On the way to Cima we decided to hide a T along I-15. The next off ramp was Hodge Road so that's where T-6 was hid. As we drove down the freeway, I was disappointed at the coverage and hoped that the hunters would hear it in time to take the off ramp. The traffic on the south bound lanes was a mess so we didn't want to go back to find a better spot.
T-6 in the bush in the foreground. I-15 is in the background
Before leaving, I had used a 3-D topo map program to select several high points to hide the main T. It was dark before we arrived in the Cima area. Upon driving to each possibility, we found that the road was gated or posted near the top. I would have used the topo map program again had we remembered to bring the data disk. Back to old fashion auto club maps. We searched some more and then decided to call it a night and start again in the morning. We arrived at Primm about midnight.
We were on the road again about 6:30 AM. By 7:30 we found the site for
the main T (T-5). This was near a microwave site, on a road that headed
east out of Cima. Getting the beam set up and testing the equipment took
an hour. During setup, the transmitter I had originally planned to use
failed because of a jammed power switch. Also, this was the first time
that I had used my power amp. I was hoping that the signal would reach
the starting point.
T-5 (Main T) |
Transmitter and amp |
T-5 (well hidden) |
|
Just in case it didn't, we drove to Barstow to set up a second T to get the hunters over Cajon Pass. Unfortunately, 10 AM arrived before we did. The good news was that the signal could be heard but it was on 146.570. I'll have to fix that T too.
The idea for a second T at Barstow was abandon. In retrospect it would have been a good idea considering that all the hunters went through Big Bear and not up I-15. I have taken that same route on many hunts to get to the desert.
We arrived back in the Cima area and started looking for more sites
to hide the other Ts. I wanted to set up a secondary T that would be heard
most of the way. After searching though more dead-ends (gated or posted)
I picked the Mid Hills near Mid Hills campground where AF6O had hid the
"snow T" almost 2 years ago. T-1 was hid here using a horizontal coat hanger
beam aimed at the starting point.
T-1 (look for beam in branches) |
T-1 |
By now it was after 2:30 and we still had 3 Ts to go. We found a place
north of Cima near the Morning Star Mine. The road was good except for
the very last section which was a little more bumpy. T-2 was hid here and
aimed at T-5 (main) using a 45 degree 3 element beam. This should create
some interesting effects coming up from T-1.
T-2 |
T-2 look toward T-5 |
Two Ts to go. By now we just wanted to get them hid. Finding a road
out of Cima that paralleled the power lines, we drove about 2 miles down
and hid T-3 and T-4. It was now 4 PM. We stayed in the area until about
6 and then left for Primm.
T-4 in the tree |
T-4 |
T-3 in another tree |
T-3 |
After a nice dinner and a good night's sleep we returned to the area about 9:30 to pick up the Ts. A call on the radio revealed KE6VCR/KE6PHB were still hunting and in fact had just found their first T, T-1. We also realized the T-5 was no longer on the air. The battery on the amp had been used up. The amp was removed and T-5 was back on the air.
When we arrived at T-1, we had a nice conversation with a couple from
the San Francisco area that were enjoying the view. On our way out we found
another couple from Caliente that had 2 very flat tires. This is not a
good place to have flat tires, let along two of them. While they changed
one tire, our pump was used to inflate the other. The tire partly inflated
and I could feel air escaping. They had a friend in the area so we left
them the pump so they could get there.
Not good |
Even worse |
Back to collecting the Ts. VCR/PHB had found T-5, T-3 and T-4. We picked them up as he worked on T-2. They found it and brought it out to us. We left the area about 2:30.
The traffic on I-15 was terrible. Stopping in Yermo, we had lunch with VCR/PHB at Peggy Sue's -- an interestingly decorated 50s-style restaurant. We headed home, picking up T-6 on the way.
Since VCR/PHB found more Ts than anyone else, they are the winners.
The winners
I was quite surprised that more teams did not make it into the area considering how many times this area had been hidden in over the years. On those hunts, the other hunters always seemed to race out to the hiding area while we took the scenic route through Big Bear . . .
Doug
WA6RJN
| XMTR | Location | Power |
| T1 | Mid Hills | 4 watts |
| T2 | Near Morning Star Mine | 350 mW |
| T3 | Power line road near Cima | 50 mW |
| T4 | Power line road near Cima | 2.5 W |
| T5 | Main T at Microwave site east of Cima | 10 W |
| T6 | I-15 at Hodge Road | 50 mW |
| KE6VCR/KE6PHB | T1 | T5 | T4 | T3 | T2 |
| Time: | 9:22 Sun | 11:53 Sun | 13:48 Sun | 14:04 Sun | 14:37 Sun |
| Miles: | 443 | 461 | 475 | 475 | 483 |
| KF6GQ/KD6LAJ | T1 | T5 | |||
| Time: | 16:49 | 17:55 | |||
| Miles: | 371 | 401 | |||
| N6AIN | T6 | ||||
| Time: | 19:03 | ||||
| Miles: | 330 | ||||
| WB6JPI | DNF | ||||
| W6QYY
KD6CQR KE6LQO (unoffical) |
T1 | T5 | |||
| Time: | 15:33 | 18:20 | |||