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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.

Joyce/K0JJW and I were planning a trip that included some time in Europe. It turned out that our airline route would connect through Zurich. Rather than spend a few hours in an airport, we decided to spend a day or two in Switzerland.

Somehow the discussion turned to Summits On The Air (SOTA) and whether we should do an activation in Switzerland.  Slowly, a plan developed to do a “check the box” activation on a local summit near Zurich. As readers of this blog know, I’ve been exclusively using VHF/UHF for SOTA activations. We decided to pack really light so SOTA gear on this trip was extremely limited: 2m/70cm handhelds and vertical antennas. Sorry, no yagi.

SOTA Help

I came across this thread about the proper callsign prefix when operating under CEPT rules in Switzerland. The SOTA association is called HB but valid callsign prefixes are HB9 (full license) or HB3 (novice license). This sent me back to the CEPT rules to make sure I understood them correctly:  Recommendation T/R 61-01 and ECC Recommendation (05) 06. The short story is that as an Amateur Extra licensee, I operate as HB9/K0NR. Joyce has a General Class license which corresponds to the “novice” category under CEPT, so she uses the callsign HB3/K0JJW.  Apparently as an Extra, I had previously overlooked or forgotten some of the fine points of CEPT. Specifically, US Extras are given full privileges by CEPT but Generals can only operate in a subset of CEPT countries while Technicians get no privileges at all (yet another reason to upgrade your license).

I also put out a request for advice on the SOTA reflector:

Joyce/K0JJW and I have one day in Zurich later this month. Somehow the idea of squeezing in a SOTA activation while in Switzerland made it onto the itinerary.

This will be on 2m FM only with basic gear. The current plan is looking like a hike up Altberg (HB/ZH-015) but we are open to other ideas.

A number of people responded with helpful information. Soon I was contacted by Paul/HB9DST who suggested we do an activation together. Paul is an American living just outside of Zurich (his US callsign is AA1MI) and is very active in SOTA. We soon had our eyes on the Churfirsten SOTA summits which are southeast of Zurich (see Paul’s activation reports).  Ultimately, we chose the summit of Selun (HB/SG-049).

Activating Selun (HB/SG-049)

Access to the trail was via several train rides and a bus ride, then a short walk to the Selun cable car. This cable car is quite unique in that it is a homebrew design (see the photo below). We piled into the cable car and rode it to where the real hike started.

On the Trail

The bottom station of the cable car is at ~3000 feet (900 m) and took us up the hill to ~5000 feet ( 1500 m), so it definitely sliced off some elevation gain. The summit of Selun is at 7234 feet (2205 m), which gave us a moderate but not crazy difficult hike. My GPS app recorded a distance of 1.7 miles and 1900 vertical feet (one way).

The weather was excellent for late October with blue skies above and some clouds laying in the valleys.

Paul is an HF/CW enthusiast so that made sharing the bands very easy. He strapped his fishing pole to the summit cross and strung out an end-fed wire for 40m, 30m and 20m, making a total of 40 QSOs. Joyce and I took turns on 145.550 MHz FM using our Yaesu FT-1DR handheld radios with vertical antennas.

I made 13 contacts on VHF, including three Summit-to-Summit (S2S) contacts. HB9PMF was close by on SG-017 (Hinterrugg) another summit in the Churfirsten. I also stayed on the summit while Joyce and Paul hiked down out of the activation zone and worked me for chaser points, giving me a total of 15 QSOs.

My log is shown below. All contacts were on 145.550 MHz. Note that the calling frequency in Switzerland (all of Europe?) is 145.500 MHz. Joyce worked a subset of these stations.

Operating notes

I have to admit that it was a challenge keeping everything straight while making QSOs. I had to add the HB9 prefix on the front of my US callsign and “portable” on the tail end (local practice for activator stations). That’s “HB9/K0NR/P” instead of just “K0NR”…there is a reason we prefer shorter callsigns. All that along with the usual signal report, name, SOTA designators, etc. Fortunately, everyone we worked had reasonable English skills. Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut. If I sounded a bit confused, I probably was and at 7200 feet I can’t blame the altitude.

It was definitely a thrill to work the S2S stations and two other countries (Germany and Austria) on VHF. (I have never done that on SOTA VHF from Colorado…I rarely work anyone outside of the state.)

After we hiked back down, Paul suggested that we had to stop in at the local farmhouse restaurant (Selun Ochsenhuette) for a drink. It was all part of the Swiss SOTA experience!

