A Little Touch Of Heaven: Sunset SOTA On Mount Utsayantha
Magic lies within contrasts. Is kettle corn delicious because of the sweet or the salty? Is it the darkness or the light that creates a glorious sunrise? Is it the sound or the silence that makes the perfect rhythm? AA1F and I capped off a deeply personal day for our family by generating radiofrequency from the summit of Mount Untsayantha in Stamford NY. We celebrated the contrast between life and death in the only way we know how – by unabashedly living. And now this short, twenty-one minute activation resides in our minds as one of our favorite moutaintop experiences.
Stamford NY, a place I’d never been, is a cute little mountain town in the Catskills of Upstate NY. The peak of Mount Utsayantha, allegedly so-named to honor a native woman of the Lenape tribe who drowned herself in a lake, is accessible by a single lane, seasonal, well-maintained gravel service road.
On our ride up, we came upon this lone roadside tombstone. Legend has it that this is Utsayantha’s grave, although no one knows for sure.
Just short of the summit, a clearing revealed a patchwork quilt of pastureland far below. The first of many radio towers sprouted from the bedrock.
The top of Mount Utsayantha was bequeathed to the Town of Stamford by Dr. Stephen Elijah Churchill, who passed away on October 29, 1917. He wanted the property to be used as a park. A now abandoned observatory with striking architecture overlooks the village.
A still accessible fire tower is encircled by several radio towers.
And, well, for me that fire tower meant opportunity. Nothing better than the creative use of found objects and structures for radio ops. Yup, our go-to 20M endfed halfwave antenna was going to be tied off with paracord near the top of the lookout.
The unun with attached coax was closer to the ground. The radiator was steeply angled upward, with its free end secured to the tower.
Paracord wrapped over a tree branch held the unun side of the antenna in place. AA1F found a close by picnic table, and fired up his Yaesu FT-891 transceiver before I managed to climb back down the fire tower. At 23:52 UTC (7:52pm local time), we decided to wait until the next UTC day to begin the SOTA activation.
Killing time, I goofed around and took some amusing windblown selfies.
When 0:00 UTC rolled around we were on the air.
Together, AA1F and I racked 28 unique contacts in 21 minutes on 20M SSB with the sun quickly setting behind us.
Nellie kept a watchful eye…sometimes zombies start to come out at twilight in these beautiful, easily accessible parks.
The pattern of our contacts with this steeply sloping antenna configuration (with its free end situated much higher than the transformer/feedline) was interesting. I believe this is showing a first bounce reaching the midwest and south, and a second bounce reaching California. Spain and Alberta, Canada were two unique outliers.
Of our 28 contacts, 8 of them were from California.
So, a day of contrasts…The profound experience of loss, and the transcendental notion of communicating beyond time and space. A few words on a wave of energy. And a spirit on a new journey. A day of contrasts. A beautiful day.
Until we meet again.
KM1NDY
