w6csn’s outdoor amateur radio

Mt. Tamalpais holds a special place for me. As a kid growing up in Mill Valley, Mt. Tam was literally the mountain playground in my backyard. I haven’t lived in Mill Valley for decades, but I always enjoy getting back on this mountain. Tamalpais is my first love, in terms of mountains.

For this activation, I brought along the FT-818 and the microphone! I typically do 20M CW for POTA because I have the antenna pretty well worked out. But, I wanted to try a different band so before heading out I cut two lengths of wire to 17 feet give or take and wrapped them figure-8 style on the same winder that holds the 20M end-fed.

I decided to give SSB a try because 10 meters seemed to be doing well recently and I figured that with some elevation, I could potentially get out well enough to make QRP phone worth while. Although, I must admit I prefer CW. I am more accustomed to that mode and actually find it easier than phone and all the talking it requires.

One 17 foot section of wire went up the partially extended Spiderbeam mast which I had stashed in a bush on the summit. The other section was tossed downhill over the mountainside as a counterpoise. The ZM-2 tuner served as the connection point for the two antenna elements and getting a good match was no problem.

I forgot to bring my phone, so I used my companion’s phone to sign into pota.app and spot myself on a clear frequency . The trouble with the summit of Tam is there is no real good place to sit. It’s all very rocky and uneven, so I did the best I could to find a comfortable position from which I could operate the radio and write in the logbook.

I started calling CQ while looking out over my old hometown of Mill Valley with my current hometown of San Francisco visible in the distance under a heavy grey sky. After several minutes my call was answered by K3SDM who was himself doing a POTA activation, from Charlestown State Park in Indiana (K-2253).

Within 20 minutes there were 10 QSOs in the log, enough for a valid activation. I would have liked to have done some more, but the wind was starting to pick up and it was getting a bit chilly, plus, the rocky seating arrangement was beginning to take a toll. So we packed up the station and headed back down the mountain, stopping in Mill Valley for lunch and coffee.

It was satisfying to get back on my favorite mountain and get some POTA action in before the next round of rain arrived. While I may not go back up to East Peak for HF operating, I do hope to get back into K-1178 during the upcoming spring and summer for more POTA fun.