Paul was a magnificent host for our short stay in Switzerland. We stayed two nights at his place and he guided us on a fantastic SOTA activation.  Without his help, we would have probably activated a small summit near Zurich and would have been in the low clouds all day. We would have left the city thinking “I bet this is a beautiful place when the sun is shining.” Instead, we had an excellent day hiking the Swiss mountains and playing ham radio. Thanks, Paul!

Joyce did find one small way to repay Paul’s kindness. Being an skilled seamstress, she sewed Paul’s prized SOTA Mountain Goat patch onto his pack. Nice job, Joyce!

73 Bob K0NR

The post SOTA Activation in Switzerland (HB/SG-049) appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

There is a SOTA (Summits On The Air) summit just north of Tincup Pass with an elevation of 13,538 feet. The SOTA database (W0C/SP-127) says the name is Mount Emma but all of my maps indicate that it is Emma Burr Mountain. (I contacted the W0C Association Manager and we’re working it out.)

Joyce/K0JJW and I did the first activation of this summit in late September. The weather was wonderful except for the wind that pounded us anytime we were exposed on a ridgeline, which is to say it happened a lot. We started our ascent from Tincup Pass, which is at 12,154 feet on the Continental Divide (see photo). I’ve seen trip reports of people hiking this summit from the northeast (Mineral Creek area) accessible by South Cottonwood Road (FS 344), so that may be another option.

At Tincup Pass, there is an obvious trail leading off the the east. We followed this trail uphill for a while and then diverted off to the north towards the north/south ridgeline and Tincup Peak. Tincup Peak is not a SOTA summit and is not shown on all maps. It is a13,345 foot bump on the ridge heading north. Our entire hike followed the Continental Divide, always a real treat.

We followed the top of the ridge for the most part, occasionally dropping down a bit on the west side to avoid obstacles. Occasionally we followed a faint trail but for the most part this was off-trail hiking, often with significant rocks to climb over.

Once we got on top of the ridgeline, we could see our actual objective of Emma Burr (see photo below). The saddle between Tincup Peak and Emma Burr dropped down more than I expected from viewing the topo map, so we soon realized that we’d have to lose substantial elevation and then climb to get it back. Oh, well.

Once on the summit of Emma Burr, I pulled out the 2m FM station and started calling CQ on 146.52 MHz. We had no mobile phone coverage at Tincup Pass but once we got on the ridge, Verizon was working pretty well so I spotted us on Sotawatch. Our best DX was Dave/N0KM near Center, CO for a distance of 70 miles. Other stations worked: W0BV, W0RW, N1TEW, K0MGL, K0TG, KB0QEP, KL7GLK, N0EVH, KD0VHD and W0DLE. Lots of stations on 2m FM that day. I tried working W0RW on 1.2 GHz FM but we could not quite make it. I definitely heard him right at the noise floor but my 1 watt signal was not readable on his end.

My GPS app on the smartphone says that the one-way climb is 2.4 miles with 1600 vertical feet. The elevation difference between Tincup Pass (12,154) and Emma Burr (13,538) is 1384 feet, but the saddle costs you another 300 vertical feet of climbing.

Overall, it was a great day in the mountains. We knocked out two 13ers in one day and did a first SOTA activation. However, the wind pounded us quite well so we were plenty tired when we got back to our vehicle.

73 Bob K0NR

The post SOTA Activation: Mount Emma or Emma Burr Mountain (W0C/SP-127) appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

While exploring northwest Wyoming, Joyce/K0JJW and I were looking for a suitable mountain for a Summits On The Air (SOTA) activation. A little bit of research identified Pass Benchmark (W7Y/TT-122) as a good option. This summit is accessed from the Teton Pass trailhead, which is on a paved road (Route 22) heading west out of Jackson. There is substantial parking available at the pass and it appears to be a popular trailhead for hikers and mountain bikers.

The sign at the trailhead refers to this summit as Mount Elly, but I have not found that name on any of my maps or other sources. SOTA refers to it as “Pass Benchmark”.

We hiked south from the pass on an obvious gated road which later turns into a trail. We encountered several groups of hikers and mountain bikers so the trail definitely gets used and is in good shape.

We followed the trail past a radio site (and checked out the various antennas). The good news is the radio site is not on the SOTA summit, so not much chance of radio interference.

We continued south on the trail until we were due west of the summit. There is a marker there for the Black Canyon Trail, which leads off to the south. Don’t follow this trail, instead turn left (east) towards the summit. A few switchbacks will get you to the top in good shape. The one-way distance for the hike was 2 miles with 750 feet of elevation gain. Very pleasant.

