1,470′ Calabasas

20 OCTOBER 2020 W6/SC-347

Early on Tuesday morning I made my way through a dense marine layer to Malibu Canyon. The drizzle was enough to need the windshield wipers. There was nobody at the Cistern/Phantom trail head a few miles west of Las Virigines/Malibu Canyon road on Mulholland Highway.

The hike is short and easy – about .9 miles and 600′ of elevation gain. The summit is the second bump passed the benchmark. A small rock cairn marks the actual summit

This summit does not have good UHF/VHF coverage into the more populated areas of Los Angeles. I had trouble scaring up 5 contacts on 2 meters early on a Tuesday morning. I probably should’ve waited until I can manage to by some HF gear before attempting this one. I heard several stations that could not hear me. One highlight was working my friend Steve WA6FGW who was mobile on Pacific Coast Highway. We barely eked out a QSO, but that was pretty amazing clear over the Santa Monica Mountains like that. Brian WA6JFK said my signal was “horrible” in Glassell Park. I did work three 59 signals: WB2WIK Steve in Winnetka, WA9STI Scott in Granada Hills and WB6MIO Charles in Simi Valley.