 0800 for the 2.5 hour drive to trail head parking. see GPX file drive From parking its a .3 to .5 mile hike to the summit. 20 min see GPX file Hike QRV should be around 1830 UTC. Weather should be sunny with winds around 5mph and temps high 40's to low 50's. The road up to parking might be SUBARU capable, but if I remember correctly, a couple of places require high clearance. As always anyone wishing to join us is welcome. 73 all WB5USB Geo..
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Couldn¡¯t resist creating the SOTA hat photo. Beautiful weather up there today, ZL2AGY on 10m was icing on the cake. 73/72 John K1JD
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Mostly sunny as we headed out to summit parking in Squirrel One. Don's Land Rover had no problems today negotiating the snowy road up to parking. Snow was only on the north facing slope so once on top mostly clear. It was cold and windy on top so I borrowed Tim's extra Boothy and with my snowmobile suit on, quite comfy. I did not have cell coverage at my op site so I did not get a chance to text Carol for a contact. Tim, however did get a spot out to Carol. Did not take any pics today so I'll just send a couple of previous ones. Great little summit. 73 all WB5USB Geo...
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Tim, Don , and I plan to activate W5N/SE-026 Blue Bird Mesa Wednesday February 12. Meet a my QTH around 0800 then take the drive up to summit parking. QRV around 1800 UTC. Ranger station informed Don that the roads might be wet or muddy in a few spots. Drive up from the Hwy is short. Scott , NM5SW, might join us, and if he does will be driving his Bronco. Nice to have back up. Weather will be sunny, cold and windy. Temps in the 30's. 73 all WB5USB Geo
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Fred ¨C I am encroaching on 70 y/o here and don¡¯t feel ¡°nails tough¡± anymore. ¨C kd5kc <<< speaking as an athletic coach¡ and now 80 years of age myself: I am glad to have completed the Pikes Peak marathon 12 times, last time when I was 67 yrs old. There are plenty of people who ran it even after age 80. I also ran the R-2-R-2-R at age 67. But I digress¡ Ashby Harper was headmaster of Albuquerque Academy which had its own Olympic size indoor pool. Nice. He was a swimmer. He had an ambition to swim the English Channel. He retired from Academy and then swam the English Channel, at age 66, the oldest to do it at that time. In 1992, at age 76, he defeated a field of much younger swimmers in a, well¡ to quote his obituary: ¡°Somewhat later, poor Ashby raced a younger swimmer to a West Coast open water finish and touched him out only to die on the sandy beach¡ As of 2002, he remains the oldest English Channel swimmer¡± ¡ my coaching viewpoint: it ain¡¯t what you can still do, it is what you can recover from. fd
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Don and I attempted W5N/GW-008 , Corner Mountain, on Saturday. It was a long drive, over 5 hrs just to get to trail head parking. Actually no trail at all. Last several miles was slow go over very rocky FS roads. Saw a flock of wild turkeys on the way up along with lots of deer. Once on top we hiked down the ridge a ways to check out the easiest way up the summit, which is covered with dead fall. Contacted Dale, AAOY, and found out he had parked down off the ridge line near a lake. Said the hike was rough. We did not have enough time to hike up to the summit and then back down before it would be dark so we decided in order to get this one we would need to stay over night in Reserve and start out early. Looked like a nice summit (see pics). Get this one in the summer. 73 all Geo
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Worked Brian, NM5BG, activating in California, on forty-meters¡ and Doc called my attention to K9ROB who is visiting from Anchorage, Alaska, and had alerted to activate the Organ Needle, W5N/OR-001. The needle is a challenging hike. I activated it in 2014 oh HF, Alan and Mike activated it in 2016 on 2M. Those are the only activations of this well known high point. Rob posted for 20M SSB only and I would not have expected to hear him. As luck would have it; there was short skip, and even more unusual, I found my microphone beneath a bunch of stuff in a drawer. I got the SOTA COMPLETE, the only opportunity for it so far, and Doc worked him also such that he has worked both of the HF activations of this peak. Great series of photos from a hiker, here: https://stevensong.com/usa/new-mexico/organ-needle/ This peak is a fun challenge. You hike from about 5,500 ft to 9,000 ft and look down on Las Cruces more than 6,000 ft below! I see that in 2022 someone installed a rope ladder for the previously free climb, I guess it could be ignored, hi hi. 73, fred kt5x
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Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am