On top, we started calling on 146.52 MHz with the Yaesu FT-90 putting 30W into a 3-element yagi antenna. We both worked Sam/WY7EM, Jim/K7AVL and Mick/W7CAT on 2m fm. We also caught WY7EM and W7CAT on 446.0 MHz.  Thanks for the QSOs!

73 Bob K0NR

The post SOTA Activation from Teton Pass (W7Y/TT-122) appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

It is always fun to do the first Summits On The Air (SOTA) activation of a peak. Most of the Colorado peaks have been climbed by someone along the way but there are still many that have never been activated for SOTA using amateur radio.

I noticed that an unnamed summit not too far from our cabin, referred to as 12306 or W0C/SR-129 had not been activated. At first glance, I thought this was because it was difficult to access. Further investigation revealed US Forest Service info on the Hayden Gulch Road (FS 396) that goes to the Hayden Gulch Trailhead at the west edge of the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness area. Joyce/K0JJW and I approached the trailhead from the west, starting at Granite, CO on Hwy 24, turning east onto FS 397 (marked at the highway) and then quickly looking for signs for FS 396. The San Isabel National Forest map is somewhat helpful but the Latitude 40 recreational map for Salida/Buena Vista is much better.  The road is mostly easy 4WD but it is narrow in many places and moderate difficultly in a few spots. We saw crossover SUVs carefully driving the road with success. It was easy-peasy in our Jeep Wrangler.

Starting the hike, we followed the Hayden Gulch trail to the east. We actually had to search a bit to make sure we were really on the trail as we left the trailhead, as it was not super obvious. Hint: stay to the north (left) of the trailhead sign.

The trail follows an old road that was likely closed when the wilderness area was formed. Once we cleared the trees (shown accurately on the map above), we left the trail and traveled off-trail towards the summit, trying to follow the contour lines and not lose a bunch of elevation. The hike promised to be very pleasant except that we had 30 to 40 mph winds from the west. This was not enough to stop us but certainly made the hike less enjoyable. The views were spectacular but a little difficult to enjoy with the wind blowing.

The hike was 1.8 miles one-way with about 1000 feet of vertical gain. Once on the summit, we got out the standard VHF SOTA gear: Yaesu FT-90 transceiver, LiFe battery and 3-element Arrow yagi. We both quickly worked Bob/W0BV, Walt/W0CP, Steve/WG0AT and Brad/WA6MM. WG0AT was on his way down from Eagle Rock (W0C/SP-113) so we missed a Summit-to-Summit opportunity with him. (We did work him earlier when he was on the summit but we were not.) WA6MM was a successful S2S contact from Mount Logan (W0C/FR-017).

This turned out to be a successful activation and a fun hike. We both concluded that we need to do it again…with a little less wind.

73 Bob K0NR

The post SOTA Activation: Unnamed Summit 12306 (W0C/SR-129) appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

I’ve been up Pikes Peak (W0C/FR-004) a zillion times via the Pikes Peak Highway and the Pikes Peak Cog Railway (currently out of service) doing SOTA activations, working VHF contests, participating in the Colorado 14er Event, maintaining repeaters and escorting visitors from out of town. See my previous post on activating by driving up the mountain: How To Do a SOTA Activation on Pikes Peak.

Joyce/K0JJW and I had Pikes on our SOTA activation list for 2018 but wanted to do a hike to access the summit. The classic climbing route up Pikes is via Barr Trail, a 13-mile trail that ascends 7800 vertical feet. This is a difficult climb for most humans but I will note that serious runners routinely run up the mountain just for fun. See Fred/KT5X’s comments on the SOTA database about running up the mountain and then doing a SOTA activation.

Another hiking alternative on the northwest side of Pikes Peak is the Crags Trail, also known as the Northwest Slopes route. This route starts about 4 miles south of Divide, CO at the Crags Campground. This hike is 7 miles one-way with 4300 vertical feet. This is easier than Barr Trail but still a significant climb.

Devils Playground

There is a shorter option that does not get much attention (except from some of the locals). The Northwest Slopes route crosses the Pikes Peak Highway at Mile 16 at a popular spot called Devils Playground. There is a large parking area there and the Northwest Slopes trail can be accessed at this point. Just cross the road, step over a cable fence (intended to block vehicles, not people) and follow the obvious trail to the summit.

Note: currently access to the summit by car is restricted due to summit house construction and Devils Playground is a staging area for free shuttle buses that take visitors to the summit.

