[AK-VHF] BP50 Activation Report

[Brandon Clark]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share a new operating location I tested on this morning's 
net. Drive south out of Anchorage and stop at the water-side turnout 
just past mile marker 107. It is the first turnout north of the Falls 
Creek Trailhead. Google maps will take you right to it: 
https://www.google.com/maps/@60.9849699,-149.6105016,289m/data=!3m1!1e3

This is in BP50, which I couldn't activate before. From here we can 
activate the grid without incurring the huge time penalty of driving 
around to Hope or Sunrise. I'll add a stop here during the January VHF 
contest.

This could also be a useful site for ARES. It is about as far south as 
you can go while still picking up Anchorage on simplex. If a disaster 
closed the road it would be a useful site for a portable repeater, 
digipeater, and/or full station to reconnect with the upper Turnagain 
Arm area.

The site requires gain though. I used a 6 element antenna with 30W on 2 
M, and was able to get clear copy of WL7AU, KL6M, KL7JD, and KA1NVZ. I'm 
pretty sure that the RSOC would be in range from there as well, but 
there wasn't anyone there on VHF at the time of the test. From the 
location I can just see the windmills on Fire Island, but Anchorage 
proper is shaded behind the hills. If anyone is interested I can share 
some photos of the site and the fields of view.

73,

  Brandon