I did some 2m portable operating from Pacific Grove near Point Pinos. Click here for an aerial image showing my operating location on the Monterey Peninsula.
My wife and I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to see the White Shark before they have to eventually let it go (Update: The shark was let go on 3-31-05, just two days after our visit). After that we decided to go up to Pacific Grove to walk on the beach. We stopped at a beach that had a rock outcropping.
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Here I am squeezing in a little "hilltopping" from the top of the rocks. I heard Chuck (KG6VMV) back in San Jose on the HT with the stock duckie. I tried calling him, but he obviously couldn't hear me. It was then that I decided to set up the portable beam to see if I could reach back to San Jose with the HT. I just happened to have the beam packed in the truck for the trip (ha!). |
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Back on shore, I set up the mast by strapping it to a bench using bungie cords. Once the beam was set up, I gave out my call during a pause between transmissions. Ken (W6KLH) was able to hear me just fine, and his signal was about 3 bars on the VX-150. I was running 5 watts at the time. Not bad for a 50 mile trip, which included some mountains in between. This wasn't really a hilltopping excursion, which is why this page is in the "Other Portable Operation" section of my home page. I should've carried the mast back out to the rocks and set up there. Maybe then it would count as hilltopping. The rock formation I was on top of in the first picture can be seen over my right shoulder in this picture. |
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There was a strong breeze blowing so I leaned up against the mast to keep it from bending too much in the wind. I was also able to talk to K6GOD back in San Jose who was about 3 bars on the VX-150 while he was running 5 watts. I believe he said my signal was S5. He cranked up the power to 80 watts and then he was almost full scale and sounded like he could've been nearby in Seaside or something. |