SteppIR EZNEZ STUDY

TARANTULA MIGRATION DXPEDITIONS:  2004  2006

USS RONALD REAGAN

CQ DIABLO

IN MEMORIAM

FGA     WHY HAM RADIO IS DYING

 cq diablo 2006

There are few things as enjoyable as camping out with your buddies and playing ham radio.  This year's CQ Diablo gave us the opportunity to do both.  Our team consisted of Ken--KG6JMJ and your humble author, me--K6SGH.

The Devil's Fingers are a rock outcropping of spire like red sandstone at the top of the Santa Ynez mountains in Santa Barbara county.  From this location, at 3800 feet, our antennas pointed down over the Pacific to the south, and the Santa Ynez valley to the north and east.  It's a wonderful spot to play radio.

We arrived at the location early Saturday morning around 7:30 and were on the air by 8:30 making q's.  I set up in my camper van and utilized hamsticks for the various bands.

As the 2006 Nojoqui Tarantula Migration was taking place at the same time, I left the Devil's Fingers to meet up with a New York Times reporter that had come out to do a story on this year's Migration.  So, I left and spent the next 4.5 hours chasing migrating tarantulas around the Santa Ynez valley. You can read about it here.

...and my familiar VW EuroVan camper equipped with its external power supply.  In the right hand portion of the picture, you can just see the peaks of the mountains on Anacapa Island jutting through the marine layer.

During the period, I made 47 contacts in 24 states.  Band conditions weren't very good due to solar disturbances.  But there were periods when the bands were hopping and I had the opportunity to work a few short pileups.  Always a pleasure!

...and here's Ken, KG6JMJ's setup.  His dipole that he constructed at the site earned him 250 extra points.  34 contacts...good work Ken!

we got the following spots as well for the event:

N6AJR      7250.0 KK6EK       "devil station " MT Diablo    0154 22 Oct 2006
K6III      7249.8 N6SPP       Mt Diablo - CQ Spec Evt       0224 22 Oct 2006
NN6EE      7250.0 N6SPP       Mt. Diablo Spec. Evnt stn.    0240 22 Oct 2006
KN6DQ      7250.0 N6SPP       Mt. Diablo Special Event      0252 22 Oct 2006
W9RDA     18147.0 K6SGH       DIABLO SPECIAL EVENT          1509 22 Oct 2006

KK6EK and N6SPP were also working as a team from Mt. Diablo in Contra Costa county

CQ DIABLO TEAM KK6EK and N6SPP

Ops: Bob KK6EK, Rick N6SPP

QTH: #11, Juniper Campground, Mt. Diablo, Contra Costa County

Lat 37deg 52 min 38.2 sec North

Long 121 deg 55 min 58.8 sec West

Elevation 2859 ft. by GPS

Summit 1 mile to the NE

Equipment:

FT1000D HF transceiver

R7 vertical multiband antenna

[other gear of N6SPP]

Honda 2 kW superquiet generators

QRV:

0050Z-0415Z

Selected QSOs:

0105Z E51JD South Cook Island 20m

0256Z K6SGH 40m

Team Mt. Diablo operating tent (this tent was used by K7C on Kure Atoll)

R7 Vertical multiband antenna and vhf array

(L)Rick, N6SPP and (R)Bob, KK6EK at the operating position

The view from atop Mt. Diablo

Team Mt. Diablo

(left to right)Rodney-swl, Bob-KK6EK, Steve-KG6PID and Rick-N6SPP

Team Mt. Diablo log