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Transportation issues precluded doing the planned summit so I ended up doing the most obvious and closest summit to Reykjavik, Ularsfell. Was an unusually beautiful clear day with a cool wind (~9c) for the approximately 90 minute hike up the 968ft one pointer. As you probably know HF band conditions have been terrible, made only 8 European contacts on 20m and 15m in just over an hour. Currently in the Faroe Islands where both the terrestrial weather and space weather are awful. 50mph+ winds and rain from an Atlantic storm have made hiking conditions too dangerous for SOTA, supposed to clear by Thursday. HF propagation for the Dxpedition here have been the worst I've seen, pretty much the only contacts we have made in the last 24 hours have been on FT8 (not by me!) - its as if someone turned the ionosphere off! Will alert when I know I can get out for some ascents, should be able to do Faroes highest later in the week if I'm lucky.......
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Excellent weather as Don, Yeti and I proceeded from trail head parking up the trail to the summit. Trail is well defined and in good shape but a little rocky in places. This is Yeti's first SOTA summit, and as you can see from the pics, he had no problem. We stopped a couple of time to rest on the way up and while we took a couple Yeti proceeded to dig a hole in the shade to rest in. Band conditions were up and down but had good luck on 20 meters , which was the only band I had with me today. Made some nice s-2-s's today. Thanks to all the chasers... enjoy the pics WB5USB George Yeti is 5 months old
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On Saturday May 31, 2025 we will depart my QTH around 0700 en-route to met up with Don at his QTH. It is a 40 min drive from his QTH to trail head parking. All roads are family sedan friendly. We plan to have Yeti along with us, Don's 6 month old GIANT puppy with us. See pic W5N/SI-014 Monte Largo. From parking its a 1.5 mile hike on a well defined FS trail to the summit. QRV around 1630. 73's all WB5USB Geo..
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TF, OY and GM activations
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Lifes been getting in the way so SOTA took a back seat for a while but I am still here....... I'm heading out on a Dxpedition to the Faroe Islands tomorrow, stopping on the way there for a few days in Iceland and on the way back in Scotland. I plan to activate in all three countries even if it's only once and can only manage a one pointer, I've already alerted for a summit in Iceland. We arrive in the Faroes next Monday and I'll be there for eight days so hopefully will be able to do more than one activation, there are also lots of summits here that have not yet been activated so if I can I'll do one of those. I know there is a significant time difference but as the days will be long and our Dxpedition will be running an almost 24 hour operation I may end up activating in the evening which should give any W5N chasers a chance. As usual I will [plan to] start on 20m and then do 15m, 10m and 40m then back to 20m. I don't anticipate cell coverage issues so should be able to spot. I'll be activating as TF/G6TFL/P, OY/G6TFL/P and GM6TFL/P. If you want to work the Dxpedition the main callsigns in use should be OY/K4LT and OY/W9MK and also the Faroes radio club callsigns of OY6A and OY6FRA. Here's a recent podcast interview about the trip; The DX Mentor Episode 69 - WB2REM & the Faroe Islands DXPedition Happy chasing :) Carol K5TFL
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All FS roads are free of any snow as well as the FS trail to the top. On the way up I met a nice lady who was hiking back down. She ask me if I was headed up or down. I said up. Then chatted a while. Weather was excellent on top. Band conditions were not ideal but I did manage 3 S-2-S's and over twenty contacts. As I was packing up a group of Navajos came up the trail to the summit. Must have been about 21. They were on their yearly hike to what I found out later was a sacred Mountain, Mount Taylor, because I defines the south east border of their land (Good info from Scott, NM5SW). They were real nice and ask no photos or audio. It was also interesting that they were chanting coming up the trail. 73 all WB5USB Geo
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Sunday May 25, 2025 Mount Taylor W5N/SM-001 We will depart my QTH by 0800 for parking at the upper saddle. 2 hour and 20 min drive. From parking its a .5 mile hike to the summit on an easy FS Trail. I expect QRV to be around 1730 UTC. This is an iconic summit with lots of room and pine trees at the top. Elevation a little over 11000 ft. Weather will be partly cloudy with winds around 7 mph and warm temps.
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now wait...
WHAT??? 13:00 MW0UCL/P GW/SW-012 Airborne mobile with paraglider top land to activate 2m fm fd
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Great weather today as Scott, NM5SW, and I, WB5USB, headed out to Big Mountain W5N/SE-027. All roads in great shape except the last 1.5 miles, which is extremely rocky and rough. I finally manage to slip and drop onto a rock. I was not paying attention as well as I should have been. No damage but scraped a mount under the right rear axle. Better to drive over the rocks with the tires. HI HI From parking we hiked up to the summit and set up ops. Band conditions were bad, but we both managed to get enough contacts. Managed an s-2-s with Alan, NM5s, who was on Scooter Peak. Was looking for Carol, but never saw any spots for her or the other group. 73 all and enjoy the pics George
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On Saturday May 17, 2025 W5N/SE-027 Big Mountain QRV 1700 UTC I will depart my QTH around 0745 en-route to pick up Scott, NM5SW, at his QTH. From there it will be about a 1 hour 58 min drive to the summit. The FS roads are in good condition except the last mile. This last mile to the summit requires high clearance and 4WD. see previous pics for fun As always anyone wishing to join us is welcome. WB5USB Geo...?
