09/26/2003 | W7DK Four members of W7DK- The Radio Club of Tacoma- (W7WG-Worth, AC7QN-Chuck, KB6OKS-Lynn, and AE7RW-Rich) backpacked two miles to (7006 ft ASL) Dege Peak (pronounced: Day-Gay), a beautiful location near the Sunrise area, located in Mt Rainier National Park, Washington State. One park ranger we encountered thought we were here to "set up the repeater". A hiker/visitor thought we were "tracking animals" (the Yagi on one backpack).

It so happened that one of the two Park Ranger Volunteers who was stationed at Dege Peak that day to greet and assist visitors was a Ham Operator, Howard- N7RTT, who assisted us.

We had a clear shot north to British Columbia and SE to Northeast Oregon. We operated 6M, 2M, and 70 cm and made 60 QSOs total. Maybe not a huge amount... but the exictement was high because this kind of contest was a first for three of us and we were at such a great location.

After the 70 cm contacts died down... a HF antenna was erected and some great contacts were made on 17 M and 40 M.

We all lots of fun, great weather and scenery, and we were able to spread the word of Amateur Radio to the curious hikers who visited our site. We are getting excited about going back next year.. 73s de W7DK. -- AE7RW