***************************************************************************
*             ATGP 2019 Report for MT Greylock    by Jim, N4WFP          75
***************************************************************************

My apologizes for both being late to the event and being late in sending in 
my report. Work travel has seriously impacted my Ham Radio projects and 
time over the previous several months.

Below is a link to a Google Map that I built using the last positions 
stored in my D72 List from all the Digi sites.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HJIYVrRusfwfXDbCsA_9KSMDYlb0mtjf&usp=sharing 


Planned Operation:

Some months before this event I obtained a new old-stock KAM-XL. I have one 
of the original KAMs from decades ago. Great modems. My plan was to 
interface the KAM-XL to my IC-7100 and then operate that as the DIGI and 
use the D72 as a QA receiver. As is normal work got busy and I had to travel 
quite a bit for work preceeding the event so the build of the GP setup 
started the night before the event. This included a Lead Acid Battery to 
power the whole setup independent of the vehicle. Had a tri-pod mast with 
a 2m ladder line role out antenna. This whole package was my idea for a 
get-away emergency package. After getting all the hardware interfaced I went 
to start configuring the KAM-XL with the GP parameters. Well it appears that 
either the KAM-XL didn't have an up-to-date firmware load or it was never 
updated to support the New-N paradigm. Anyone comment on that? After working 
until after midnight I finally tossed in the towel and gave up going to bed.

Woke up the next morning late (0730) and needed to program the D72 for GP 
parameters and get going. I currently stay in Merrimack NH so the drive was 
about 3 hours. Ran into traffic which caused even further delay. Arrival was 
close to 13:00 (again sorry for that).

I had been issued a permit by the State of MA to setup at the Thurderbolt 
Shelter near the summit. I was planning on doing POTA HF in addition to 
the GP. Permit was not exclusive use and provided no reserved parking. The 
Shelter was not in the optimal location for GP on the NE side of the summit 
and arriving late parking was an issue. I attempted to use that location 
last year with the D72 using it's factory antenna which performed very 
poorly hence the new setup I planned to use. As discussed the planned setup 
was a no-go.

Once within repeater range of the 146.91 Mt Greylock repeater I made contact 
with Jeff N1JCM at Equinox-12 about 50 minutes out to advise I was late but 
enroute. Arrived at the Mt Greylock access road and started the accent up 
the mountain (in vehicle). D72 was activated at that point. As I arrived at 
the first overlook area close to the summit I was starting to see significant 
packet traffic and was able to verify with EQ-12 that he was seeing my beacon. 
It appeared that this location was a good location to stay at (Location 1 
42°38'24.5"N 73°10'17.5"W 42.640140, -73.171540) to maintain North - South 
APRS traffic for the event.

At 1430 as directed I switched to 9600. I could still see packets from EQ-12 
but he was no longer seeing mine. Troubleshot for about 15 minutes or so. 
Since I had never operated the D72 at 9600 I was not sure what the issue 
might be (equipment, propagation etc). Finally at 14:45 I decided to move 
to a new location and drove further up the road toward the summit. At 14:50 
I arrived at the second location (Location 2 42°38'15.8"N 73°10'21.6"W 
(42.637722, -73.172667). EQ-12 started seeing packets again from my station. 
Remained at that location until the conclusion of the event. While both 
locations were at 3k+ feet elevation they both had excessive foliage growth 
on the mountain side higher then the vehicle antenna. Likely some attenuation 
since I was only putting out 5-6 watts depending on the location. The only 
location on Mount Greylock that would not have foliage issues (this time of 
year) would be the summit. No parking in that area with the clear view, 
heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic. 

Actual Equipment Used: D72 on high power into a 5/8 Mag-Mount antenna on the 
roof of my vehicle with power from the vehicle.

Lessons Learned;
1) Don't wait until the last minute to build and implement a new methodology. 
Best laid plans of mice and men ...

2) Mt Greylock geography shadows half the summit from both the North and 
South Stations without using masted antenna and additional power

3) D72 9600 performance is a bit finicky. I think one of the previous emails 
mentioned something to that effect. I never used it at 9600 before so I had 
no idea

4) Both locations listed above are acceptable to complete the required N-S 
chain with the necessary visibility but only the second one allowed the D72 
to be successful at 9600

5) I was finally able to use the APRS messaging functions. Something that I 
never was able to do before. Sure helps to read the manual. Where I normally 
stay/live in NH there does not appear to be significant APRS message traffic 
so this event was an excellent opportunity to learn about APRS messaging and 
actually use/practice the capability.

6) I still have not figured out if the D72 offers any type of indication via 
the display that it is digipeating a packet, anyone ???

7) While 9600 offers far superior throughput it does introduce issues (at 
least using a D72)

Attached is a spreadsheet that contains the data I collected using the D72.

Next Year: 2019 was my second year. I continued learning more about APRS and 
the D72 compared to last year. I may try coming up with a truly trans-
portable APRS DIGI package with higher power, masted  antenna for next year. 
Perhaps using a modern APRS DIGI that is primarily designed to be a DIGI.

Though I do have a caveat for next year. I work for the Department of the 
Air Force and at the moment I am processing for a deployment in October for 
12mo in Afghanistan. The only  thing  that might prevent me from going on 
that deployment is not receiving a required medical waiver. If I am not 
deployed I plan on participating next year. If I do make the deployment I 
am going to try and obtain an Afghanistan Ham License/Permit. If that occurs 
then you may see a APRS PICO Balloon https://gmigliarini.wixsite.com/wb8elk
with an Afghanistan callsign sometime between Nov 2019 and Nov 2020. 

Hat's off to everyone that participated especially those that actually 
climbed to the mountain tops. And also to Bob for starting this whole thing 
off decades ago!

73's - Jim - N4WFP