W6/SC-371 Niguel Hill

Niguel Hill is a short and relatively flat walk from Seaview Park on Talvera Drive in Laguna Niguel Park.  I have been to this area several times for other activations and emergency communications drills.   As a summit spot you have good line of sight communications to much of South Orange County making this an ideal location for beginner summits on the air activators.  You’ll also find some line of sight connectivity to parts of Orange, Irvine and Tustin.  There are several convenient picnic tables to choose from.  Most of them are within the “activation zone”, with all being at a similar altitude and not far from the actual summit.  As an HF activation point, it’s pretty good.  There is little to no RF noise from the nearby homes.  

I brought two radios: a Yaesu FT-70DR for 2 meters for local contacts (25-100 miles) and a QRP rig, the Recent RS-918 for medium range contacts (over 300 miles) which can do everything between 10 meters to 160 meters.  I packed a Super Antenna MP1 with radials for 10-40 meters and this time I brought my 13 foot collapsible fiberglass pole and a my N9TAX roll-up dual band j-pole for better 2 meter contacts.  I can say that the N9TAX made a difference for my 2 meter contacts – one was a clear contact about 65 miles away in San Diego.

Here’s a photo of my HF QRP rig:

In this wider view, you can see the 2 meter antenna and the picnic table.

My QRP KIT – The Parts

MY QRP KIT – All setup

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