NCTH Softies Hike Safety Net - Spring 2009

Ranges were short enough and foliage light enough that we were able to use simplex 146.52 Mhz all the way. Did confirm that the 147.300 repeater (White Pine) was available Friday and Sunday. No repeater was available for the easternmost leg of this hike, ending at the old Victoria townsite.

Marge's HT was equipped with a new collapsible 5/8th wave antenna that worked very well. It was very easy to tell the difference between collapsed (1/4 wave) and fully extended (5/8).

Rugged, hilly terrain on the eaternmost leg. I was able to put the van between hills to the point that I had good access to the hikers as they covered the range of the activity. Topo maps were very useful for this purpose.