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This area has been closed for several years, since the fire there. It is open again, and the gates on the road are also open. John and I ascended the peak. along the way, fresh clean air, and fire remnants not too terrible. We found deer, elk, bear and lion sign, plus we encounter the carcasses of three cows, obviously lion kills. Still a LOT of snow above ten thousand feet. 73, fred PS: the road to Barillas is CLOSED repairing a washed out culvert, until May 23. The Barillas area is open this year. Elk is most certainly snowed out yet. PPS: Roberto, K6KM will be visiting early June. He asked for a list of drive-up peaks between santa fe and taos. I said, ¡°you aren¡¯t in Kansas any more¡±
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Was an excellent day for W5N/SL-015 El Cerro de Los Lunas. On the way up I ran across four people working on the trails. Looks like they are getting ready to establish a new trail head. Took me two hours to make the two mile hike to the summit. On the way up I took a couple of pictures of the Solar Array. What a monster. Once on top I found a small cedar bush to set up ops and get some shade. Packed extra light so I only had 20 meters with me today. Noisy on top, but did make some decent contacts. see pics for fun Don and I tried Big Mountain, May 1, but due to road conditions, MUD MUD SNOW, we aborted and decided to check out Cabezon Peak. Looks like you must now park in a developed area and hike an extra mile to the old parking area which makes total hike about 2.6 miles. Maybe more. see pics for fun 73 all WB5USB George
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Thursday May 8, 2025 W5N/SE-027 Big Mountain QRV 1700 We will depart my QTH by 0800 en-route to summit parking. 2 hrs From parking its a very short hike to the summit. This is a nice summit which over looks the Rio Puerco river valley and Hwy 550 to the west. All FS roads were in good shape except the last mile which requires high clearance and 4 WD. see GPX drive and pics from previous activation. As always anyone wishing to join us is welcome...WB5SB George
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Action Plan: W5N/SE-028 9114 Thursday May 1, 2025 Don and I will depart my QTH by 0800 en-route to the summit. Once we leave the pavement, just past Gilman Tunnels, the road becomes rocky and rutted in places. To make the 13 mile trip easier I plan to air down to about 20 psi. Higher clearance vehicle a definite plus. From where we park, by the tree fall, its a very short hike to the summit. QRV by 1800 UTC see GPX drive and previous pics. WB5USB George
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John and I tackled Roman last Friday. We did a different route shown below. It took us an hour instead of an hour and twenty, and it seemed more open. We also found a different route through the fence. Someone else had cut a wire to make getting through easy. - fd
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St Peters Dome, SE-035, has been burned over three times, the first time in 1996, the Dome Fire. Very few of the original ponderosas survived, but they stand 100 feet tall looking over an otherwise very open area. Very A few years ago we saw volunteers planting at least 1,000 seedlings. Watching those plantings has been frustrating as it appeared none survived. This year it was clearly wrong. MOST did not take, but a few have. Attached is a photo of one! But this year, poking their heads above the scrub oaks and New Mexico thorny locusts, are many, hundreds, of ponderosas seedlings. They varied in size from knee high to shoulder high! (Ponderosas seeds are said to require a fire to germinate. I am not so sure since I have seen many seedlings crop up along roadsides in the mountains where there had been no fire. In any case, our great grandchildren will get to see a forest here one day. 73, fred
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WX7OR visiting
WX7OR, Jeff, is visiting ABQ next week on business. He will be trying to activate Palomas, Monte Largo, and 6860 on Tuesday. fred
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T-Mobile My wife and I hiked St Peters dome today. Beautiful day, radio conditions much less than stellar. I set up just below the fire tower. She saw that the tower had been broken into, a sleeping pad and an empty wine bottle lay on the floor. Meanwhile, we encountered remnants of a lion kill, see below. Other things of note: a camping group from Colorado Youth Corps was coming out of Capulin Canyon. More about them here: https://www.cyca.org/ Along the road to the Dome, there were FINALLY, MANY small ponderosas growing after the 1996 fire. A few were in the thousand plantings but most were natural volunteers. the road in from NM 4 ¡ there has been a LOT of work there cutting up and removing the fire dead trees, piles made of the limbs. Also did a side trip to Obsidian Ridge. It is aptly named. 73, fred
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Day could not have been nicer as we headed out to W5N/SE-036. The route we took up is not SUBARU friendly. High clearance was necessary. Roads were rocky and deeply rutted in places. Once on top I attached my mast to the fence and set up ops in the shade of a couple of trees. Band conditions were decent so I made my first DX contact to Japan (JG0AWE) and my second to S57S. Scott,NM5SW, took his Bronco and went on up to Mesa Portales. Made a S-2-S with him. I will post the following to the sota.las page: We stopped by the ZIA pueblo governors office to get information on getting passes for Pajarito Peak. We met the Gov on his way out and he directed us to Glenn Tortalita, Assistant Administrator, who gave us the scoop. To acquire a pass e-mail him your plan. Must include why, where, and when. (SOTA) They will e-mail you back the pass. (might take up to two weeks until they are up to speed) gtortalita@... 135 Capitol Square Dr. Zia Pueblo, NM 87053-6013 Office: (505) 337-2150 73 all enjoy the pics WB5USB Geo...
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Wednesday April 23, 2025 W5N/SE-036 8012 We will depart my QTH by 0800 en-route to summit parking. see GPS Drive QRV by 1630 UTC Weather will be mostly sunny with temps in the high 60's to low 70's and winds around 7 mph. See previous pics 73 all WB5USB George
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Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am