Hawkbill report 2016
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W4EON, KX4O and Dylan H. (14 yo) brought gear to first the Byrd's Nest
shelter and later the platform atop Hawksbill Mountain...

  http://sota.hamradio.me/peak.php?reference=W4V/SH-001

The gear was:
• Kenwood D710 plus aftermarket GPS with the "iffy" stock mic featuring 
the beyond-stupid RJ connectors used for a "stretching" mic cord,

• 10 AH LiFePO battery (so light... so nice),

• Diamond X50 dual band antenna (silly design, but very portable, somewhat 
safe around humans and it functions) - on sale at HRO last week,

• Speaker stand placing the antenna's <cough> radials </cough> 
just above poke-eyes-out level for most humans.

Procedure:
• Hike 30 minutes,
• Reach top and admire views (WX was good at first),
• Unstow antenna pre-attached to the speaker stand top portion 
and place on tripod bottom portion,
• Unpack radio and battery,
• Join battery and power and antenna cable,
• Power-on and load PM5 config (same config used for years),
• Done... wait.

Key points:
• 9600 bps - very very impressed.
• Strong VHF RX signals north and south.
• Strong UHF signal from the north.
• 1 bar UHF signal from the south - only when we moved the gear 
to the top platform (about 20 more feet height).
• Mid power setting used always - didn't try anything else - 
no one complained they couldn't hear #6.

We kept it simple and it works.  We are taking a risk with no backup gear 
other than W4EON's SOTA battery, but so far so good.

Thanks for a great effort and as always big thanks to Tim for making the 
big climb... your efforts drive us.

John, kx4o