This is a set of pictures from CN86 on Nicolai Mountain during the
VHF QSO Party on June 14-16, 2003.

Driving directions:  Take highway 30 west from Longview.  After Clatskanie, Westport, and
Wauna, you will start up Bradley Hill.  At the crest of the hill, look on the left for the first dirt road.
As soon as you start up the road, you will see a cellsite on the left.  Keep going and follow the
main road up using CB channel 29.  After 4.5 miles, you will want to keep right.  You will see
a rock painted orange if you're going the right way.  At 5.5 miles you will see a rock
pit on the right and start going downhill.  This condition is normal - do not panic.  After 8.5 miles
you will see a rock pit on the left, and you will take a right up the hill.  Stay right at the next
intersection and you will be on Foster Hill road.  Take the next right on Simonsen road and at
the next two intersections go straight.
Warning:  On the way down, you'll find an annoying deceptive fork in the road.  Go left.
On the main line, you'll find another one farther down - go right.  Try not to be too distracted
by the view of the Columbia River thanks to several new clearcuts.


This is where I was - same place as last year.
Bottom to top:  6 M, 2 M 8 element, 432 15 element.

More antennas:  220, 903, and 1296.
The drive-over base for the mast.

The crossover for the ladder rack horizontal support mast.
This makes it easy to assemble it on the ground and
tilt the whole thing up.
Left to right, top to bottom:  Low band rotor, high band rotor, WWVB clock, operating aid #2, IC-706MKII (50/144/1296), pager, transverter (1296), FT-817 (432/220/903), 13-513 (220) - Below table: modified Micor (903)

The new 222 antenna - 5 elements, circular polarization.
Don't ask which way - right or left.
Another view of the low band antennas.  All antennas are homebrew, scaled up and down from a K1FO UHF yagi.
6 meters was hand optimized for best front to back.
 My station was QRP portable, or "Single-Op-Portable" as they
call it now - IC706 turned down on 6 and 2,
Midland 13-513 turned down on 223.5 and 222.1 keyed for CW
with a FT-817 as an IF using the 16.9 MHz output from the receiver,
and FT-817 at 5 watts on 432.  I never did make any contacts on
903 and 1296 although I heard several stations.
Final numbers:

6 meters:   99 / 50
2 meters:   62 / 14
220:          19 / 8
432:          26 / 9
903:          Jack Squat
1296:        Zero-point-nothing

Final score:  20,331

Best DX:  6 meters - EL98, 2 meters - DN13, 222 - CN73, 432 - CN98 and CN84,
903 - my service monitor on the test bench, 1296 - heard W7YOZ in CN87.

Comments:  Score was up due to six meters being wide open.
                   No dirty transmitted signals until the last few hours.
                   Excellent weather and good road conditions.
                   Didn't get bothered by wild animals, including drunk ones in 4x4 pickups.
                   Finally, enough people moved off the calling frequencies.
                   Everybody should modify their 220 FM radio for CW transmit and
                                IF output to their HF radio!
                   The flies only came out for an hour each day.

Gripes:        Nicolai Mountain is a crappy site for 1296.
                   Stations who moved new DX up to the next band repeatedly, with the
                              DX stations usually not reappearing on the band where they started.
                  The "power mismatch" deal - the loud stations with the KW amps that
                              I can hear all day but never work.
                  Where was DN07/06/05?
                  Didn't break W7JXU's record - or mine, for that matter.

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