ARRL Winter field day 2021 - Mt. Umunhum

2021-02-26

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ARRL winter field day! Time to get out to the Nature and work portable! Which is how I do it all the time duh.

My initial plan for the field day was to drive to the Tahoe area and try activating Mt. Tallac. Weather made corrections - Northern California had been pummeled by rain and snow that week and I decided to wait for snow to set before making an attempt.

Safe and easy plan B I fell back to is activating Mount Umunhum aka W6/CC-052.

Due to the fact that the mountain had been closed to visitors until recently it is not featured in popular culture as frequently as other prominent Bay Area peaks.

A wee bit of trivia

Ohlone people call the mountain ‘the resting place of the hummingbird’. ‘Umunhum’ is an onomatopoeia of the hum a hummingbird produces. I would assume there should be quite a few of them around but I am yet to see one.

As usual with most high peaks around the San Francisco bay the summit hosted a military installation during the Cold War years. Concrete cubic base of the decommissioned radar tower can be seen from almost any point in San Jose and across the valley.

Military had left quite a lot of hazardous trash behind and it took until 2017 to clean and reopen the summit to the public.

Getting there

If you have time and are inclined to hike before an activation I recommend this trail. You drive to the lower parking lot, hike up to the summit and back. On weekends it is hard to find a parking spot there after 0900 so plan accordingly.

If you don’t have much time or desire to walk you can park almost on the summit. This lot usually has some free spots almost all day. Exercise extreme caution driving between lower and upper parking lots - there are many bicyclists on the road.

There is also a parking lot for people with disabilities on the very top.

Wach out for a wild life.

All the (not so) fun critters Bay Area has can be found here

If the weather is right you can probably see both the ocean and South Bay Area.

Parking and the antenna farm on the second peak

Visitor shed near the radar tower has nice infographic plaques with area history, geography and biology.

Bay Area most prominent peaks. Guess who’s next :)

Mount Umunhum SOTA activation

What’s nice about the parking lot is railing you can attach your mast to.

I first put my foldable chair next to the antenna mast but the ranger patrolling the summit asked me to move to the side so I don’t block the sidewalk.

Stations worked from W6/CC-052

Thanks to the winter field day the ether had been quite lively. Heard from local folks - cheers John K6YK, few gentlemen in Colorado, couple of our northern neighbors in Canada, W5ODS from Oklahoma and even from W4KRN who is across the continent in Virginia - one of the longest shots for me so far! Really appreciate your help in activation.

Time UTC	Call sign	RST sent	RST received	Frequency	Mode	Maidenhead grid
19:01	VA6EA	559	559	14.062	CW	DO33
19:10	N7RR	559	559	14.062	CW	CN88
19:12	VE7HE	559	559	14.062	CW	CO39
19:15	K6YK	559	559	14.062	CW	CM97
19:16	WB7W	559	559	14.062	CW	DN15
19:18	N0DET	559	559	14.062	CW	DN70
19:20	WB7BWZ	559	559	14.062	CW	DN55
19:25	KT5X	559	559	14.062	CW	DM75
19:27	KX0R	559	559	14.062	CW	DM79
19:28	AE0XI	559	559	14.062	CW	EN12
19:31	K7VK	559	559	14.062	CW	DN26
19:40	W4KRN	559	559	14.062	CW	FM18
19:41	W5ODS	559	559	14.062	CW	EM26

See you next time! 73 K0SSK out.