w6csn’s outdoor amateur radio

Vollmer Peak is a one pointer situated in the hills between Oakland and Orinda, California. The “trailhead” is at the overflow parking lot for the Redwood Valley Railroad, a fun narrow gauge railroad just off Grizzly Peak road in Tilden Park.

You can walk to the peak via a paved access road. There are a few switchbacks up this moderate part of the road before the grade eases up a bit.

After the initial climb, you’ll find a bench on the right hand side of the road that looks out toward the east. This is where I found K6EL working just inside the AZ. He showed me a shortcut that follows some game trails and involves some light bushwacking to reach the summit. I was grateful for the tip, if you continue to follow the road around, you are faced with a very steep final approach to the summit.

The summit itself is a broad, flat area festooned with the obligatory communication towers. No interference was noted from the facilities or the power lines. It was actually a very quiet summit.

From the activation zone you get good views to the west, looking at San Francisco and the Golden Gate.

I bungeed a tenkara fishing rod to a fence post and used it to loft my 20 meter end-fed halfwave antenna.

At the other end of the wire a 64:1 matching transformer connects to the coax that goes to the radio. This was under the watchful eye of one of the security cameras. Hello!

The radio for today’s activation was the Elecraft KH1. I also carried in my backpack a compact folding chair that gave me a place to sit while working the chasers.

When I eyeballed with K6EL on the way up, he mentioned that the band seemed to be cooling off a bit. By the time I got set up, the bands were definitely quieter than I thought they should be on a Saturday afternoon with quiet solar and geomagnetic conditions.

After 45 minutes of operating and chatting with passersby about ham radio and SOTA, I had a total of eight contacts in the log. Less than I was expecting but enough to make the activation a success.

73 de W6CSN