Doug's Story
of the March 23rd 2013
All Day Hunt
The hunt theme seemed to be
now-you-heard-it, now-you-don't. I heard the signal fine at
the starting point, then nothing. I drove the 91 to the 215
to the 15 where I heard it briefly on the way to Summit. At
Summit, Surprise ! It didn't point toward the desert but
towards the Big Bear area and it was just a modest signal.
How to get there?
I back tracked the 15 to the 138. At a point south of Lake
Silverwood I had a very strong signal pointing at 125
degrees. I also heard a talking T. I didn't realized that
2N33 came off near there and went east to the area. A mile
later on 138 I was back to CW mode. I tried a "short cut" by
Lake Gregory which took forever, winding through the
residential streets (the route also wasn't on my GPS
software map). The signals were weak and bouncing of every
ridge available.
I reached Hwy 189 then took Grass Valley Rd north. I didn't
realize that I had passed two routes into the area. While
traveling north on Grass Vally, the signal was again very
strong pointing NNW. By the time I realized how to get there
I was closest to Pilot Rock Truck Trail (2N33). I was again
tracking the very weak signals on CW. After proceeding west
on 2N33, the talking T was progressively getting stronger.
Finally, I was in the right area. I came to the junction of
2N34. The talking T was west but two CW Ts were south. I
decided to find the the CW Ts to the south then return and
exit the area going west on 2N33 and find the talking T
then.
I came to a road junction (2N37) where T8 was giving me a
"you are there" signal with 10 DB of extra attenuation and
decided it was on the hill to my south where 2N34 went.
Driving on a quarter mile the T could not be heard! I
continued on to find T3. The T3 signal became very strong at
a small hill with a metal tank on it. Coincidentally, LAJ's
truck was parked at the bottom, KD6LAJ was standing at the top
with his wife, and JPI was driving down the hill on a very
steep road. There was a good chance T3 was up there.
After finding the main xmtr T3 (a small xmtr attached to a
4-element horizontal beam), I proceeded to find a second
talking T a little farther south down the road. I returned
to the T8 area an realized I should have taken the other
road (2N37) to a HV tower. With a little help from JPI we
found the T. He told me that 2N33 was the way he came in and
that it was a very slow going route. He also said 173 was
closed (I confirmed it anyway). Both routes I could have
taken home were no longer available. I found the last
talking T, handed it to LAJ and went home.
Doug
WA6RJN