I successfully activated a summit - Mt. Pisgah - a 10 pointer on Thursday - October 18th.
Getting there was quite an adventure - approaching the mountain from the backside (noth side) on Cruso Rd. That mountain road was very steep with 25% grade in many places and very twisty. Thanks to KW4JM for helping me navigate the driving.
The trail itself was pretty challenging - carrying a 23 pound pack as it ascended 700 feet over 1.1 mile. I recorded the hike on my smartwatch and uploaded the track and all the data to Strava (heart rate, elevation gain, elapsed time). It took me close to 1 hour (maybe 50 minutes) to ascend and 1 hour to descend. I could have been quicker on the descent but with tired legs I had to be careful not to twist an ankle.
Upon reaching the top, I found a wooden observation deck. It had a convenient rail to which I fastened my SOTABeams 30 foot long fiberglass mast and to the mast I fastened my LNR precision EFHW into an inverted V configuration. The other side of the inverted V was fastened via a guy rope to a place about 50 feet away.
The rig I used was a KX3 and the mode I was able to use was CW. I made 9 QSO's in quick order on 20m at 14.065 MHz.
KW4JM was activating a peak Mt. Mitchell at the same time and I was able to talk to him on the 2 meter HT on 146.52 MHz.
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