After a successful SOTA and POTA activation at Hanging Rock State Park on Tuesday, July 13, 2021, I drove to nearby Pilot Mountain State Park. It was quite warm, but a beautiful day with no afternoon thunderstorms in sight.
I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play a little more radio. As the French say, “Il faut en profiter!”
Although I’ve seen Pilot Mountain numerous times in my travels, I had never actually visited the park so this was a new-to-me park activation.
Pilot mountain is a landmark in the Yadkin river valley and has a fascinating back story.
Per Pilot Mountain State Park’s website:
“Pilot Mountain is a remnant of the ancient Sauratown Mountains. A quartzite monadnock, this rugged mountain rock has survived for millions of years while the elements have eroded surrounding peaks to a rolling plain.
Pilot Mountain is capped by two prominent pinnacles. Big Pinnacle, with walls of bare rock and a rounded top covered by vegetation, rises 1,400 feet above the valley floor, the knob jutting skyward more than 200 feet from its base. Big Pinnacle is connected to Little Pinnacle by a narrow saddle.
The mountain was mapped in 1751 by Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson, father of President Thomas Jefferson. Pilot Mountain became North Carolina’s 14th state park in 1968. The Pilot Mountain Preservation and Park Committee proposed the establishment of Pilot Mountain as a state park in order to protect it and the surrounding area from commercial development. The group secured options on the land and raised matching funds that made it possible to purchase with
federal grants.”
Pilot Mountain is a SOTA summit, but it has never been activated because it would require an experienced rock climber (assuming access is even allowed). The base of Big Pinnacle is 61 meters above the summit trail system, so well outside the 25 meter activation zone.
Pilot Mountain State Park (K-2750)
I only had my sights set on making a park activation out of Pilot Mountain and, frankly, I didn’t even have time to explore the trail system that Tuesday.
Finding a spot to set up was quite easy. I entered the park and took a right at the roundabout which lead to the parking area at the top portion of the mountain.
From there, I found a small picnic area perhaps 50 meters from the parking lot. I carried my gear there and set up shop!
Since I was doing this activation mid-afternoon, I had the picnic area to myself, save one unfortunate woman who was trying to (conspicuously, if I’m being honest) fit in a bit of meditation time. She picked out a picnic table near one of the main trails basically in the center of the picnic site , so I assumed she was pretty good at blocking out noises you’d normally hear at a busy park.
But the question remained: could she block out the sweet sound of CW emanating from my FT-817?
There was only one way to find out!
In truth, I try to lay low at parks and not disturb other people. In this case, I picked a table on the perimeter of the picnic area but it was still only a couple tables away from her. Since I was making one of my real-time, real-life field activation videos, I would be using the speaker–instead of headphones–with the FT-817.
In other words, there was no escaping a little CW music!
Gear:
- Yaesu FT-817ND
- Elecraft T1 ATU
- 28.5 foot speaker wire antenna using one BNC Binding Post Adapter (affiliate link)
- CW Morse “Pocket Paddle”
- GoRuck GR1 USA
- Bioenno 3 aH LiFePo Battery (Model BLF-1203AB)
- Weaver arborist throw line/weight and storage bag (affiliate links)
- Rite In The Rain Weatherproof Cover/Pouch (affiliate link)
- Jovitec 2.0 mm Mechanical Pencil (affiliate link)
- Muji A6 Notepad (affiliate link)
- HEROCLIP Carabiner Clip (attached to my backpack–affiliate link)
- Portable Zero FT-817 Side Rails and Bail
This was also the first time I’d used my new orange single-level CW Morse paddle very kindly gifted to me by contributor/subscriber, Nathan (N8HWV).
Thank you so much, Nathan!
On The Air
I started on 20 meters CW and, fortunately, it was hopping!
I worked 18 stations in 19 minutes. Whew!
Many thanks to N2EIM and NA9M for the P2P (Park To Park) contacts!
I then moved to 40 meters where I worked K8DRT for a second time (first was on 20M) and my “it wasn’t a real activation unless I worked him” buddy, K8RAT.
40 meters wasn’t in as good of shape as 20 meters was.
Having no way to spot myself to the POTA site, I didn’t attempt any SSB contacts–I would have at least for a while, otherwise.
Video
Here’s a real-time, real-life, no-edit, no-ad video of the entire activation:
Click here to view on YouTube.
Inner Peace through code…
Evidently, Morse code must have “resonated” with my meditating neighbor.
She didn’t move until I I was off the air–as if the conclusion of her session coincided with the end of my activation.
Obviously, a little CW helped her along her journey to inner peace. 🙂
I know it did for me!
Thank you
As always, thank you for reading this field report. I hope you take a little time to achieve your inner peace by playing radio outdoors! 🙂
73,
Thomas (K4SWL)
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I am learning cw and really look up to Thomas as what I can hopefuly do one day. Very keen on rig videos and accessories. 73. J
Another good one Thomas. I can’t get over how clear the CW sounds coming out of the 817. This activation makes me want to go to Pilot Mountain. I had 2 ladies park right in front of me at the BRP overlook the other day. I spoke to them while changing coils on my Hustler Mobile antenna and told them I would be doing a little Morse Code. They proceeded to have lunch under the same shade tree but once I started the CW, they picked up their chairs and moved over to the only other tree at the overlook. Glad your neighbor enjoyed the inner peace of your CW as I do.
Been inactive for 17 years — listening to you work cw on Pilot Mountain re-sparked my interest in Amature Radio.