Welcome to Episode #261 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this, our 20th Weekender edition, we give you information on upcoming amateur radio contests and special event stations, upcoming open-source conferences and events, personal challenges, Linux distributions to try and a whole bunch of hedonism. It's the perfect intro to your next two weekends. Thank you for listening.

73 de The LHS Crew

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.

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

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.

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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.