2016 Governor Dick Hill - Report 16 July 2016
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Bob Bruninga WB4APR with Gordon WJ3K and Jon AE3JG plus Rory N3JU

We left on time at 07:30 but on the baltimore beltway, Bob had a
blowout tire and hobbled to the side of the interestate in a place 
with Jersey walls to put on the tiny donut spare.  Unloaded all the 
ATGP gear and put it all into Gordons SUV.  Then drove both cars 
5 miles to find a parking place to abandon Bob's car.  Then proceeded
to GD Hill about 90 minutes away.  In total, we lost about an hour.

Arrived at GD hill around 1100? and found Rory N3JU already there.
We immediatley climbed the tower and put Bob's station on 1200 baud
and Rories's at 9600 baud.  Gordon and Jon carried all the backup
gear up the hill from the parking lot about a mile away.  Rory used
a rope to raise his gear realizing that the backpack does not need
to fit through the 4" bars, only the gear he pulls from it.

We came on line about 1130? and began to see adjacnet nodes of 
MDMTN-7 and CAMLBK-9 plus linked nodes from the South.  It took a 
while to begin hearing Sam's point, but then SLIDE Mountain filled 
in.

Lots of other climbers on the tower.  Many showed interest in our ops.
Weather remaind perfect the entire time.

Rory established all the same links on 9600 as we hat on 1200 and he
also made Yaesu WIRES voice contacts too.

9600 baud worked as well as 1200.  North Carolina to NY in 5 hops.
 
There were some broken links that limited the longest link to be from 
North Carolina to Masachusetts, with small links at the end, but the 
focus this year was on the switch to 9600 baud. After the switch the 
9600 baud data was connected from North Carolina to PA and NY to Vermont 
with solid links. More detail will follow as reports are filed. Another 
new data point came from Slide Hill where an alternate path from PA to 
Connecticut was found to work as well as Sams Point.
 
Bob, Wb4APR