Activating San Bernardino National Forest

Facing a heat wave at home, I decided to run up into the mountains near Big Bear Lake, CA to activate the San Bernardino National Forest (POTA entity US-4463) and enjoy the cooler temperatures. The location I selected was near Holcomb Valley, accessible via a network of dirt forest roads that were no problem for the Subaru.

For this activation, I used the Yaesu 710 with my Chameleon LEFS 4010 with a custom cut, linked EFHW wire. The antenna was suspended from a Pine branch and hoisted using my Weaver Arborist throw lines and weight. As I usually play radio in the desert, the opportunity to finally hang the antenna from the trees was nice. Throwing a line over a branch is much easier and faster than raising the mast and guying it out.

For the CW contacts, I used the BaMaKey TP-III paddles.

Because of the heat, I only stayed a short time, and spent much of it shifting the station and car around to maintain a location in the shade. In the end, I made 14 contacts, 10 SSB and 4 CW for a successful POTA activation.