One of our favorite summit hikes along the front range of Colorado is Devils Head lookout tower (W0C/FR-051). This hike is about 1.5 miles one way with 900 feet of vertical gain. See my summer trip report from July 2012 for more information on the hike. This year we activated the summit in winter.

One problem with this trail is that it has become extremely popular in the summer months. The actual summit and lookout tower is not very big and can get very crowded. This is tolerable for hiking but can make a Summits On The Air (SOTA) activation difficult. It certainly is not a “get away from it all” experience.

Recently, Brad/WA6MM pointed out that the summit is still accessible now (in late November) and the crowds have all disappeared. Note that the trailhead will be difficult to access starting December 1st (see the Devils Head  forest service page).

We took highway 67 out of Sedalia, then south on Rampart Range Road (FS 300) to the well-marked side road that goes to the trailhead . The forest service roads had 6 to 8 inches of snow on them but we were able to drive our 4WD pickup truck to the trailhead without any problem. The trail was also snow covered but walking in high-top hiking boots worked just fine. We had our microspikes along in case of ice but did not use them.

As you can see from the photos, it was a bright sunny day…wonderful day to be out hiking in the mountains. Temperature was about 25 degrees F but very light wind.

 

We met a total of four other parties on the trail, so not very busy.

Once on top, we started calling on 146.52 MHz with many stations responding. That summit has good line-of-sight to Denver and the other front range cities. As things quieted down on 2 meters, I switched to 446.0 MHz and worked a bunch of stations there, too. We were using the small TYT 2m/70cm mobile transceiver (which I recently repaired) and yagi antennas for 2m and 70cm. I also had my 23cm HT and Comet yagi with me and managed to work Paul/W0RW on 1294.5 MHz, about 33 miles (53 km) away in Colorado Springs.

Here is my log from the activation:

Joyce worked a subset of these stations. In particular, she was very happy to work three women. She has been referring to these contacts as “F2F” for “female to female.” On this activation, her F2F QSOs were: Annette/KA0JKZ, Sharon/KC0PBR and Barbara/W0BJE. Way to go, ladies!

We’ve made a note to do this summit again next year, after the crowds are gone. It is a really nice early winter hike. Thanks to everyone that worked us on the summit.

73 Bob K0NR

The post Winter SOTA on Devils Head (W0C/FR-051) appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Welcome to Episode 260 of Linux in the Ham Shack. We're so glad you could join us. In this episode, the hosts talk about the results of JOTA 2018, FCC Part 15 rules, the sun and its atmosphere, new satellites, cryptocurrency vulnerabilities, Fedora, SDR with the Raspberry Pi and much more. Thank you for listening!

73 de The LHS Crew

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, Martin M1MRB is joined by Chris Howard M0TCH , Martin Rothwell M0SGL, Dan Romanchik KB6NU, Ed Durrant DD5LP and Frank Howell K4FMH to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief and this episode’s feature is National Radio Centre.

ICQ AMATEUR/HAM RADIO PODCAST DONORS

We would like to thank Bruce Hymon along with our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

• ARRL Director and Vice Director Election Results Announced
• Green Keys Night
• URC Calls for Basic French License
• Australian Labor Party Commits $2 million to Resurrect ABC Shortwave Radio (if elected)
• Es’hail-2 Geostationary Satellite Launched
• Santa's Radio Club Special Event - OH9S
• Extending and Enabling New Licence Exemptions for 57-71 GHz
• CT1BAT New Vice-President of EURAO

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

Batteries are a necessity for portable operation, including Summits On The Air (SOTA) activations. In situations where I’m using a handheld transceiver, it has its own battery. I might carry a spare battery or two, depending on how long I intend to operate.

I also make use of my Yaesu FT-817 (mostly for 2m ssb/cw) and a small 2m/70cm FM transceiver (Yaesu FT-90). The FT-817 has an internal battery pack but I worry that it will run out of charge during the activation. The FT-90 needs a battery to function, drawing 9.5 A at full power. However, I usually run it at a lower power setting, probably drawing about 5 or 6 A.

Sealed Lead Acid Battery

I started out using a small sealed lead acid (SLA) battery. These use well-established battery technology that has stood the test of time. They are easy to charge and do a good job. But they are a bit heavy. Initially, I thought “what’s an extra pound or two in my backpack?” Later, I started looking around for something more compact and lighter. As backpackers and SOTA activators know, a pound here and a pound there means you up end up with a really heavy backpack.

Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery

Many SOTA activators use lithium iron phosphate (LiFePo4) batteries that are commonly used for radio-controlled aircraft/vehicles.  I bought two of these batteries (Zippy 4200) and a special charger that handles LiFePo4. These batteries are lightweight and have great power density. One charge handled several SOTA activations…I never ran out of power.

As shown in the photo, these battery packs have two connections: one for charging that accesses each cell individually and one for current output that you connect to your radio. I removed the output connectors that came installed and replaced them with PowerPole connectors.

These batteries worked pretty well for me. They had plenty of capacity and held their voltage nicely during discharge. Then one of the batteries failed early in life. (I think I was taking good care of them, too.) One annoying thing with these batteries is that the charger was relatively large and had a fragile adapter that connected to the battery charging port. (This allows one charger to handle a wide variety of battery packs.) This was not a problem at home but I found it to be a disadvantage when traveling.

Bioenno Power 12 Volt Series

When the Zippy battery failed, it caused me to look further for other options. I ended up adopting the Bioenno series of batteries, specifically their 12V series: 12V Series – LFP (LiFePO4) Batteries. These battery packs also use LiFePO4 cells, but the charging controller smarts are embedded into the battery pack. These packs also have short circuit protection which is an awesome safety feature for lithium batteries. This makes the battery pack friendlier to use but it does cost a bit more. They also come with PowerPole connectors installed (along with another connection that I don’t use.)

