The fourth week of August found me in Oakland, California, for four days of annual training and testing (I work as a conductor for Amtrak, America's passenger railroad). Two of those days, I found nearby summits in the Oakland Hills to activate for Summits on the Air--Oakland is in the "East Bay," across the bay from San Francisco. Both activations were pretty straightforward, with relatively easy climbs. As usual, I was operating on the 2-meter band (144 MHz) in FM mode.
Vollmer Peak (W6/NC-298), located above Berkeley was the first (on Tuesday, August 23); I logged seven contacts, all from the San Francisco Bay Area.
Portable station W6SAE, Vollmer Peak.
My trusty "homebrew" portable 2-meter antenna at work on the summit of Vollmer Peak.
Looking southwest from Vollmer Peak toward the city of Oakland and San Francisco Bay.
This is the view to the east from the trail up to the summit of Vollmer Peak,
with Mt. Diablo (W6/CC-045) in the distance. Quite a different look than that from the west (S.F. Bay) side of the hill, with its cold winds and fog.
The next day, August 24, I worked W6/NC-398, otherwise known as Hill 1180 for its elevation. It is located a few miles south of Vollmer Peak in the same range of hills. I logged just five contacts, including a couple of stations from the previous day.
I didn't bother to shoot any pictures that day.
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