Methodist Hill North - W3/PD-006

The first, Methodist Hill North (W3/PD-006), appears to be a drive-up summit but I'm hoping to take advantage of some quiet and hike in the 4.57 miles from the parking area at Shippensburg Road along the Appalachian Trail.  The terrain doesn't look too bad: up 700 feet, down 643 feet (gross).

[caption id="attachment_1193" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Trail profile along to W3/PD-006[/caption]

[STRIKEOUT:Long Mountain - W3/PD-013]

[STRIKEOUT:The second, Long Mountain (W3/PD-013), has never been activated before and I'm not sure if that's because it's such a low point summit (2 points) or if there are access restrictions.  Either way, I'll find out as it appears to be an easy drive up to the summit along a roadway that has houses along side it.]

Snowy Mountain - W3/PD-007

A little further away from base camp than I would have liked but the Long Mountain summit doesn't look like it's going to work out.  The SOTA community in the W3 area suggested that I try Snowy Mountain so I'm putting it on the list.

Other summits?

There is a very slim chance I may try to activate another summit during this trip but I'll have to see what the family is up to doing first.

The Gear

This will be my first activation using my Elecraft KX3.  My CW is rusty (it down right sucks, really), and SSB isn't going to be fantastic, so I hope to make up for my lacking in both of these areas by offering up PSK-31 directly from the rig.  I've done this a little bit, and have been somewhat successful, but have never tried this in the field so if you hear me please give me a little latitude when trying to make a contact.

I'll be using my SOTABEAMS Bandspringer Midi antenna which is supposed to be good 10m through 60m.  This antenna has worked really well with my Elecraft K1 (40m-17m) and I can hardly wait to see (hear) what it will do on the KX3.

The Operations Plan

Still working out the exact timing; I'm hoping to be on the summit early afternoon on Saturday, 23 December 2017.  As soon as I get the antenna up in the air I'll start on 60m and try to work CW, then PSK-31, then voice.  I'll repeat this pattern on every band, through 10m, I can tune up on until I get tired or run out of time.  I will also be monitoring 146.535MHz FM on my HT along with chirping on APRS (WG3K-7). I've heard I won't have cellular coverage at the summit so I'm hoping to have APRS coverage so I can self spot when I get started.

That's the plan as of now.  I'll update this if there are any changes before heading up (if I can).  73!