The morning today was full of chores that had to be done so it was up early and go go go. That plan worked out just fine and it allow me to have some time at the radio. I listened for a bit on the CW portion of 20m and it was very slow. I then decided to stay on 20m but move onto JT-65HF and see what was happening there. Right off the bat I decoded ZS6C from South Africa I was not able to connect up with him after several tries he seem to fade off the waterfall. That sure would had been a nice contact but on the positive side I have seen him on the waterfall many times in the past so there will be more opportunities.  I did have lots of  U.S stations calling CQ as well but I was not able to make contact with any of them either day......just not my day on the waterfall. I then changed it up and moved to calling CQ...oh and this post was being written while I was operating JT-65HF you just have to keep an eye on the waterfall and the decoded message. It is going to take a while for me to get the hang of the timing down. When you call someone on the waterfall there is not much time during decode to see if they are coming back to you, coming back to someone else or calling CQ. I did have KA4HOT come back to me but we were not able to complete the QSO most likely because I'm still getting the hang of the QSO rhythm.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Activating SOTA's, if you do it regularly, is an iterative process. Of course the primary focus is to get to the top of whatever summit you might be tackling on a given day, but another part of the game is how you get there. Of course the right clothing to be comfortable in whatever conditions you face, the right pack to carry your gear and of course the right radio. But then, some of the fun begins. Not only the right radio, but how will I configure the radio to maximize my signal, be as light as possible and how to I package of this so I don't have radio gear all over the ground or digging in my pack to find the battery, paddle, etc.. I have activated 150+ summits and this is a continuous process.

Since I've retired, I've now have the opportunity to have continuous thoughts about things like this without the interference of work or schedule related thoughts, it's great. Consequently, I've had some time to give my rig configuration some thought. What I have done is not totally unique as I have gotten ideas from others and mixed them into my own concoction. I have the 3 Band MTR, with 17m, 20m and 30m. I chose these particular bands so that I would have flexibility on contest weekends. So below is my latest, not my last configuration.


As you can see I am using a backpacking cutting board as the foundation of the setup. I used a product called Scotch Extreme fastener to attache the LIPO battery and the Pico Paddle, it's sort of like Velcro but it snaps into place and is 10x stronger than velcro. I simply drilled holes (this board has seen several iterations as you can see the many holes), and used rubber bands to hold the radio in place. I may decide to use the fastener instead. The "Rite in the Rain" card is for logging. A nice neat package to pull out of the pack, hook up the antenna, plug in the power and off I go.

There are however a couple of further improvements.



You can see I've added a tethered pencil for logging and an optional Elecraft T1 tuner, if you have a non-resonant wire. I can fasten it to the board with either rubber bands or the Scotch fastener.

I've also added a protective cover for the MTR. It's made from sleeping pad foam and protects the face and switches on the MTR when getting jostled in your pack. On the backside of the cover I've cut out recesses where the switches are and added little magnets that are attracted to the four screws on the case. Thanks to Fred, KT5X for this idea.


So there you have it, a light, three band, package that is compact, light and ready to go. So until I reconfigure again.
Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Activating SOTA's, if you do it regularly, is an iterative process. Of course the primary focus is to get to the top of whatever summit you might be tackling on a given day, but another part of the game is how you get there. Of course the right clothing to be comfortable in whatever conditions you face, the right pack to carry your gear and of course the right radio. But then, some of the fun begins. Not only the right radio, but how will I configure the radio to maximize my signal, be as light as possible and how to I package of this so I don't have radio gear all over the ground or digging in my pack to find the battery, paddle, etc.. I have activated 150+ summits and this is a continuous process.

Since I've retired, I've now have the opportunity to have continuous thoughts about things like this without the interference of work or schedule related thoughts, it's great. Consequently, I've had some time to give my rig configuration some thought. What I have done is not totally unique as I have gotten ideas from others and mixed them into my own concoction. I have the 3 Band MTR, with 17m, 20m and 30m. I chose these particular bands so that I would have flexibility on contest weekends. So below is my latest, not my last configuration.


As you can see I am using a backpacking cutting board as the foundation of the setup. I used a product called Scotch Extreme fastener to attache the LIPO battery and the Pico Paddle, it's sort of like Velcro but it snaps into place and is 10x stronger than velcro. I simply drilled holes (this board has seen several iterations as you can see the many holes), and used rubber bands to hold the radio in place. I may decide to use the fastener instead. The "Rite in the Rain" card is for logging. A nice neat package to pull out of the pack, hook up the antenna, plug in the power and off I go.

There are however a couple of further improvements.



You can see I've added a tethered pencil for logging and an optional Elecraft T1 tuner, if you have a non-resonant wire. I can fasten it to the board with either rubber bands or the Scotch fastener.

I've also added a protective cover for the MTR. It's made from sleeping pad foam and protects the face and switches on the MTR when getting jostled in your pack. On the backside of the cover I've cut out recesses where the switches are and added little magnets that are attracted to the four screws on the case. Thanks to Fred, KT5X for this idea.


