>
Macie N4LR said:
> I like air conditioning better than peanuts... You don't need air
> conditioning on Mt. Mitchell..
>
>
> N4 Limited Resources
Been there done that. In 1964 a group including myself visited Mt. Mitchell
(we operated from the shed near the workers quarters).
This was a hammarlund Dxpedition of the Month so we had Hammarlund gear and
Clegg VHF stuff. Made over 3,000 QSos on HF and over 700 on 6 meters about
evenly split between CW and AM (not SSB). We ran a Hy-gain 6 el beam at 35
feet and about 300 watts (Clegg Zeus with a 4X150 as I recall). We picked
up a U-haul and Econ Van full of gear and antennas from Stu Meyer W2GHK...we
met Lloyd Hammarlund, too. Ed Clegg personally sent along the Zeus and
Matching Receiver but forgot the little Clegg Venus so we had no 6 meter
SSB. W3ZZ marvels at our 700+ 6 meter contacts even today. Highlight of
VHF was working Sam harris in KP4 and helen Harris in New England.
Highlight on HF was having ZL2GX call us Mountain Goats!
This was in early August and it got down to about 55 at night. I slept in a
U-haul trailer in a bed roll and had to take a shower almost every morning
as water condensed on me!!! 55 and wet is cold!. It had snowed about July
1st the previous year.
The top of the Mountain was between us and NE so we were either 59+20 in say
4X and OH and almost unreadable in DL or G. We had a Galaxy III for mobile
use and we ran several sessions on top with great European runs. No
obstacles to the West so
we were loud in VL/ZL. We had great runs of JA in the early morning with a
KW amp and a Hy-gain 80/40 dual band dipole at 20 to 30 feet (trees are
small up there).
Sadly, our Mountain topping has been curtailed by all the commercial gear on
most Mountain tops. The little Galaxy III with Hustler whip on 20 SSB
(county hunters freq) caused QRM and we were invited to leave. HI.
Dave K4JRB
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