There is a SOTA summit next to Wilkerson Pass called The Pulverizer (W0C/SP-092). With such an inviting name, of course, we had to activate it.

According to its Summit Post page, this summit was named by well-known mountaineer and author Gerry Roach. Apparently, this name is an adaptation of the name of a nearby summit, Pulver Mountain. The Pulverizer does not have a trail to the summit and is known for having a lot of downed timber in the way. I found a trip report that said,

Overall, this is the kind of “hike” you only do if you really, really want to get these summits. It’s the kind of hike that you take someone on if you never want them to go with you on a hike ever again. Miserable downfall for pretty much the entire hike.

Having climbed the summit, I think this is an exaggeration but we did encounter plenty of downed timber. Many of our SOTA activations involve off-trail hiking, so we have been conditioned to expect the all-too-common dead trees on the ground.

Wilkerson Pass

Joyce/K0JJW and I followed the route identified by Walt/W0CP that starts at the Wilkerson Pass Visitor Center. (This summit can also be accessed from the east, via County Road 90.) We parked the Jeep on the east end of the parking lot and walked the trail (actually a sidewalk) to the south. At the “trailhead” waypoint, we left the sidewalk and headed south on a trail that quickly faded away.

Most of this area is in the Pike National Forest but there is a large piece of private property as shown on the map. The route to the summit is not critical but you need to avoid the private property, well marked with No Trespassing signs. The northeast corner of the property is shown on the map below as Fence Corner #1 (39.03252, -105.52364). We aimed for that corner, then followed the fence line heading south to Fence Corner #2 (39.02911, -105.52373). After that, you pretty much head to the summit, adjusting your route to avoid the worst sections of downfall.

The hike is 1.5 miles one way, with about 950 feet of elevation gain. There is a bit of up and down so the accumulated elevation gain may be higher than this. It starts out downhill, then flattens out but then provides a steep uphill section at the end. On the return trip, head for Fence Corner #2 and then follow the fence line north.

On the summit, we had good luck with making VHF & UHF radio contacts. This was during the Colorado 14er Event, so we had other summits on the air for S2S contacts. Sitting right above Wilkerson Pass, it has an excellent radio horizon in all directions. Here’s the view from the top, looking east:

Final Impression

So the real question is did we like the summit and will we do it again? We are glad that we did it, kind of a check-the-box item for SOTA activations in the South Park area. This is not our favorite SOTA summit but we might do it again sometime. You might say “We Have Been Pulverized” and we are not in a hurry to do it again.

73 Bob K0NR

The post Activating The Pulverizer (W0C/SP-092) appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

The Ham Nation folks invited me on to talk about the Colorado 14er Event last night. Thanks for the invite! This turned out to be a concise look at the 14er event with lots of great photos of past operations.

Here’s the video (my segment was 20 minutes long):

We have lots of information on the event at ham14er.org.

73 Bob K0NR

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Amateur Radio Fun in the Colorado Mountains
August 4 through 7, 2023
www.ham14er.orgAmateur Radio operators from around Colorado will be climbing Colorado Summits On The Air (SOTA) peaks and communicating with other radio amateurs across the state and around the world. Join in on the fun during the annual event by activating a summit or contacting (chasing) the mountaintop stations.This event is normally held the first full weekend in August. Again this year, we will add two bonus days to the Colorado 14er Event. The main two days remain Saturday and Sunday (Aug 5 & 6), while the bonus days are Friday Aug 4 and Monday Aug 7th, for those SOTA enthusiasts that need more than two days of SOTA fun! Be aware that many mountaintop activators will hit the trail early with the goal of being off the summits by (1800 UTC) noon due to lightning safety concerns.

The 14er event includes Summits On the Air (SOTA) peaks, which provide over 1700 summits to activate. (See the W0C SOTA web page or browse the SOTA Atlas.) The Colorado 14er Event was started in 1991, about 19 years before the SOTA program was set up in Colorado. As SOTA grew in popularity, this event expanded from just the 14,000-foot mountains (14ers) to include all of the SOTA summits in the state. We still call it the Colorado 14er Event because, well, that’s where it all started and the 14ers are the iconic summits in the state.

Important: The recommended 2m FM frequencies have been changed to 146.58, 146.55, and 146.49 MHz, to align with the use of the North America Adventure Frequency for SOTA (146.58). The National Simplex Calling Frequency (146.52) may be used as appropriate. There will be plenty of action on the other ham bands, for more information see the operating frequencies page.

