barnard mountain SOTA

Hawksbill Summit, Virginia

Hawksbill Summit (W4V/SH-001) is #1 for the SOTA Shenandoah region and has some of the best views in the area. A day use shelter is located at the top, and a viewing observation platform is available.

Summit Information:

Summit Name: Hawksbill, (W4V/SH-001)

Location: Shenandoah NP, VA

Latitude/Longitude: 38.5553,-78.3953

Date: January 7th, 2021

Parking: Free


Points: 10 + 3 (Winter Bonus)

County: Warren County

Grid: FM08tn

Weather: Sunny, 34 degrees

Permit: Yes, $20 Entrance fee

Robertson Mountain Map

Sugarloaf Mountain

Difficulty

Views

Solitude

On a Scale of 1 to 5

Even in January, Hawksbill attracts a lot of visitors. On the way up to the summit I passed a women who had set up a hammock 3′ off the trail. Considering all the space available to hang, this seemed like a strange place to set up a hammock. The summit consists of a day use shelter, observation platform and an open viewpoint. Along with SOTA, I have activated from here before for the ARRL January VHF contest. The observation platform makes a nice spot for 2m simplex operation.

This time however, I decided to operate VHF from the viewpoint. I managed to work my friend Jay( NS4J) which was great to get him in the log. For HF I walked back about 25 yards past the shelter to a wooded area where I had a nice spot to hang an antenna. I did have issues getting my antenna up in the trees and had to resort to using my shortening technique to be able to get the antenna to fit in the smaller space. Once that happened, I got on 40 meters and worked a nice pile up. Lately 40 meters has been more consistent and productive than any band which is interesting since in the past I haven’t been a big fan of the band.

Barnard SOTA log

On the Air:

DX Contacts

0

Spotting

Yes

Power (Watts)

5

Radio Logs

Uploaded

Bands

2 & 40 meters

Radio Mode

FM & CW

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