I activated Balcones Canylonlands National Wildlife Refuge. This is the federally managed area to the west of Austin. If you're interested in visiting here be sure you are going to a site that is part of the "National Wildlife Refuge". There are 4 official locations, this one is referred as Warbler Vista. There is no entrance fee or parking fee. The widest spot on the trails looks like this

The other trails are rocky, uneven terrain. I would not try and setup an antenna on the trails here. Due to that I went to the Sunset deck and parked there because I was able to generate this topographic map.

From this location, I have nearly line of sight view to Dripping Springs and parts of North Austin. Hutto is also nearly line of sight with only one peak in between my location and there. This should give me the opportunity to make some VHF contacts.

Profile from Sunset deck to Martin Road in Dripping Springs

Profile from Sunset deck to North Austin

Profile from Sunset deck to Hutto

I used a Diamond antenna on a fiberglass pole to elevate it. Based on how hot this antenna's base got, I'm pretty sure this antenna is a dummy load on 2 meters. It only cost me around $10.

After making some VHF contacts I went to 20 meters and waited for the QSO party to end so I could make some more contacts. I used the 5.7m telescopic whip mounted to my truck's antenna tuner for this.

Contacts

Files