Shamrock Run 2013

[N7IYT]

The second running of the Shamrock Run, previously known as the Stuck Truck Trail.

I originally called this the "Stuck Truck" trail. I have since learned that this trail is called the "Shamrock Run" by the locals.
St. Patrick's Day is a Sunday this year, so it seems like a good time to run the trail.
This trail is very scenic. It is not difficult, but it is rather brushy in spots. There are some good spots along the trail to setup for some VHF mountain-topping.

Meetup will be at the Chevron Station at I-17 and Carefree Highway at 7:00 AM.

Talk-in Frequency is 147.24 MHz +600 offset 162.2 Hz PL tone. This repeater has coverage on parts of the trail if you need to contact somebody in town.

Trail frequency is 147.52 MHz simplex.

I will be beaconing APRS on 445.925 MHz. You can follow my track on APRS with this link: N7IYT-9

Use this thread to coordinate the HF/VHF/UHF mountain topping event scheduled for Sunday, 3/17/2013.


I have some video from the prerun.


And some Video from Last year's run.



It is a fairly long run, it will take the whole day. The trail starts near Tip Top, and we will pass through Tip Top on the return leg of the trail.

Here is a map of the trail:


I have some GPS files from the Prerun in various formats:

GPX format

Google Earth KML format

TOPO! Maps TPO format

[N1HX]

Planning on bringing my Kenwood TS-2000 and Diamond CPVU8 multi band HF/UHF vertical trap antenna to try to work the Mt Lemmon group. It takes about 15 minutes to set up. Hopefully someone on the Mt. Lemmon side will have HF capability. Richard, will there be a separate thread coordinating this or will you and Steve be handling the details?

[N7IYT]

Planning on bringing my Kenwood TS-2000 and Diamond CPVU8 multi band HF/UHF vertical trap antenna to try to work the Mt Lemmon group. It takes about 15 minutes to set up. Hopefully someone on the Mt. Lemmon side will have HF capability. Richard, will there be a separate thread coordinating this or will you and Steve be handling the details?

Good idea Paul, I have started a new thread here to coordinate the HF/VHF/UHF portion of this event and I hope to add APRS to this event as well. There may be another person leading a run to Harquhala Peak that same day, if so, we will include that run in the mountain topping event. Since you are bringing HF equipment along, maybe we can get members from other States involved.

[N7IYT]

I normally run simplex trail communications on 5 watts to minimize interference with distant stations. Both trail runs plan to use 147.52 for trail communications. It will be interesting to see if we pick up the other run's trail communications before we reach the clearing. If interference becomes a problem, I would like the Shamrock group to switch to a back-up trail frequency of 146.54 MHz. Please program this frequency into your radios.

[N7IYT]

The second annual Shamrock Run was a success! We had four Jeeps on the run, three of them were lifted. The trail was a bit rougher this year than it was last year due to storm damage and erosion on the trail. We had to winch the un-lifted Jeep over one obstacle. The only damage sustained on the trail was one valve stem. We all added a little bit of Arizona pin striping to our vehicles, and a couple of scrapes to our undercarriages.

We were able to hear the trail communications from the Rice Peak run even though they were only running 5 watts. We did switch to an alternate trail frequency, 146.54, for awhile to avoid interfering with their trail communications. They were talking people over an obstacle while we were dealing with a high-centered vehicle. Not a good time to be talking over each other.

We arrived at the clearing about 20 minutes ahead of schedule, and within minutes of the other group's arrival at their destination. I made contact with Randy, K7NNT, on VHF simplex while Paul, N1HX, got his radio and logging computer set up. We made about 20 contacts on HF, some to stations in the Valley and several to other States, some as far away as the East Coast. We operated HF until the battery in the logging computer ran out, then we started on the remainder of the trail.

While on the trail, we met a couple of guys on an ATV who reported an abandoned vehicle a few miles down the trail, they thought the truck had been abandoned for a couple of days and feared that people might be lost in the desert. They tried to contact the authorities, but they had no cell phone coverage in that area. We all checked our cell phones, none of us had coverage either, so we turned to Ham radio to contact the authorities. We contacted a station in the valley who then called the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office. We had the license plate number from the vehicle thanks to the guys on the ATV. With that information, the Sheriff's Office was able to tell us that the people involved had already been rescued, but the vehicle had been left there because it was difficult to recover due to its location. This made us feel much better so we continued the run.

We took lots of pictures and video. I will edit the video and post it within a few days. I will also post our contact log as soon as I can.