This trail is 2.6 miles one way and 1300 feet vertical (mostly uphill but some up and down action). The last quarter mile before the summit is rocky and steep. The trail becomes more difficult to follow at this point but careful attention to the cairns will keep you on the right path. As shown on the map, this trail tends to stay close to the road so you will see vehicles along the way. All in all, this was a nice hike on a good trail.

Once on top, we set up our standard 2m FM station: Yaesu FT-90 and the Arrow 3-element yagi antenna. We quickly had a pileup on 146.52 MHz. It is kind of crazy up there when everyone starts calling because you are hearing everyone but the chasers are not.

It was great to work Steve/WG0AT on Mt Herman (W0C/FR-063)  and Brad/WA6MM on Mount Morrison (W0C/FR-092). I also worked Paul/W0RW on 1.2 GHz with my Alinco HT driving a two-element yagi PC-board antenna.  (A quick comparison between the rubber duck and the yagi confirmed that the yagi does have some gain.) We ended up in a bit of a hurry as the clouds moved in but tried to work everyone we could. Our best DX on 2m FM was Dave/N0KM near Del Norte, about 100 miles away. On our way down, the clouds were in and out but no storms or lightning.

All of the usual warnings apply for hiking above treeline: start early and get off the mountain before the storms move in.

73 Bob K0NR

The post Pikes Peak SOTA: Hike from Devils Playground appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

For the Colorado 14er Event, Joyce/K0JJW and I decided to activate Mount Princeton (W0C/SR-005).  I had climbed this summit many years ago, well before Summits On The Air (SOTA) was a thing. Princeton is a majestic peak that towers over Buena Vista and the surrounding area. We see that mountain quite often when we are up at the cabin, so I kept thinking it would be great to activate it for SOTA. Despite it being a popular 14er, it had only been
activated 2 times before (now 4 times with Joyce and me).

For complete information on climbing this summit, spend some time studying the 14ers.com web site. You will see references to the Upper Trailhead and the Lower Trailhead. A 4WD road leads to the upper trailhead which is where we started our hike at 11,800 feet. The Lower (or Main) Trailhead is way down at the bottom (8900 feet) which makes for a much longer hike.  Also, you end up hiking on the road, which tends to be boring.

The Road

The 4WD road is mostly “easy 4WD” with some challenging spots inserted along the way. It was no problem to drive the road with our Jeep Wrangler. A crossover-style SUV would have trouble in spots but can probably make it with very careful wheel placement. We parked very close to the upper trailhead, just pulling off to the side of the road, but there is not much room there. There is a lot more parking near the communications towers shown on the map but you have to hike another mile or so on the road. We made sure we had a parking spot by arriving at the upper trailhead at 5:30 AM; we were the first ones there.

The trail starts out very distinct and is easy to follow. Later, the terrain turns to talus (fields of large rocks) which continues for the entire climb. In some spots, the trail fades and is difficult to follow. Even when you are “on the trail” you get to do a lot of rock hopping. There is a reason they call these the Rocky Mountains. By my GPS app, the distance was 2.1 miles (one way) with 2360 vertical feet.

Summits On The Air

For radio operating, we focused on 2m FM using the Yaesu FT-90 Transceiver with LiPo battery, putting out 30W into a 3-element Arrow yagi antenna. I did have my very first DMR SOTA contact with Terry/KE0HNW, using my Tytera MD-380 handheld on 70 cm. I also made a few calls on 446.0 MHz but never got a reply.

Here’s my log…Joyce’s is about the same but with fewer QSOs.

UTC   Band  Mode Callsign
15:38 144MHz FM KD0VHD mobile
15:40 144MHz FM KS0E Jefferson
15:42 144MHz FM KI6YMZ Maroon Peak (W0C/WE-002)
15:46 144MHz FM N0MTN Mt Sherman (W0C/SR-061)
15:47 144MHz FM K0ETT Huron Peak (W0C/SR-010)
15:48 144MHz FM WA6MM Mt Bierstadt (W0C/PR-015)
15:49 144MHz FM KN0MAP
15:50 144MHz FM KD0YOB on his way up Mt Flora
15:53 144MHz FM KE0HNW
15:54 144MHz FM KE0RMY
15:55 433MHz DV KE0HNW My first SOTA DMR contact
15:57 144MHz FM W0AJO
16:17 144MHz FM K0BLL Mount Belford (W0C/SR-006)
16:30 144MHz FM W0ASB Mount Antero (W0C/SR-003)

We worked six other mountaintop stations, all of them 14ers. I also worked a few more summits on our way down the mountain but we were outside the activation zone, so I submitted those as a chaser log.

Thanks to everyone that came out to play!

73 Bob K0NR

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