So there you have it, a light, three band, package that is compact, light and ready to go. So until I reconfigure again.
Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

My good friend Dave Hackett KD2FSI, fellow South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club member, decided to conduct an NPOTA activation.  Yesterday, Dave posted on Facebook that he was going to travel up to Morristown, NJ to activate Morrsitown National Historical Park, HP28.  I asked (tongue-in-cheek) if visitors would be welcome, and Dave answered in the affirmative, so I knew I had to get up there today.


If you saw Dave's setup, you would swear that you died and went to Ham Radio heaven.  Dave recently purchased a minivan, which has become a custom outfitted portable communications center. Dave has hand crafted a wooden bed frame, with storage underneath that allows him to cart along everything he needs for portable Amateur Radio operations. If the need arises, Dave can operate quite comfortably from either inside or outside the van. He is equipped for just about any eventuality that you can think of, and if need be, he can "camp out" in semi-luxury as needed.  I should have taken pictures for this post, but I was so excited about helping to activate an entity for NPOTA that I plumb forgot!  (See my update below)

I got to the park shortly after Noon.  It's been years since I've been up to Jockey Hollow and I took a few wrong turns.  I ended up driving through Harding, NJ. Wow! Talk about seeing where the "1%" lives. What estates!  But I digress.

I got to the Jockey Hollow parking lot and Dave was already good to go.  He had his hybrid homebrew/commercial Buddipole on a painters pole at about the 15 foot level.  He had just finished conducting a run when I drove up, so he was ready to take a break and stretch his legs for a bit when I arrived. We chatted for a bit while I admired his set up.  Dave was using a Yaesu at 100 Watts off a deep cycle marine battery, and it was doing him in good stead.

Shortly after, we got back down to business.  Dave folded down the seat, so I could set next to him (very comfortably) on his padded bed frame/bench seat/storage cabinet. I offered to log for him while he took the microphone. Dave called "CQ NPOTA" for a bit and we had a few bites.  Then I decided to whip out my cell phone, bring up DX Summit and spot him on the cluster.

Quite literally, all Hell broke loose!  It was like standing next to a dam when it decided to burst. We were at the business end of a pileup and were having the time of our lives.  A little over an hour later, Dave decided to take another break, so I operated station KD2FSI for a few more QSOs, while he stretched his legs.  When things quieted down, we both took a break to discover that we had made over 100 QSOs in that short amount of time.  We worked all up and down the East coast and as far West as Arizona and New Mexico.

While Dave was operating solo, he also worked into Canada, the Netherlands and Belgium, I believe. It was a great time and I'm very grateful to Dave that he let me be his wingman for the day. As far as Amateur Radio goes, Dave is still considered a "rookie" as he is licensed for less than three years. Let me tell you, Dave is no rookie!  Dave has taken to HF operating like a bird to the air or a fish to the water.  He is completely at home behind the microphone for phone operations and behind the keyboard for digital operations.

And, oh yeah, he's also learning to get comfortable behind the key for CW operations. I'm hoping that he'll really be comfortable by Field Day!

UPDATE:

Dave posted some photos to the SPARC Facebook page, so I am going to do a little cross posting here, so you can see his wonderful set up.


Dave's minivan parked on his homebrew mast holder.  The mast is an extendable painter's pole. I'm guesstimating about 15 feet high.  His Buddipole is a hybrid of homebrew and commercial W3FF parts. By his outing yesterday, it was obvious that Dave's concoction is a huge success!


From the back of the minivan looking forward.  Dave's laptop is sitting on his handcrafted bedframe/storage unit. As you can see, it also serves as a desk.  He had only a thin cushion on it, as he was not spending an overnight at the park. For sleeping purposes, Dave has a much thicker and comfortable memory foam pad that his son gave him for Christmas.  This thin pad was just the thing for using his bedframe as a bench when Dave was running stations while I logged for him.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, 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.

Two Baluns in One

Elecraft BL2 kit

Too Fragile?

Summary

Richard Carpenter, AA4OO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from North Carolina, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Summits On The Air (SOTA) operating events are a great way to promote activity and create opportunities for summit-to-summit radio contacts. Here’s the 2016 calendar, an update of the 2015 list suggested by Guy N7UN. Many of these dates are aligned with VHF events but there will be HF activity as well.

• Jan 30-Feb 1: ARRL Jan VHF Contest + NA SOTA Winter Activity Weekend
• Apr 16-17: North America SOTA Spring Activity Weekend
• Jun 11-13: ARRL June VHF Contest + NA SOTA Summer Activity Weekend
• Jul 16-17: CQ WW VHF Contest + optional for SOTA
• Aug 6-7: Colorado 14er Event + NA SOTA Rocky Mtn Rendezvous + W7 SOTA Activity Weekend + ARRL UHF Contest
• Sept 10-12: ARRL Sept VHF Contest + NA SOTA Fall Activity Weekend

Of course, any day is a good day for SOTA activity.  The August 6-7 weekend looks to be the alignment of the planets with four events happening around that weekend. Early August usually offers excellent conditions for hiking the highest peaks in Colorado, so come on out and play.

For more info on VHF SOTA, see How To Do a VHF SOTA Activation.

Get off the couch, put on your hiking boots, grab your backpack, grab your radio but most important: get on the air!

73, Bob K0NR

The post 2016 SOTA Activity Days 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].