Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club

October 9, 2019  – 70 cm (420 – 450 MHz) SPRINT Operation

Just 8 days after participating in the 135 cm (222 -225 MHz) SPRINT, Woody-WA6WDY, and I traveled again to the top of Stunt Rd. in the Santa Monica Mountains (DM04qb) to participate in the 70cm (420 – 450MHz) SPRINT. From our location more than 2000 feet above sea level, with an unrestricted RF horizon in many directions, 100 watts of SSB & FM, and an 18 element horizontally polarized Yagi, we made 20 contacts (QSOs) in Ventura, Los Angeles, & Orange Counties in 1.5 hours of operating. Interestingly, we worked 8 stations in both Ventura County and in Grid DM13 to the East/Southeast of Los Angeles. Thanks to CVARC/VCARS/ACS members who got on.

Unlike my 2 meter Fall 2019 SPRINT operation on Thousand Oaks’ Tarantula Hill for last week’s event, Woody-WA6WDY, and I traveled to the top of Stunt Rd. in the Santa Monica mountains (DM04qb) to participate in the 135cm (222 – 225 MHz) SPRINT. From our location, more than 2000 feet above sea level and with an unrestricted RF horizon in many directions, 100 watts of SSB & FM, and a 7 element horizontally polarized Yagi, we made 13 contacts (QSOs) in Ventura, Los Angeles, & Orange Counties in just over one hour of operating.

Several stations which we contacted were more than 40 miles distant; one, WA6EJO, used just a handheld with whip antenna from Ventura.

On Monday evening, September 23, 2019, I conducted a minor “DX-Pedition” to the peak of Thousand Oaks’ Tarantula Hill (T-Hill) to participate in the Fall 2 Meter SPRINT operating event.

I decided to bring a 2 meter rig up the .8 km trail to the 1017 foot Summit of “T-Hill” for a number of reasons. As a passionate VHF/UHF-oriented ham for several decades, I encourage others to operate and submit contest entries to demonstrate the use of the very valuable bands & frequencies assigned to Amateur Radio Operators.