Lookout Mountain UHF Contest, K7CVU/7, August 6, 2016
          7Aug2016,   11Aug16, 1Sept16 minor edits,    Wes Hayward, w7zoi         ....

One of my most most favorite activities in amateur radio is operation combined with a hike or backpacking trip.   It's even better when the weather is near perfect and the views are great.   A great trip this summer was a trek up Lookout Mountain, a location just 9 miles east of Oregon's Mt. Hood.    It's a relatively easy, but pleasant hike.   
On the hike in, KA7EXM and W7ZOI.    That's the mast for our 432 MHz Yagi sticking up out of my pack.   (K7CVU photo--tnx John)

This trip was the brainchild of John, K7CVU, who has become one of the local experimenters giving UHF a try.   Roger (KA7EXM), and I were invited to join John on this trek to a high point that might offer some DX at frequencies above 300 MHz.     I think that John needed someone to serve as porters to carry the batteries that would run the gear.    We have operated both Field Day and the September VHF contest from Lookout Mtn.    This was a special contest devoted to UHF.      John had recently using a new transverter for 1296 MHz and we wanted to give it a try in the field.   The contest also included the 432 MHz band and we thought it would be fun to give that a try too.     We used John's call for all operation.
  This was our view for our summit operating position.   All we had to do was to stand up from our more relaxed operating position and this is one of the views that we had.    This is the east face of Mt. Hood.

Roger and Wes assembling the 432 Yagi while John is putting the 1296 station together.      (K7CVU photo.)
 
This photo shows John making our very first contact with Mike, KB7W.   This single 1296 MHz contact was enough to justify hauling all of this junk up the hill.   Mike was in Bend in grid CN93,  95 miles south of us.    It was amazing just how strong Mike's signal was.    We later worked Mike on 432 MHz.     

John's little 5 element Yagi is mounted on top of a small tripod.    The transverter resides in a black bag that hangs on the tripod legs.   We had an output of 2.5 W on 1296 and 5 W on 432.    A Yaesu FT-817 was the IF for the 1296 rig and the main rig on 432.

This photo shows John's antenna pointed north toward Mt. Rainier in Washington.   This allowed us to work (via knife-edge diffraction) Fred (WA7TZY) and Susan (WB7BST) who were in Woodinville, CN87,  north of Seattle.    We worked them on 1296 MHz CW and then SSB, but missed them on 432 MHz.     Next time.

Here Wes is working some CW on 1296.   (K7CVU photo.)

This view shows the 10 ft pole that holds our 432 MHz Yagi.    The mast weighs just over one pound and collapses to fit in a rucksack.    The Yagi boom is about 4 ft long.   Roger and I have used this antenna set up in all seasons for various VHF contests.

Near the end of the contest we worked Rick, KK7B, in Parkview, a small community that was almost line of sight for us.   We worked him with ease on both 1296 and 432 MHz.    Rick then returned to his house in Hood River.   Once there, it was necessary for us both to point our antennas at Mt. Adams to be able to repeat the contacts, now via reflection.   Much weaker, but still a solid contact.   Hmm, I guess Rick must have been operating in the "rover" category for this contest.

We spent about 4 hours on top of the peak and had a ball.    But alas, all good things must end.   This photo shows Roger as we were leaving he summit.   

We hiked out through delightful meadows, drove the dusty road down to Oregon Highway 35 and then on to Hood River where we met Rick for Pizza and Beer.    Really a great outing.     Many thanks to all the folks who took the time to listen for us and to work us on the air.      And, many thanks to John for inviting Roger and me to join him.

Here's an abbreviated form of our log:
1296 MHz:     KB7W, W7SZ, WA7TZY, WB7BST, KK7B.   (2 CW, 3 SSB)
432 MHz:       KB7W, KE7MSU, KK7B.     (1 CW, 2 SSB)

I ran through some distance numbers, as did Mike, KB7W.     Mike was 95 miles south of us, nearly line of sight.    Fred and Susan, WA7TZY and WB7BST, were 168 miles to the north of us over a path severely dotted with mountains.    Antennas for the WA7TZY/WB7BST QSOs were pointed at Washington's Mt. Rainier.