W6YX Hiking Trip to Black Mountain
April 28th, 2024
We had a great time on our hiking trip to the summit of Black Mountain on Sunday, April 28th, 2024. We brought a QDX radio, an End-Fed three-band antenna built by KO6ECC, and a laptop computer running WSJT-X and GridTracker. The portable End-Fed antenna was supported on one end by a rope tossed over a tree branch. The other end was connected to the QDX radio resting on the ground.
The 10m band was working well that day. We called CQ on 10m FT8 using KO6ECC's and KI6Q's call signs. PSKreporter showed our signals were received as far away as Australia. The maps below show all the stations that reported hearing us.
Several stations replied to our CQ, and we also tried replying to CQ's from other stations. We were able to make contacts with the six stations listed below.
| Call | Location | Sent | Rcvd | Station | Mode | Band | Time |
| KF9UG | EN71 | 8 | -6 | KO6ECC/P | FT8 | 10m | Sun 28 Apr 2024 19:45:15 UTC |
| K4NAL | EM60 | 6 | -21 | KO6ECC/P | FT8 | 10m | Sun 28 Apr 2024 20:05:45 UTC |
| KB4WT | EM95 | -6 | -12 | KO6ECC/P | FT8 | 10m | Sun 28 Apr 2024 20:12:00 UTC |
| K0ZS | EM48 | 8 | 9 | KO6ECC/P | FT8 | 10m | Sun 28 Apr 2024 20:27:45 UTC |
| CO2LKY | EL83 | 8 | -8 | KO6ECC/P | FT8 | 10m | Sun 28 Apr 2024 20:38:15 UTC |
| KJ5EJV | EM00 | -3 | -20 | KI6Q/P | FT8 | 10m | Sun 28 Apr 2024 20:43:00 UTC |
| KF9UG | EN71 | 8 | -8 | KI6Q/P | FT8 | 10m | Sun 28 Apr 2024 20:51:30 UTC |
| KF9UG | EN71 | 15 | -9 | KG4UHM/P | FT8 | 10m | Sun 28 Apr 2024 21:05:15 UTC |
The map below shows the locations of our six contacts, highlighted in yellow. Our location was grid square CM87, highlighted in orange.
Below is a screenshot from the laptop showing our contact with CO2LKY in Cuba. The program on the right is WSJT-X. The yellow highlited lines are the signals that we transmitted. The red highlighted lines are the replies to us from other stations.
Overall it was a fun day and great opportunity to learn about HF propagation, test our radio skills, and experiment with homemade radios and antennas.