On Saturday 4/14/2012 I decided to haul my gear up to the top of Lantern Hill. There are open trails, though they do tend to get a little rocky and step near the top and it is only 400 feet but the view is great and I figured it would be a good test for some SOTA work that I want to do this year. I took along the following radio gear:

Yaesu FT-857D

Small 12V Battery

A homemade Pac-12 Antenna with a 20 and 40 meter coil

A camera tripod to use as a mast for the antenna

Antenna Tuner

My 2 meter HT

Various wires to connect everything together

It was quite the workout to get to the top. I set up everything with no issues. I had thought of bringing my hamstick dipole and mast. That would have been far too much work. The mast alone weighs a few pounds. This was the weekend for the GA and NM QSO party and the Rookie Roundup so I did not foresee any issue with contacts. Since I started out late in the day, I did not have much time to spend at the top but I was able to make contact with the following stations:

N4IIE

K4N

K4R

NB7V

It was interesting to notice that there was almost no background noise on the radio. I guess being far from interfering power sources and a very high antenna makes a big difference. Since it was starting to get dark, I packed it all in and headed home.

Here is a video of the summit:

http://youtu.be/im5cdCZFVR0