Lately, for the ARRL January VHF contest, I try to find a SOTA summit to activate. Operating time is usually just a few hours, so it does not make for a big score. The main advantage is for VHF SOTA (Summits On The Air) because there is a lot more activity on 2m CW and SSB. This year, I wanted to go for the mountaintop trifecta of SOTA, POTA (Parks On The Air) and VHF contest in one activation.

Threemile Mountain (W0C/SP-107) emerged as the activation summit because it is not too far from our cabin and accessible in the winter. (This time of year, the roads to many of our favorite summits are blocked.) For POTA, it is located in the Pike National Forest (K-4404). Because it is a short hike, I concluded that I could carry the Yaesu FT-911 and the 20 Ah Bionno battery. This would cover all the bands, give us more RF punch and still have plenty of battery capacity.

I carried quite a collection of antennas which gave us plenty of operating choices. We started out on 2m and 70 cm FM, working mostly local stations. This quickly got us enough contacts for SOTA and POTA points. We used a rollup J-pole for 2 meters and 70 cm, until it became intermittent and the SWR went wild. Then we switched to the Arrow 3-element Yagi for 2 meters.

About that time, I decided to see what was happening on 2m SSB. There were a number of contest stations on the air, mostly from the front range cities (Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, …). I worked a bunch of them using 50 watts from the FT-991 to the 2m Yagi antenna (horizontally polarized).

Suddenly, I was surprised to hear N0LL from Kansas calling me. I’ve worked Larry before from Colorado but it usually was from a really good location such as Mt Herman or Pikes Peak. Even then, we often had to switch to CW to complete the contact. Today he was louder than many of the Denver stations. We easily worked on SSB, which turned out to be a new personal best DX for me from a SOTA summit (372 miles).

After things slowed down on 2m SSB, I decided to make some HF contacts. The North American QSO Party (SSB) was active, so I decided to set up for 20m and see who I could work. Running 100 watts to an endfed halfwave kept me competitive with the contest stations. Then I moved up to 17m SSB and worked non-contest POTA and SOTA chasers.

We both accomplished the three-in-one mountaintop activation for SOTA, POTA, and the VHF contest. I also worked the NA QSO Party, so that makes it four-in-one, but who is counting?  The January weather cooperated with us with almost no wind on the summit, about 28 degrees F. We sat there in the sunshine and just enjoyed the view before hiking back down.

73 Bob K0NR

The post Radio Fun on Threemile Mountain (W0C/SP-107) appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Charlie/NJ7V and Gaston/KT1RUN did a comparison of VHF antennas during a SOTA activation. Specifically, they compared a rubber duck antenna, a J-pole antenna on a tall mast, and a 3-element Yagi antenna. Spoiler Alert: the rubber duck sucks (they all do) but the Yagi and J-pole performed about the same.

Joyce/K0JJW and I use the Arrow 3-element Yagi antenna for most of our SOTA activations, so I am very familiar with that one. We also have a rollup J-pole that we use once in a while.

Charlie used the Yagi the same way we do: handheld at ground level. The J-pole was on a mast, maybe 12 feet (?) in the air. Although they were on a summit, there is some performance improvement getting the antenna higher than the surrounding terrain. The gain of the Arrow 3-element Yagi has been measured at about 6 dBd. The gain of a J-pole, being a halfwave radiator, is 0 dBd. The additional height of the J-pole has to make up this 6 dB of gain difference to be roughly equivalent.

A big difference, though, is that the Yagi antenna has to be held and pointed. The J-pole is always pointing in the right direction so you can just focus on operating and logging. We may have to consider using a omni antenna instead of the Yagi.

Good stuff!

73 Bob K0NR

The post Best VHF SOTA Antenna? appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Recently, on the nasota group,  there was a discussion about designating an alternative 2m FM frequency for Summits On The Air (SOTA) use (instead of 146.52 MHz). The main driver for this is that 146.52 MHz can get busy with other radio traffic and/or a busy SOTA activation can tie up the calling frequency for a long time.

Rex KE6MT (SOTA W6 Association Manager) kicked it off with:

A friend of mine, George KJ6VU, has been talking with me and several others about the idea of an FM “Adventure Frequency.”  It would be for more than just SOTA – other *OTA’s could also use it.  There are other ideas to layer on top of it, such as tone signaling so that you don’t have to hear traffic you don’t want to hear, and repeater infrastructure for announcing someone’s on the frequency with a given tone, etc.  But the core thing would be to decide on a frequency and really get it in use.  The National Calling Frequency (146.52) can be great for a few contacts sometimes, but other times it’s problematic either because it’s being hogged or because nobody’s listening.  Of course, this Adventure Frequency could have the same issues present themselves differently, but would alleviate some and pave the path for future additions mentioned above.

