KATAHDIN 2011 REPORT                                      26 July 2011
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                                                    Tim DApice, KA1YDS


 
Hello All,

Finally home from the rock pile!

Elevation at the top was 5,267' and hiked from 1080' at Katahdin 
Stream Campground.

Started day at 04:45 and at trail head by 06:00 and hiked the Hunt 
trail up to the summit of Mount Katahdin. Reach summit at 11:00 then 
Raised KB1POR via simplex on 146.52... He is 332 miles away, and I 
only had 5 watts and a Diamond rubber duckie... (Geoff on a Mobile?) 
1 S unit, but solid copy! He also RX'd my MSGs on 144.39, again, 
with only a duck!!!!!

It was cold at the summit, WX was 52 Deg F and dense fog and windy. 
Steve (wife's brother-in-law) and I hiked across to South Peak with 
the infamous 'knife edge' in sight, and I talked with a few local 
hams on .52 The fog began lifting rapidly and by the time we hiked 
back to Baxter Peak, the sun was nearly out... but lost KB1POR (I 
heard him leaving the summit)

Upon reaching the summit (again) I successfully APRS QSO'd SGRLOF-14
and heard MTWASH-13 but he did not hear me (although KB1POR did). 
The sun came out in a hurry and WHAT VIEWS!!!!!

I set up the beam and amp, but these were not needed and only 
exacerbated the pain on the way up and down, so next year, I'm only 
bringing a duckie and spare battery pack (not the 5AH I lugged) 
assuming Sugarloaf or Washington is up.

We had to hike down at 14:10 as it was a 5 hour hike up and took 
nearly that long on the way down, so next year expect the same QRT 
from me, or whoever takes over KATHDN-15. 

...boy, was that can of beef stew wonderful at dinner!

I would LOVE to do it all over again next year. Any hams wishing to 
join team KATHDN-15 let me know. It's quite a challenge.

Thanks to Sugarloaf and Washington and the rest of the APRS team! 
Great work all!

73
Tim
KA1YBS