Buckeye to the Sky: N8WE's Assault on Ohio's Campbell Hill

The high point of Ohio is inside of a school complex and marked by a concrete slab with an "X."

On December 20, I traveled to 1,550-foot Campbell Hill via van from my home QTH in Kettering, Ohio. It took about an hour and a half to get there.

The summit is located two miles east of the western Ohio town of Bellefontaine.

Using an Oak Hill Research transceiver at 2-watts output, I activated the summit using an antenna fashioned with a seasonal item:

I bought a used metal Christmas tree stand, removed the legs, inverted the stand and mounted a mobile whip antenna on it, with two radials about eight feet each. I used a small external speaker and a Whiterook straight key.

The weather was sunny with the temperature at 32 degrees and a wind chill of about 18.

At 16:45 UTC, I made contact with Vin O'Keeffe, W1IDL, of Akron, MI on 7.035 Mhz.

I experienced no altitude sickness or nose bleed. Gary Slagel, N0SXX, was higher on Colorado's Mount Elbert (14,433-foot altitude), but I was just as cold or colder.

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Glen Hazen, N8WE, is a QRPer and outdoorsman living in Kettering, Ohio.