2009 AT Event Clingman's Dome REPORT                        27 Jul 09 
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William McKeehan, KI4HDU reports:

Things went pretty well at Clingmans Dome, but it was not without 
issues.

W4VAB, Hugh, was the first on site and discovered our first issue; 
the coordinates that were on the aprs.org web site had us down in 
the woods. We figured that was not a good idea, so we re-evaluated 
and picked a location that looked like it would be the highest point
and would give us clear routes to Springer and Roan.

KF4QVI, Rick, arrived and we began setup.

Once setup, we heard Springer on the voice simplex frequency first; 
they were in the process of setting up. Shortly after that contact, 
we heard from WA4YYM @ Lookout Mountain.

We received our first packet from Lookout Mountain around 11:15.

We received our first packet from Springer around 12:07.

We were trying to work ROAN most of this time. We were able to 
coordinate on their coordination repeater on Mt. Mitchell. Simplex 
voice communications were very scratchy on all of the frequencies 
that we tried. We did some antenna adjustment, tried new antennas, 
etc, but still had no luck reaching ROAN. We were then surprised 
when ROAN had a booming voice signal on the 2-meter simplex 
frequency that we were monitoring for them and told them that it 
was much better than before; this was on a different radio with a 
different antenna. With that revelation, they were able to discover 
that they had a bad piece of coax. Once replaced, we were able to 
copy ROAN easily.

We had a good size group of hams show up for the event:
W4VAB
KF4QVI
KG4DSP
AJ4HV
KI4DSO
KG4UJC
KI4CBU
KJ4JEO

KF4QVI provided the event D700, an omni-directional antenna (with 
gain), two 10-foot tall masts with mounts, a 50' run of RG-8X a 
battery, table, pop-up awning, a laptop (used for logging) and a 
generator.

W4VAB provided a pair of beam antennas, the splitter and a 30' run 
of RG-8.

KI4DSO's supplies were hardly touched (but he had a carload of 
stuff), although we did use his Arrow Beam antenna when we were 
having trouble reaching ROAN (thinking one of W4VAB's beams may 
have been bad).

I, KI4HDU, provided a second D700 which was used for coordination 
and then logging.

We had a couple of extra D700/710's in the group that I am aware of, 
an extra antenna or two, multiple laptops, HT's, etc. figuring that 
having too much equipment was the best way to avoid a visit from 
Murphy.

We were unable to reach the EchoLink node in Franklin, NC that we 
had planned on using, but were bringing up a repeater in South 
Carolina on the same frequency. It would not have done us much good 
as no one in our group knew how to connect to the EchoLink 
Conference.

We got a bit of rain on us early in the day, but it was light and 
KF4QVI's awning covered the group nicely.

There were a number of pictures taken during the day; KI4CBU should 
have a large number of pictures to share with the group.

The park rangers did stop by to see what we were doing. They did not 
have any issues with out setup.

Many visitors to the area would stop by and ask us what was going on 
and that gave us an opportunity to share a little about Ham radio
with them.

Overall, we had a wonderful time on the mountain and everyone that 
I have talked with said they were looking forward to next year's 
attempt.
-- 
William McKeehan
KI4HDU
http://mckeehan.homeip.net