I have previously written about the challenges of using 146.52: The Use of 146.52 MHz

One important idea is to include the other “OTAs” in adopting this frequency, most notably Parks On The Air (POTA). Hence the name “Adventure Frequency,” and not “SOTA Frequency.” It is really about hams operating portable in an outdoor setting. Of course, like all amateur spectrum, this frequency must be shared with other users.

It may seem like a simple thing to choose a nationwide simplex frequency but VHF band plans are managed regionally. In particular, there is a mix of 15-kHz and 20-kHz channel spacings. (For more background on this see Simplex Channel Confusion on 2 Meters.)

After some discussion, the group settled on 146.58 MHz. There was some dialog around using CTCSS for signaling but nothing specific surfaced.

Some key points:

• The NAAF is 146.58 MHz.
• This frequency is in addition to, not a replacement for, the National Simplex Calling Frequency 146.52 MHz.
• Local usage will likely vary depending on needs.
• Program 146.58 MHz as The Other Simplex Frequency in your radio.

What does this mean to you?

Program 146.58 MHz into your radio and have it available. If you are doing SOTA (or POTA) activations, consider using this frequency, especially if you are in an area where 146.52 is used a lot. (I’ve already started using this frequency for SOTA activations near urban areas.)

73 Bob K0NR

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After seeing some videos about small HF transceivers for Summits On The Air (SOTA), I feel I need to set the record straight.

The following video shows the World’s Smallest SOTA Transceiver in use. Of course, it uses the UHF spectrum because shorter wavelengths enable smaller ham radio stations.

The radio shown in the video is the NKTech NK-M1 UHF transceiver.

This radio is a 16-channel UHF transceiver, available from multiple online vendors. I programmed it to operate in the 70 cm band on 446.0 MHz.

73 Bob K0NR

The post The Truth About Tiny SOTA Transceivers appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Recently, I commented on participating in the Parks On The Air (POTA) program: How About Parks On The Air? Since then Joyce/K0JJW and I have done a few POTA activations, including a few combination SOTA (Summits On The Air) + POTA activations. We are starting to sort out how SOTA and POTA work for us. I am sure this will evolve over time as there are many operating options with both programs. But here is what we’ve done so far.

Recall that we’ve been focusing on VHF/UHF operating for SOTA, although I did break down and actually made some HF contacts from a SOTA summit recently. VHF/UHF  is a good match for SOTA (Height Above Average Terrain). However, for some remote summits, it can be a challenge to get enough radio contacts (4) to qualify for the SOTA points. Using HF can be a big help in generating contacts. POTA can also be done with VHF, some parks have high elevation, but many of them are not attractive VHF locations. POTA requires 10 radio contacts to qualify for points, so that raises the bar a bit, too.

Yesterday, we decided to hike up Mt Herman (W0C/FR-063) for a short afternoon VHF/UHF activation. I posted both a SOTA alert and a POTA alert.  We made plenty of radio contacts (40 total) and submitted logs to both the SOTA and POTA websites. I know there were SOTA chasers out there but I’m not sure if anyone worked us specifically for POTA. As usual, a lot of hams give us a call just because it is fun to work someone on a summit (without any SOTA or POTA interest).

The majority of our SOTA activations in Colorado are in national forests, which count as “parks” for POTA. So it is easy to tack on a POTA activation when doing SOTA.

Vehicle-Based POTA

Joyce and I also did some POTA activations from a vehicle. It is pretty easy for us to get to Pike National Forest (K-4404) or San Isabel National Forest (K-4407) and set up a portable station.

We used a Yaesu FT-991 and endfed halfwave antennas for 20m and 15m, supported by a SOTAbeams pole. This is the same configuration I’ve used for portable operating from many locations, including some Caribbean islands. I recently purchased a 20 Ah LFP battery from Bioenno Power to use as a power source so that we don’t rely on the vehicle battery.

We focused on HF for these POTA activations and were pleased to have decent pileups of stations calling us on the 20m and 15m bands. Fifty watts to a halfwave antenna works just fine. We also made it a point to call on 2m FM and usually picked up a handle of contacts on that band, too.

What’s Next?

