[Wswss] Utah Pass follow-up

[Wayne Overbeck]

I'm home from my trip to Utah Pass (DM37).
It was a lot of fun, as operating there always 
is.  Signals from L.A. and, of course, Las 
Vegas, were excellent.  W6CRO, N6EQ and 
K6TSK were easy to work on 2, 222 and 432.
As Ralph says, 222 seemed best--as it always 
has ever since I first worked K6IBY (DM13) 
over that path on 222 in 1971.  W6CAP and 
K6HLH also had really solid signals on 2.

The Las Vegas guys were so loud at Utah 
Pass (and vice versa) that I think they 
were ready for me to go home long before 
I did.  KT6KT in Las Vegas was heard 
saying that I was 20 over S9 no matter 
where he pointed his antenna.

This time I was using a strictly rover 
setup with only vehicle-mounted antennas.
On some previous trips I've used larger 
antennas on crank-up towers that required 
significant on-site setup time.  Antenna 
size matters, of course, but this rover 
setup seems to work well.

I want to apologize to those in Northern 
California who may have spent fruitless time 
sending r.f. toward southwestern Utah.  I 
think my original posting was incomplete.
It said:

>Utah Pass is a location from which I've
>been able to work Southern California
>consistently every time I've been there
>since 1971.

I should have explained that Utah Pass is 
surrounded by much higher mountains in all 
directions except for a narrow gap around 
225 degrees azimuth.  That opening 
provides an unobstructed view across the 
desert toward Las Vegas and Los Angeles, 
but almost nowhere else.  Utah Pass is also 
at the right elevation to be in the so-called 
"desert duct" (it's at 4750' ASL).  The duct 
seems to be there every day, especially 
around sunset.

During the 1970s and early 1980s, I spent 
a lot of time scouting southwestern Utah 
in a largely fruitless search for locations 
with a good shot toward Northern California 
and Arizona.  Many of the promising loca-
tions are inaccessible except by those with 
far more off-road courage than I have.
Several locations with clear views in all 
directions AND decent dirt roads are so 
high that they tend to be above the desert 
duct (that is true of Bryan Head, elevation 
11,000').

Near Utah Pass there's a mountaintop in the 
Beaver Dam Mountains that is unobstructed in 
most directions and not too high (7500').
The jeep trail to the top is navigable by
4x4 if one is truly gutsy.  But the one 
time I operated there with high power 
and good antennas (after riding up with 
N6VI in his 4x4 Suburban), we were total 
alligators because the power line noise 
made it impossible to hear weak signals.

I definitely plan to visit DM37 again 
soon (Ralph, I'll have a 55-element F9FT
for 1296 next time).  I'll do my best to 
find a spot that has a decent shot toward 
Northern California.

73,
Wayne, N6NB


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