06/23/2002 | VE2ZP Alan VA2ADB and Dave VE2ZP decided to try hilltopping for this contest, operating as a Limited Multi-op from Huron Lookoff in Gatineau Park, north of Ottawa. From this vantage point, roughly 800ft higher than our normal locations, we thought we might be able to make a much better score than we had ever done before.

We set up in two cars at the lookoff, which affords an excellent view to the east, south and west, and little obstruction in any other direction. We brought up yagis or a quaqi for the four lowest VHF bands, popped them up on short masts right at edge of a cliff and turned the antennas by hand or with ropes. Being a tourist spot, we fully expected to answer a lot of questions and we were not disappointed. We may have even recruited a new ham.

Alan operated 6m and 70cm from one car, Dave was on 2m and 135cm in the other, and we tried to pass QSOs and multipliers from band to band, coordinating on 2mFM HTs. We operated the first day until well after dark. When things seemed to die down, we took the antennas down, but left them on site, anticipating that we would be back early enough on Sunday morning that they would not come to anyone's notice.

We had forgotten (or never knew) that the only road to our site is closed Sunday mornings for the exclusive use of cyclists. We finally got back on site a little after noon on Sunday to find our antennas unmolested. Within minutes, we were back on the air. We continued into the late afternoon, finally succumbing to the white noise. We had toen everything down and were on our way back home by about 6pm.

Ever since I first tried VHF contesting a few years ago, I have been complaining about people refusing to point their beams to Ottawa. I thought that from the hilltop, things would be much different. They were. Now we could hear many more people from much greater distances who refused to point their beams to Ottawa. I continue to whinge.

We got very little 6m Es, and almost no tropo on the higher bands. Our best DX on each band was: On 6m - W5GAD in EL49 2200km; on 2m - K8GP or W4IY, both in FM08 820km; on 135cm - K8GP or W4IY, both in FM08 820km; and on 70cm - 432 K3YTL in FN11 440km.

Our 141 QSOs and 67 multipliers worked out to 12,194 points. It's not much of a score, but we did better than we have ever done before. -- VE2ZP