09/18/2009 | W4APP It's September and that means another trip to the top of Virginia's second highest peak, Whitetop Mountain (5520) for the September VHF QSO Party. This year we went armed with a few new weapons, not the least of which was the call of our new club, Appalachian Contesters, W4APP.

Despite our best laid plans we got a late start on Friday and didn't make the summit of Whitetop until about 5:00 pm. We set up our living/operating quarters, a 25 ft Coachmen camper, and got to work assembling antennas. Murphy continued to be an unwanted visitor as KD4UKT accidently locked the keys in the 5/9 Chevrolet. Onstar couldn't open it, so a wrecker had to be arranged. W4TRP showed up with the "secret weapon" and by 11:00 pm all the antennas were assembled, but we were at least 2 hours behind schedule by this point.

On Saturday W4UX arrived early and antenna erection began. All went smoothly, albeit at a somewhat slow pace. 2:00 pm arrived and the 2 meter antennas still had to be erected. A problem with the rotator slowed us down but we soon had all the antennas in the air and began to set up the operating position under the camper's awning. Just before 6:00 pm our first contact was made.

Our equipment cosisted of the following:

6 meters: Icom 746Pro/ Heathkit SB200/ M2 6M5X

2 meters: Icom 746/ M2 2M5WL (H) and Cushcraft 13b2 (V)

1.25 meters: Yaesu 736r/ Mirage C1012/ M2 222-10EZ (H) and Hustler G7 (V)

70 cm: Icom 471/ Mirage D3010/ M2 440-18 (H) and Cushcraft A4496S (V)

Once we finally got on the air the contacts began rolling in and so did grids we had never worked before from Whitetop. I was overjoyed when I heard KD4UKT work K9OIM in EM56 on 6 meters. That was later overcome when WK4P worked AB0RX in EM47 on both 2 and 222. Of course that was outdone by W4UX working K2DRH on 2 meters in EN41. Finally KD4SM worked K4ZRZ in EM63 on 432 to record our longest 70 cm contact. All in all conditions seemed good for the September contest.

The last 2 hours were hectic as WK4P and KD4SM tried to run all 4 bands by themselves. It was challenging but fun to hop between radios trying to pick up new contacts and mults. When the clock struck 11:00 pm we were both tired but happy that we had acheived our best score yet from Whitetop.

After being battered by hurricane Ike last year, we were treated to great weather conditions this year. The dense fog on Friday night lifted quickly Saturday morning and the temps rose to a comfortable level. Saturday night was cool with temps in the 40's, but that's to be expected at 5500 ft. Sunday and Monday were fantastic with lots of sun and temps in the mid 60's with light winds.

Teardown went smoothly and without incident, that is until the bear arrived. Luckily he kept his distance and we didn't dare disburb him. W4TRP (who had returned to help with teardown) and KD4SM did say that he was licking his chops as I was raising the last jack on the camper before we headed off the mountain. I just kept telling myself I didn't have to outrun the bear, I just had to outrun them :-).

Lots of contacts, our all-time best score, good weather, and lots of fun, what else could we have asked for. I'm sure we will find something before next September rolls around. -- WK4P