MOUNT GREYLOCK-11 REPORT - 2016
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AB1PH, Don Rolph

We were parked where we have been for every year,  at the junction where the summit 
road splits form the road to Williamstown. We were at:  42.6333723N, -73.170740W.


There is a parking area just off from the split.  We had 30 foot poles for the 
antennas.  They were colinear 8 dB gain.  We used a D710GA at 50 watts.

This site has worked for the last four years.

If you look carefully grylck-11 is West South West of the summit of Mt Greylock. 
Therefore the route to Equinox is approximately due north and skirts the west 
edge of Mt Greylock.

Indeed if Mt Greylock was between us and Equinox, then the UHF voice communications 
would not work either.  so the argument that the summit is between us and EQINOX-12 
is presumably in error.

What we do have is difficulty in utilizing legal parking spaces on Mt Greylock with 
usable views to Sams Point and to Equinox.

The location we have used for the last four years seems based on our reconnaissance 
to be perhaps the best compromise given the conditions.

We back this up with:

- D710GA systems which appear to be among the more resilient packet systems
- running at 50 watts
- with 8 db gain collinear antennas
- on top of painter poles to give us reasonable height

and doing so as a truly  car mountable system.

Noting that:

- UHF voice communication appears to be reliable between:
o  grylck-11 and eqinox-12
o  grylck-11 and samspt-10
o  grylck-11 and slide1/10

- from this years test, packet movement (both 1200 baud and 9600 baud) is reliable 
between:
o grylck-11 and samspt-10
o grylck-11 and slide-1/10

- from the last three years testing including the successful full length golden 
packet effort of 2014, reliable packets
o grylck-11 and eqinox-12

If someone has a better proposed locaton on Greylock, we would be happy to consider 
it.  But we do not have the full summit of Mt. Greylock between us and Mt Equinox.

We also hear eqinox-12 packets (both 1200 baud and 9600 baud) quite reliably.
 
Packets are moving from equinox-12 to grylck-11.

Is it possible perhaps that the receiving strength of eqinox-12 needs to be improved?  
What would be the impact for example of higher gain antennas at eqinox-12?

Before we jump to conclusions, we really need to understand the actual situation on 
the ground.  Suggesting that the summit of Greylock is between grylck-11 and 
eqinox-12 is clearly incorrect.

73,
AB1PH
Don Rolph