I'm sure we all grew up with that motto. I know it's ingrained in my brain. Just because we may not succeed on any given day is no reason to drop the ball. Sooooo....here's what happened today.
We were studying various HAM-related topics and mulling over some emails we received regarding yesterday's experience. By and by, we stumbled onto a much more complete and thorough listing of Idaho's 2 meter repeaters. This list includes ALL of the local nearby repeaters in the vicinity of Idaho Falls. We had heard the Eagle Rock Amateur Radio Club (ERARC) maintained a repeater on Iona Hill northwest of Idaho Falls. Sure enough, that machine's frequency was on the list we found this morning.
Naturally, we had to do a radio check from our front yard here in the middle of the city. We used our MJK Long Ranger 2 meter half wave antenna and came through loud and clear. Terance C. (N7TDC) in Rigby received our signal and we exchanged greetings. Before signing off, he said that he had heard me do the antenna check off Sawtell yesterday but I hadn't heard him. Frankly, I was shocked and alost speechless but I thanked N7TDC and we both signed off the Iona Hill ERARC repeater.
Well, that really started some wheels spinning and I began reviewing the frequencies I had programmed into the radio yesterday. Although I can't be certain, I suspect I goofed up on the input of the PL tone yesterday. Nevertheless, it was amazing to me that somehow my signal had gone over or around Iona Hill itself. The hill is an old volcano and sits a few hundred feet above the Snake River Plain. I'd guess it's 2-3 miles diameter at its base and it's highest elevation is around 5500 feet (400 feet higher than my previous antenna test site).
Naturally, I packed up everything and headed out for Iona Hill to see if I could reach Sawtell. Never having been there before I took the wrong road and drove deep into remote farm country onto the northeast side of the hill before deciding to stop. While I was out there, I figures I might as well try Sawtell from the flanks of Iona Hill to replicate my previous test site minus the presence of the hill. My location out in the farmland was about 7 miles north of the previous antenna test site and only 120 feet higher. Therefore, the distance to Sawtell was 72.9 miles instead of 80. (43 33.254 -111 52.920)
Using Trusty Elmer Don Butler's advice, I corrected my bearing and used the Suzuki as a windbreak at my back. (The wind was then blowing to near 40 mph.) My first contact off Sawtell was very poor. I did make out the call sign: KE7OGS and that comes up as Dee O. in Springville, Utah. Presumably, the Intermountain Intertie helped route my signal down to Dee's local area. Dee said my signal was very poor, about 40 percent intelligible.
At first I was disappointed and signed off and began to put the antenna down when another operator recognized my test signal. I did not get his call sign but we carried on a clear conversation. He said my signal was "full quieting" and said it sounded like I was standing right next to him. He was 25 miles south of Idaho Falls on Interstate 15. So, consequently, we now believe that we have obtained a clear signal from 73 miles distant to the Sawtell repeater. Our Yagi was pointed directly at the Sawtell bearing and Iona Hill lay between me and the operator on I-15. There would be no other way for him to receive our signal on that frequency. So, we have partial success today!!
After breaking down our gear, we found a way to drive to the top of Iona Hill. Up there the wind was probably blowing a steady 40 with higher gusts. We attemped to reach the Mount Harrison repeater with no luck. Frankly, it was all we could do to hold onto the antenna, much less keep it aimed. Meanwhile, there had been a recent (last year probably) wildfire up there and the wind was filling our eyes with fine volcanic dust. Not fun. So, we packed it up and bagged it for the day and drove home to a nice hot lunch.
All-in-all, it was a very interesting day. I am truly happy to have validated our ability to reach the Sawtell repeater. I couldn't understand how we could get out 63.4 miles to Jump Off and not be able to reach Sawtell. Don believes it's the topography but clearly someone heard us yesterday so maybe the local lay of the land didn't have as much affect as we would have suspected.
It was blowing too hard to set up the tripod for a photo. The tripod would probably have blown over to Wyoming by now. The two photos embedded here are just for representative purposes. The first one below is our first site on the north flank of Iona Hill. Sawtell would be approx. where the arms of the "X" cross. The second is a general view of the busy electronics site atop Iona Hill.
Thanks for reading! Cheers & 73, jp
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