Resources:
Colorado 14er Event webpage  – Everything to Know About The Colorado 14er Event
Beginner Guide – For the first-time activator
Ham14er Groups.io  – Discussion Group for the event
Colorado SOTA groups.io – Colorado SOTA discussion group

Colorado 14er Event Task Force
[email protected]

The post 2023 Colorado 14er Event (Summits On The Air) appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

My article that describes last year’s SOTA/POTA/VHF contest activation from Pikes Peak appears in the June issue of QST magazine. This VHF/UHF activation occurred on the Saturday of the ARRL June VHF Contest and qualified for Summits On The Air (W0C/FR-004 Pikes Peak) and Parks On The Air (K-4404 Pike National Forest). The article highlights the use of the North America Adventure Frequency of 146.58 MHz.

I made 80 radio contacts that day, on the 6m, 2m, 1.25m, 70cm, and 23cm bands. Not a great score for the VHF contest but quite nice for a VHF SOTA and POTA activation. My primary piece of equipment was the ICOM IC-705, which enabled all modes on the main VHF/UHF frequencies.

If you are an ARRL member, look for the article on Page 58 of the print edition of June QST or the online version. Not an ARRL member? Darn, you should fix that if you want to read articles published in QST.

If you are an ARRL member, please look at the article and consider voting for it in the QST Cover Plaque Award. Thanks!

73 Bob K0NR

The post June QST: SOTA, POTA and VHF Contest appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

I do a lot of SOTA activating using 2m FM and have developed a few operating habits that can really make a difference. These may seem obvious but might be overlooked by operators new to the game. To get an overview of using VHF for SOTA, look at this article: How to Do A VHF SOTA Activation.

Here are three operating tips when using 2m FM for SOTA:

1. Upgrade Your Antenna

A handheld radio is commonly used for SOTA operation because it is a self-contained, compact radio. These radios always come with a rubber duck (electrically-short monopole) antenna. These antennas vary in quality but they are universally poor performers compared to a half-wave radiator. I’ve measured the effectiveness of many rubber duck antennas on 2 meters and they are somewhere between 8 and 12 dB worse than a half-wave radiator. So an easy upgrade is to use a half-wave telescoping antenna. Another popular option with a half-wave radiator is the roll-up J-pole (often called a “Slim Jim” antenna). An even better choice is a small 3-element Yagi such as the 146-3 from Arrow antenna,  which is about 6 dB better than a halfwave antenna. Keep in mind that the Yagi should be held vertically-oriented for FM operating.

2. Open Your Squelch

The squelch circuit in an FM receiver requires the signal to be large enough to flip the squelch open. When operating at weak signal levels, the squelch may mask a signal that is actually readable. A recommended technique is to just open up the squelch control and let the FM noise come through. This maximizes the opportunity to pick out that weak signal out of the noise.

3. Point Your Antenna Everywhere

If you have a directional antenna, make sure you methodically point it in a variety of directions when calling CQ. For example, with a 3-element Yagi, you should divide up the 360 degrees around you into 45-degree sections. Point north, make a call, point northeast, make a call, point east, make a call, and so forth. Also be aware that the direct path to another station may not be the strongest path. This is especially true if you have tall summits around you that can block or reflect your signal. Many times I’ve pointed in the “right direction” to work another station but then found that the signals were strongest with the antenna pointed away from the direct path. So the secret is go ahead and try different antenna orientations to maximize the signal strength, even when you know the physical direction to the other station. Sometimes the radio waves decide to take another path.

Those are my three tips for today.
Do you have any to add?

73 Bob K0NR

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Last year, Joyce/K0JJW and I tried to activate Red Mountain Number 3 (W0C/UR-016) for SOTA in the San Juan mountains. The map showed there was a road to the top, so we were expecting easy access. However, the road is gated off about 2 miles from the summit, requiring a hike. So we hiked almost to the summit but turned back when the thunderstorms rolled in. We retreated to safety and vowed to return another day.

This week, we went back and activated the summit, along with Stu/W0STU and Liz/KT0LIZ. Red Mountain No. 3 sits just southwest of its sister summits: Red Mountain No.1 and Red Mountain No. 2. (Red Mtn 1 is also a SOTA summit, so we’ll need to activate that one sometime.)

