Downtown Los Angeles, Palos Verdes Peninsula and Santa Catalina Island at sunrise
29 NOVEMBER 2020 W6/CT-150
The Sunday after Thanksgiving Brian WA6JFK and I decided to work off the mashed potatoes with another tandem activation – Brian on Hoyt Mountain and me on 4,202 right next door. The road head for 4,202 is the same as it is for Mt. Josephine – the junction of The Angeles Crest Highway and The Angeles Forest Highway at the Clear Creek Ranger Station.
The day was remarkably clear after a few rounds of Santa Ana winds had raked over the Los Angeles Basin on Thanksgiving. I left the car at about 6:15AM in the deep pre-dawn twilight. The hike is only .54 miles but climbs 612 feet in that short jaunt, so it gets somewhat steep in places. NOTE: It’s been brought to my attention that some people might find this route too steep. Be forewarned. On the summit I was treated to a fantastic view of downtown Los Angeles, Palos Verdes Peninsula with Santa Catalina Island seen above.
Brian made it up to Hoyt Mountain a little after I did and we had a summit-to-summit contact. I took a telephoto shot of Hoyt Mountain and, upon blowing it up, could spot Brian and his mast!
I also had another summit-to-summit with David N6AN on Flint Peak as he was up early working the world on the CQ Worldwide CW Contest. Our contact was on 2m FM. I also made contact with several members of the Lake Balboa Emergency group. Scott WA9STI alerted me to the net at 17:00 UTC and the net control, Dan NR6V was nice enough to make an announcement on the net about my activation. Among the contacts with that group, I had a very pleasant QSO with George KJ6LA about hiking and radio gear.
Many of the usual suspects came booming in on 2m – Derek KM6UHU and Steve WB2WIK – and I think I even woke Jon K6LDQ up 😉
KG6MZS 
