Here's a shot of the stone building and observation tower at the summit of Mt. Diablo. That's me (N6TOP) in the left-center of the picture.

Since we drove up to Mt. Diablo in my wife's convertible two-seater, I didn't have room for the telescoping mast, so this time I just used my handheld Arrow II Satellite Antenna (without the UHF elements) for 2m operation.

My furthest contacts were WA6DAC (near Placerville), WA6KLK (Willits), and N6RZ (Santa Cruz mountains).

One of the hams that I talked to on 144.200 USB suggested I try listening for the Mauna Loa beacon because reports on the internet indicated that it had been heard on the west coast. Sure enough, I tuned up 144.170 CW and heard the beacon, although the signal was pretty weak. Apparently it had been much stronger earlier in the day. I tried calling CQ on 144.200 USB with the beam pointed in the direction of the strongest beacon signal, but no luck.

Here's a shot of the parking lot at the summit. This is a good place for folks that like to hilltop without straying too far from the vehicle. Makes it convenient for doing some hilltopping at power levels above QRP.

Here's the view toward the north in the direction of the Mothball Fleet.