At this point, our outdoorsy portable operating is looking like this:

• SOTA Summits – if the summit is in a park, we will probably go ahead and submit a POTA log along with the SOTA log. Many of the W0C SOTA summits are in national forests, national parks or state parks. VHF-only activations will probably have less impact on POTA…those chasers/hunters tend to be on HF.
• POTA Parks (day trip) – another option is for us to just stop by one of the national forests or a state park and get on the air. (Pike National Forest is about 2 miles from our home.) This will be focused on the HF bands but we can always make a call or two on VHF.
• POTA (RV camping) – we’ve been RV camping in state parks and national forests this past year. An obvious additional activity is to set up on HF for a POTA activation. We haven’t done this yet.

I’ve already done a combination VHF Contest and SOTA activation, so this could be extended to include POTA. Three Things In One. In fact, some locations qualify for more than one POTA park, so maybe it is time for a Four-In-One.

73 Bob K0NR

The post More On SOTA and POTA appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Charlie/NJ7V invited Joyce/K0JJW and me to be on the All Portable Discussion Zone, on the Red Summit RF YouTube channel. We talked mostly about Summits On The AIr (SOTA) using VHF/UHF. It was a fun experience for both of us.

The post K0JJW and K0NR Interview on Red Summit RF appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Recently, I gave a presentation to the ARROW radio club in Ann Arbor, MI on the topic of “Having Fun With VHF”. I’ve given this talk several times now, highlighting some of the topics in my book, VHF, Summits and More: Having Fun With Ham Radio. When I discussed my Summits On The Air (SOTA) activities, Thom/W8TAM mentioned that Parks On The Air (POTA) was probably a better fit for Michigan. (There are SOTA summits in Michigan but most of them are in the upper peninsula or the northern part of the lower peninsula.) This got me thinking about POTA and I followed up with Thom via email a few days later to get a bit more information.

Being a fan of the US National Parks, I had done a few activations during the ARRL National Parks On The Air event in 2016. (Holy decibels, was that really 4 years ago?) The POTA program is similar but is an ongoing program, kind of like SOTA.

What’s A Park?

I am not sure of the specific criteria for parks to be included in POTA, but it seems to be pretty much National Parks (including National Forests) and State Parks. The POTA website talks about these typical categories of POTA stations: backpack, picnic table, campground and Field Day.  Backpack looks very much like a typical SOTA activation, a small portable station carried by humans (or maybe goats) to the activation site. Picnic Table is a little bit different, with more gear and less hiking. Campground and Field Day take advantage of operating close to or inside a vehicle.

I see quite a bit of overlap with other activities that I like: SOTA, hiking, camping, parks and travel.

Colorado

To get a handle on local opportunities, I looked at the 85 POTA parks listed for Colorado. (Compare this to over 1805 SOTA summits in the state.) These are National Parks, National Monuments, National Wildlife Refuges, National Recreation Areas, National Grasslands, National Scenic Trails, National Historic Trails, National Forests,  and Colorado State Parks.  In short, POTA includes the National Park System, National Forests, and State Parks. Cool!

We see a similar picture in Kansas, which has zero SOTA summits. (Sorry, it’s just too flat.)

SOTA activation opportunities are obviously skewed toward mountainous areas. Islands On The Air (IOTA) is generally near large bodies of water. However, POTA is available everywhere. Americans like parks and we have lots of them.

First impressions

I have been heavy into SOTA, so that’s the perspective I have when checking out POTA. POTA requires 10 QSOs to obtain points for an activation, while SOTA requires only four. SOTA activations must not be in, or in the close vicinity of a motor vehicle, cannot use a permanent electrical power source, nor use a fossil fuel generator.  Also, no part of the station may be connected in any way
with the motor vehicle. All equipment must be operated from portable power source (batteries, solar cells, etc). The POTA rules don’t have these restrictions.

The SOTA points system and logging database are pretty much on the honor system. Send in a log (Activator or Chaser) and you’ll get credit for the points you claim. POTA only collects logs from the Activators. So if you are a Chaser (Hunter, in POTA terminology), you don’t submit a log and your points are dependent on the Activator getting a log submitted. POTA log submission is via email and may take up to two weeks to get processed, while SOTA is instantaneous.

What’s Next

I have not quite figured out how I will participate in POTA. For starters, it can be a nice overlap with SOTA. Most of the SOTA summits we activate are on National Forest land, so they also count as POTA activations. Lately, Joyce/K0JJW and I have been RV camping in state parks, so that sets us up for an easy POTA activation. We are also working on visiting all of the US National Parks. POTA probably isn’t a great match for VHF operating, unless it has some Height Above Average Terrain.

I can appreciate the accessibility of the POTA program. It does not require a lot of physical ability to do an activation. The flexible rules allow hams to set up a station in a variety of ways and it seems most hams have a park nearby they can activate.

73 Bob K0NR

The post How About Parks On The Air? appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.