On a recent trip back from Arizona, we stopped overnight in Battle Mountain, NV. A 10pt summit (W7N/EL-017) was a mere 50 mins away so I made time to head up there. Previous reports indicated that it was an easy, if somewhat long, drive up to the summit and I found that the dirt road was still in excellent shape, though there are several tight switchbacks to be nagivated.
I parked at the comm tower halfway between the radar station and the summit as others before me had and hiked the remaining short distance. There are 2 metal ladders to be climbed to the top and then a very small area to put up a HF antenna. There is a military-style container taking up the middle of the summit and I could only fit my 20m EFHW by tying my mast to the telephone pole on the one side and the container on the other. Nevertheless, I was able to make QSOs in relatively short order and headed down. 2m was pretty much dead, with only one contact from XYL.
BTW, the whole area seems to be covered in grasshoppers. There were several hundred keeping me company on the summit.
We then proceeded to stop in Winnemucca and I activated Winnemucca Mt (W7N/HU-089). See my accompanying report on that one.
