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].

My new UTC clock on the PC desktop

I have Friday off today and got my running around out of the way this morning, so I decided to flip the radio switch and see what was happening. I was going from band to band around 1600 UTC and there was just stations here and there most U.S stations. Then at 1700 UTC I was listening on 20m and on the Elecraft P3 the lower end of 20m came alive! From only hearing U.S stations to hearing LOTS of  European stations and at first I could not tell if it was a contest or not but it had to be.  I went to WA7BNM contest site and looked things over to see what contest it was while at the same time listening to the contest to see what the exchange was. To be honest I did not have to much luck with either, I really could not make out the exchanges and the web site was not really clear what contest this could had been. As I was attempting to ferret out the contest an old issue came back to me....UTC time! I have an app on my Iphone that gives local and UTC time but more often than not the Iphone is not close by when I need to reference UTC time. The same issue comes up when logging a contact on paper temporally until logging it on the PC. I was going to purchase the MFJ 108B dual LED clock but it was good I held off. It occurred to me to get online and search for something that was a free download on the internet!! I found a neat little program that sits on your desktop. You can resize it, move it around, when you restart your PC it comes alive in the last place it was left when you turned your PC off and best of all it's free!  Have a look at it and see what you think and by all means if you are using another program let me know what it is and I will check it out.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

I need your help!

Come meet me on the shortwave (HF) ham bands for the Morse code (CW mode) special event, the Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) celebration, with special callsign, K3Y. During the shifts (time slots) listed below, I am the control operator as K3Y/0.

I need you to make a contact with me.

This special event takes place every year during January. We celebrate the legacy of Morse code, and promote Morse code and manual creation of the code by any non-electronic (digital) device and method. Which means that we love mechanical bugs, straight keys, two ends of a wire, or any other manual device, if Morse code is generated. The Straight Key Century Club is a free membership group. The link to their website is below.

I need you to make a contact with me, during my scheduled times, listed below.

NOTE: YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A MEMBER OF THE (free) SKCC GROUP. To get into my logbook, you meet me on my frequency, and use Morse code to communicate with me. It is painless. If you must, you can use computer-generated Morse code. Or, you can tap it out on any Morse code signalling device, like a bug, a set of paddles, or a straight key; whatever you choose to make Morse code emanate from your HF transmitter.

HOWEVER: For those of you who want to get fully immersed in the spirit of this event, you are invited to use a straight key. And, as a bonus, you may and can join the SKCC group for FREE. Then, you would have your own SKCC number. That’d be cool; we SKCC members use that number in our exchange during our QSO information exchange. But, you don’t need that. Since it is free, why not?

What is needed is simply you, getting on the shortwave band, finding me, hearing me, and responding to me with Morse code. In other words, we need to have a QSO using Morse code. I am not a fast operator, so no problem if you are not very fast. I’ll meet your speed.

In any case, here are some of the times I will be on the air as K3Y/0… please dust off your straight key, bug, paddles, whatever, and make a QSO with me. Thanks!

My current schedule:

UTC Start/End (remember, these are NOT your local times, but are the UTC (GMT) times!)

(revised times, as of edit date)


00:00 - 02:59 19-Jan-16
00:00 - 02:59 20-Jan-16
00:00 - 02:59 21-Jan-16
00:00 - 02:59 22-Jan-16
00:00 - 05:59 23-Jan-16
14:00 - 18:59 23-Jan-16
20:00 - 21:59 23-Jan-16
00:00 - 02:59 24-Jan-16
14:00 - 18:59 24-Jan-16
21:00 - 21:59 24-Jan-16
00:00 - 02:59 25-Jan-16
00:00 - 02:59 26-Jan-16
00:00 - 02:59 27-Jan-16
00:00 - 02:59 28-Jan-16
00:00 - 02:59 29-Jan-16
00:00 - 05:59 30-Jan-16
13:00 - 18:59 30-Jan-16
20:00 - 21:59 30-Jan-16
00:00 - 03:59 31-Jan-16
13:00 - 23:59 31-Jan-16

Now, what frequency will I be on?

To find out what frequency I am on:

Visit http://g.nw7us.us/sched4SKCC and look on the right side for my callsign, NW7US. I usually post my frequency of operation right after my call sign.

Typically, evening operation is 30m, then 40m, and then possibly 80m.

If you are trying to alert me to your presence, you may message me on my personal Facebook profile, under my “Tomas David Hood” profile messages, but I may not see that right away.

Here is the detail covering the K3Y operation and the SKCC group: http://skccgroup.com/k3y

73 de NW7US
dit dit

This was last year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfRvITFpTb4

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