Ham radio coverage in Salmon-Huckleberry

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think2survive
Posts: 4
Joined: May 23rd, 2016, 9:00 am
Location: Portland, OR
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Ham radio coverage in Salmon-Huckleberry

Post by think2survive » June 4th, 2017, 1:43 pm

Hello,

I've just started exploring the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness. I carry a handheld ham radio with me when I hike, which has the ability to send out automatic position beacons on the APRS network, with my GPS location.

Last week I hiked the Salmon River Trail (#742) to Goat Creek, and was running the radio during that trip. I could pick up beacons from the MTHOOD digipeater (located at Government Camp), but none of the beacons I sent made it through to them. Not all that surprising, since I was just running the rubber ducky antenna on my radio, and line-of-sight to Government Camp is blocked by Devil's Peak on that part of the trail.

When I got back home, I thought to look up other repeaters that I might be able to hit from the south side of Devil's Peak there... like the repeater on Goat Mt (W7OTV), or the one near Sandy (KJ7IY). I'll have to try those next time I go back... as well as trying a 1/4 wave whip antenna for better range.

Anyways, I'm wondering if any other hikers here have some experience to share about getting ham radio to work around Mt Hood. Is there any hope of getting VHF radio to reach a repeater out there, if you're in a valley?

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