We accessed Red Mountain 3 (RM3) by taking Highway 550 to Red Mountain Pass. The road for RM3 is County Road 14 but is not well marked. The turnoff (shown on the map above) is just south of Red Mtn Pass, going to the east (37.89587, -107.71369). County Road 14 is a narrow but easy road, barely 4WD, that leads to the gate (37.89476, -107.70774). We parked there and hiked up the road.

I don’t usually like to hike on roads but this one turned out to be just fine. It was a nice, easy grade and was flat without a lot of rocks poking up. My GPS app shows that we hiked 2 miles one-way with 1400 vertical feet. We met about a dozen people on the hike, so this seems like a popular summit. We noted other trails and roads in the area and wondered if some of them might provide a better route but everyone we saw just used the road.

As you can see from the photos, we had excellent weather that day. This time, no thunderstorms to chase us off the peak!

Stu/W0STU examines his VHF/UHF handheld, positioning it for optimum signal level.The San Juan mountains are remote, with not a lot of people within VHF range. We were all using just VHF/UHF for SOTA, so I was concerned we could get skunked on making our four SOTA contacts. There are a few smaller towns within range and we might be able to work Grand Junction from there. I knew that Lloyd/W7SAO in Delta usually monitors 146.52 MHz and we worked him right away. After that, we called our fellow campers, James/KD0MFO and Vic/KD0OGE, working them mobile near Ridgway. We kept calling for a fourth contact and sure enough, Mike/KE5YF showed up on 2m FM. Mike is from Sweetwater, TX and was driving his Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) over Engineer Pass. So we made our four contacts to qualify for SOTA points.

The four of us had a great day on the summit. We took our time and enjoyed the hike and the radio operating. The easy access and excellent views from the top make this an attractive SOTA summit if you are traveling in this area.

73 Bob K0NR

The post SOTA Success on Red Mountain #3 appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Last year, Joyce/K0JJW and I tried to activate Red Mountain Number 3 (W0C/UR-016) for SOTA in the San Juan mountains. The map showed there was a road to the top, so we were expecting easy access. However, the road is gated off about 2 miles from the summit, requiring a hike. So we hiked almost to the summit but turned back when the thunderstorms rolled in. We retreated to safety and vowed to return another day.

This week, we went back and activated the summit, along with Stu/W0STU and Liz/KT0LIZ. Red Mountain No. 3 sits just southwest of its sister summits: Red Mountain No.1 and Red Mountain No. 2. (Red Mtn 1 is also a SOTA summit, so we’ll need to activate that one sometime.)

We accessed Red Mountain 3 (RM3) by taking Highway 550 to Red Mountain Pass. The road for RM3 is County Road 14 but is not well marked. The turnoff (shown on the map above) is just south of Red Mtn Pass, going to the east (37.89587, -107.71369). County Road 14 is a narrow but easy road, barely 4WD, that leads to the gate (37.89476, -107.70774). We parked there and hiked up the road.

I don’t usually like to hike on roads but this one turned out to be just fine. It was a nice, easy grade and was flat without a lot of rocks poking up. My GPS app shows that we hiked 2 miles one-way with 1400 vertical feet. We met about a dozen people on the hike, so this seems like a popular summit. We noted other trails and roads in the area and wondered if some of them might provide a better route but everyone we saw just used the road.

As you can see from the photos, we had excellent weather that day. This time, no thunderstorms to chase us off the peak!

Stu/W0STU examines his VHF/UHF handheld, positioning it for optimum signal level.The San Juan mountains are remote, with not a lot of people within VHF range. We were all using just VHF/UHF for SOTA, so I was concerned we could get skunked on making our four SOTA contacts. There are a few smaller towns within range and we might be able to work Grand Junction from there. I knew that Lloyd/W7SAO in Delta usually monitors 146.52 MHz and we worked him right away. After that, we called our fellow campers, James/KD0MFO and Vic/KD0OGE, working them mobile near Ridgway. We kept calling for a fourth contact and sure enough, Mike/KE5YF showed up on 2m FM. Mike is from Sweetwater, TX and was driving his Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) over Engineer Pass. So we made our four contacts to qualify for SOTA points.

The four of us had a great day on the summit. We took our time and enjoyed the hike and the radio operating. The easy access and excellent views from the top make this an attractive SOTA summit if you are traveling in this area.

73 Bob K0NR

The post SOTA Success on Red Mountain #3 appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.