KG7E's blog

This is probably the easiest summit to locate in Idaho.  It is a volcanic dome that rises 2500 feet in the middle of the Snake River Lava Plain. You can't miss it.  I accessed it from the ARCO approach, a drive of about 20 miles across a dusty BLM desert road which brought me to the base.  Here I unloaded my ATV and rode up the summit trail which is 5 miles one way. A really fine and popular ATV trail ride.  The trail ends at the very peak where there is a viewing platform and stinky outhouse.

Wanted to try out my gear so I hiked up this butte which is right behind my house. About 1000 ft straight up. No trail to speak of, just a lot of loose rock.  Set up my Buddipole and tuned it with a small analyzer. Operated 20m CW with my Elecraft K-1 and mini-paddles. Battery was an 1800mAh 12 volt model airplane Li-Po I had laying around the shop.  It wasn't until I quit that I realized I never used the auto-tuner in my K-1, so who knows how much my 5 watts was throttled down. I'll try to remember that next time.