From the Bioenno web site:

Our 12V LFP Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries give you the following advantages:

• We guarantee our entire battery range comes with built-in protection-circuit-modules (PCM) micro-computers that internally balanced cells and confer protection including from overcharge, overdischarge and short circuiting.
• A Bioenno Power battery is thermally and chemically stable
• A Bioenno Power battery is dependable and reliable without the possibility of lithium fires
• A Bioenno Power battery is 50% to 70% lighter than a traditional SLA (sealed lead acid) battery
• A Bioenno Power battery allows for extraction of >80-90% of the rated capacity, whereas an SLA battery only allows for 50% of the rated capacity
• A Bioenno Power product has a service life of 2000+ charge cycles at 5-10+ years with a shelf life that far exceeds the service life of many other batteries

I bought two of their battery packs. The 4.5 Ah pack is for normal SOTA use, small and lightweight (1 pound). The second pack is 9 Ah for when I’m operating for a longer time (weighs 2.6 pounds), such as mountaintopping for a VHF contest. The Bienno 2A charger, which has a nice compact form factor, works with both of them. This charger is much better for packing up when traveling.

I have used the Bioenno batteries on several SOTA activations and I’m quite happy with the setup. The Zippy LiFePO4 (and Sealed Lead Acid) are fine to use but I have found that the Bioenno system is superior overall. I will probably add a few more Bioenno battery packs to my collection over time. They make some really large batteries that would be good for EmComm work, but too heavy for hiking.

That’s my story on battery packs. What are you using?

73 Bob K0NR

The post My SOTA Battery Journey appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

PTD - 400 kHz Potsdam, NY

This coming weekend will see another monthly CLE challenge. This time the hunting grounds will be 400.0 - 419.9 kHz.

 


For those unfamiliar with this monthly activity, a 'CLE' is a 'Co-ordinated Listening Event', as NDB DXers around the world focus their listening time on one small slice of the NDB spectrum.




A nice challenge in this one is to hear PTD on 400kHz located in Potsdam, New York. It's a 25-watter but is rarely logged out west. I have heard it only once, back in January, 2010. Listen for its USB CW identifier (with your receiver in the CW mode) on 401.010 and its LSB ID on 398.984 kHz.

MF propagation this past week has been very good and signals in this frequency range should be propagating well if things stay undisturbed for the weekend.

When tuning for NDBs, put your receiver in the CW mode and listen for the NDB's CW identifier, repeated every few seconds. Listen for U.S. NDB identifiers approximately 1 kHz higher or lower than the published transmitted frequency since these beacons are modulated with a 1020 Hz tone approximately.

For example, 'AA' near Fargo, ND, transmits on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier is tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident can be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone is actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone is 1054 Hz.

Often, one sideband will be much stronger than the other so if you don't hear the first one, try listening on the other sideband.

Canadian NDBs normally have an USB tone only, usually very close to 400 Hz. They also have a long dash (keydown) following the CW identifier.

All NDBs heard in North America will be listed in the RNA database (updated daily) while those heard in Europe may be found in the REU database. Beacons heard outside of these regions will be found in the RWW database.


From CLE organizer Brian Keyte, G3SIA, come details via the The NDB List Group:


Hi all,

Our 238th coordinated listening event starts on Friday.    
This frequency range is not packed with signals for any of us, but
the current excellent conditions should give us some nice surprises.
Do join in, even if you only have an hour or so to spare over the weekend.

     Days:    Friday 23 Nov - Monday 26 Nov 2018
     Times:   Start and end at midday your LOCAL time
     Range:   400 - 419.9 kHz

(Apologies to Listeners ‘down under’ - not much to listen for in this range
at summer time.  Could listen via a remote receiver instead?  See below)

Just log all the NDBs that you can identify with nominal (listed)
frequencies in the range - it includes 400 kHz, but not 420 kHz -
plus any UNIDs that you come across there.

Please send your final log to the List (no attachments and ideally
in a plain text email) with ‘FINAL CLE238’ in its title.
Show on each line:

    #   The Date (e.g.  '2018-11-23' etc.  or just '23' )
    #   The Time in UTC (the day changes at 00:00 UTC).
    #   kHz  - the nominal published frequency, if known.
    #   The Call Ident.

Please show those main items FIRST.  Other optional details such
as Location and Distance go LATER in the same line.
As always, of course, tell us your own location and brief details
of the equipment that you were using during the Event.

We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 18:00 UTC
on Tuesday so that you can check that your log has been found OK.
Do make sure that your log has arrived on the List by 09:00 UTC
on Wednesday 28 November at the very latest.
The combined results should then be completed within a day or two.

You can find full details about current and past CLEs from the CLE page
http://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm  It includes access to CLE238 seeklists
for your part of the World, prepared from the previous loggings in Rxx.

Good listening - enjoy the CLE.
      Brian and Joachim
---------------------------------------------------------------
From:      Brian Keyte G3SIA      ndbcle'at'gmail.com
Location:  Surrey,  SE England     (CLE coordinator)
---------------------------------------------------------------

  (If you would like to listen remotely  you could use any one remote
  receiver for your loggings, stating its location and owner and with their
  permission if required.  A remote listener may NOT also use another
  receiver, local or remote, to make further loggings for the same CLE)



Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Updated radiokitguide at http://radiokitguide.com

This is a list I maintain of available radio kits on the Internet.

Feel free to suggest any that I missed.

–Neil W2NDG

Neil Goldstein, W2NDG, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New York, USA. Contact him at [email protected].