My thanks to Steve, Tory, Paul, Aaron, John, Tony, Pat, David, and Tanya for making this a successful, fun, and safe run!

[WB7X]

I think my wife contacted one of you on HF.

I heard you work CA and NM on 40m, all booming. 17 sounded good too.

Actually heard Randy on 17m.

[KF7RTR]

What a run! The trail challenges, working HF, & and the mystery of the abandoned truck made for a long day. Thanks for organizing, Richard, and to all for an enjoyable day.



Additional photos of the trip are here - http://www.4x4ham.com/album.php?albumid=80

[N1HX]

Thanks for posting the pics Steve. Great group to run with. Great day. Nice to meet John and his group. And of course, thanks to N7ITY for organizing a successful off-road AND communications run.

[K7AZS]

Credit where credit is deserved. Jim KE7YIA posted the pics.

[N7IYT]

Thanks for the pictures Steve.

[N7IYT]

Here is the log for the Shamrock Run:

BAND	CALL	COUNTRY	FREQ	MODE	NAME	RST_RCVD	RST_SENT	STATE	TIME_OFF	TIME_ON	TX_PWR
20m	K7NNT	United States	14247000	SSB		59	59		2013-03-17-184218	2013-03-17-184218	100
20m	VE4QZ	Canada	14247000	SSB	Doug	55	54		2013-03-17-184811	2013-03-17-184811	100
20m	W0IYH	United States	14242000	SSB	bill	59	59		2013-03-17-185429	2013-03-17-185429	100
20m	XE2HQV	Mexico	14242000	SSB		59	59		2013-03-17-185814	2013-03-17-185814	100
20m	AD7TI	United States	14242000	SSB	Tom	59	59		2013-03-17-190317	2013-03-17-190317	100
20m	WB7X	United States	14242000	SSB	Marty	59	59		2013-03-17-190433	2013-03-17-190433	100
20m	K7NNT	United States	14242000	SSB	Randy	59	59		2013-03-17-190641	2013-03-17-190641	100
20m	N0UY	United States	14242000	SSB	Ray	59	59	Minnisota	2013-03-17-190909	2013-03-17-190909	100
17m	WB7X	United States	18146000	SSB	Marty	59	59		2013-03-17-192051	2013-03-17-192051	100
17m	KG4ARS	United States	18146000	SSB		59	59	Georgia	2013-03-17-192555	2013-03-17-192555	100
17m	K7NNT	United States	18146000	SSB	Randy	59	59		2013-03-17-192718	2013-03-17-192718	100
17m	W4FA	United States	18146000	SSB		59	59	North Carolina	2013-03-17-192848	2013-03-17-192848	100
17m	K4AAZ	United States	18146000	SSB	Pat	59	59	North Carolina	2013-03-17-193108	2013-03-17-193108	100
17m	KC9YAV	United States	18146000	SSB		59	59	Indiana	2013-03-17-193511	2013-03-17-193511	100
17m	W7LBT	United States	18146000	SSB		59	59	Arizona	2013-03-17-193735	2013-03-17-193735	100
17m	NN5Q	United States	18146000	SSB	James	59	59	OK	2013-03-17-194131	2013-03-17-194131	100
40m	WB7X	United States	7244000	SSB	Marty	59	59		2013-03-17-200207	2013-03-17-200207	100
40m	N6EED	United States	7244000	SSB	Terry	59	59	California	2013-03-17-200603	2013-03-17-200603	100
40m	KC5WDV	United States	7244000	SSB	Greg	59	59	New Mexico	2013-03-17-201222	2013-03-17-201222	100
40m	WD7DX	United States	7244000	SSB	Dominique	59	59	Arizona	2013-03-17-202135	2013-03-17-202135	100

[KF7RTR]

Credit where credit is deserved. Jim KE7YIA posted the pics.

Steve,

This is Steve S KF7RTR (also from EV 4x4). I think you've got the threads for the two runs crossed-up. Yes, Jim KE7YIA posted photos in the thread of your Mt Lemmon Run. But this is the Shamrock Run thread where I posted photos of the Shamrock Run with Richard. Check them out, as linked in the message below at - http://www.4x4ham.com/album.php?albumid=80

Steve S KF7RTR

[N7IYT]

I have completed the videos from the Shamrock Run:

[WB7X]

Nicely done.

[KF7RTR]

Thanks for doing the videos, Richard. They're a good summary of a fun trip.

[N1HX]

Great vids Richard. I really enjoyed them. Thanks to you and your videographers.