The conventional wisdom in amateur radio is that we should not call CQ when using FM on the VHF and UHF bands, especially on repeaters. The reasoning for this is that during normal VHF/UHF FM operating, radio amateurs are tuned to a specific frequency and will easily hear a call on FM.

Compare this to the HF bands, where the other ham is generally tuning around to find someone to contact and stumbles onto your transmission. In that case, you want to make a long call (CQ CQ CQ Hello CQ This is Kilo Zero November Romeo calling CQ CQ CQ…) so people tuning the band will find you and tune you in. On VHF/UHF FM, the assumption is that the other hams have their radio set on the repeater or simplex channel being used and will immediately hear you. FM communications are often quite clear and noise free, which also helps. The normal calling method is to just say your callsign, perhaps accompanied with another word like “monitoring” or “listening.”  For example, I might say “KØNR monitoring.”

Question T2A09 in Technician exam pool reinforces this idea:

T2A09 (B)
What brief statement indicates that you are listening on a repeater and looking for a contact?
A. The words “Hello test” followed by your call sign
B. Your call sign
C. The repeater call sign followed by your call sign
D. The letters “QSY” followed by your call sign

Gary/KN4AQ wrote this tongue-in-cheek article HamRadioNow: Do NOT Call CQ on Repeaters which says that calling CQ on a quiet repeater works well because it is likely that someone will come on and tell you not to call CQ. Gary wrote:

So I trot out my standard advice: make some noise. I even recommend calling CQ, because that’s almost guaranteed to get someone to respond, if only to tell you that you’re not supposed to call CQ on repeaters.

There is also an interesting thread on the topic on reddit: 2 meter calling frequency.

Scanning and Multitasking

Some important things have changed in our use of VHF/UHF FM over past decades.  The most important shift is dispersion of activity: while the number of VHF/UHF channels has increased, the total amount of VHF/UHF radio activity has declined. This means that we have tons of channels available that are mostly quiet. Tune the bands above 50 MHz and you’ll hear a lot of dead air. In response to this, some hams routinely scan multiple repeater and simplex frequencies. While getting ready for Summits On The Air (SOTA) activity, I’ve had hams ask me to make a long call on 146.52 MHz so they can be sure to pick me up on scan.  

Another factor that comes into play is the multitasking nature of our society. Hams don’t generally sit in front of a 2m radio waiting for activity to occur. More commonly, they are doing something else and listening to the FM rig in the background. VHF FM is the Utility Mode, always available but not necessarily the top priority. A short call (“KØNR listening”) on the frequency can easily be missed.

Recommendations

My conclusion is that the Old School “KØNR Monitoring” style of making a call on VHF is no longer sufficient. First off, it sends the message of “I am here if you want to talk to me.” If that’s your intent, fine. However, if you really want to make a contact, being more explicit and a bit assertive usually helps. Follow Gary’s advice and make some noise.

For example, during a SOTA activation I’ll usually call on 146.52 MHz with a bit of a sales pitch.  Something like: “CQ CQ 2 meters, this is Kilo Zero November Romeo on Pikes Peak, Summits On The Air, anyone around?” This is way more effective than “KØNR Monitoring.”  I might also include the frequency that I am calling on, to help out those Scanning Hams. Something like “CQ CQ 146.52, this is KØNR on Pikes Peak, Summits On The Air.”  Note that these calls are still pretty much short and to the point, only taking about 15 seconds. This is a lot shorter than the typical HF CQ.

If I am driving through another town and want to make contact on the local repeater, I will adjust my approach accordingly. For example, on a relatively quiet repeater, I might say “CQ, anyone around this morning? KØNR mobile I-25 Denver.” Or if I have a specific need, I’ll go ahead and ask for it. “This is KØNR looking for a signal report.”

Keep in mind that VHF/UHF operating tends to be local in nature, so it makes sense to adapt your approach to both local practice and the specific situation.

• It’s OK to call CQ on VHF FM, make some noise on the frequency.
• Give other operators a reason to contact you.
• Don’t make your CQ too long, maybe 15 to 20 seconds.
• The callsign/listening approach is fine too.

Those are my thoughts. What do you think?

73 Bob K0NR

The post Go Ahead and Call CQ on 2m FM appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

When we teach our Technician License class, we normally differentiate between HF and VHF propagation by saying that HF often exhibits skywave propagation but VHF is normally line-of-sight. For the beginner to ham radio, this is a reasonable model for understanding the basics of radio propagation. As George E. P. Box said, “All models are wrong, but some are useful.”

In recent years, I’ve come to realize the limitations of this model and how it causes radio hams to miss out on what’s possible on the VHF and higher bands.

Exotic Propagation Modes

First, let me acknowledge and set aside some of the more exotic propagation modes used on the VHF and higher bands. Sporadic-e propagation allows long distance communication by refracting signals off the e-layer of the ionosphere. This is very common on the 6-meter band and less so on the 2-meter band. I like to think of this as the VHF bands trying to imitate HF. Tropospheric ducting supports long distance VHF communication when ducts form between air masses of different temperatures and humidities. Auroral propagation reflects the radio signal off the auroral ionization that sometimes occurs in the polar regions. Meteor scatter reflects signals off the ionizing trail of meteors entering the earth’s atmosphere. Earth-Moon-Earth (EME) operation bounces VHF and UHF signals off the moon to communicate with other locations on earth. These are all interesting and useful propagation mechanisms for VHF and higher but not the focus of this article.

Improved Line-of-Sight Model

Now let’s take a look at more “normal” VHF propagation that occurs on a daily basis, starting with the simple line-of-sight propagation model. The usual description of line-of-sight VHF is that the radio waves travel a bit further than the optical horizon (say 15% more) . Let’s refer to this as the Line-of-Sight (LOS) region where signals are usually direct and strong. What is often overlooked is that beyond the radio horizon, these signals continue to propagate but with reduced signal level. Let’s call this the Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) region. The key point is that the radio waves do not abruptly stop at the edge of the LOS region…they keep going into the NLOS region but with reduced signal strength. Now I will admit that this is still a rather simplistic model. Perhaps too simplistic. I’m sure we could use computer modeling to be more descriptive and precise, but this model will be good enough for this article. All models are wrong, but some are useful.

WORKING the LOS and NLOS Regions

Let’s apply the model for Summits On The Air (SOTA) VHF activations. If we are only interested in working the LOS region, we won’t need much of a radio. Even a handheld transceiver with a rubber duck antenna can probably make contacts in the LOS region. It’s still worth upgrading the rubber duck antenna to something that actually radiates to improve our signal (such as a half-wave antenna). We may pick up some radio contacts in the NLOS region as well but our success will be limited.

To improve our results in the NLOS zone, we need to increase our signal strength. We are working on the margin, so every additional dB can make enough difference to go from “no contact” to “in the log.” Think about another radio operator sitting in the NLOS zone but not quite able to hear your signal. Your signal is just a bit too weak and is just below the noise floor of the operator’s receiver. Now imagine that you improve your signal strength by 3 dB, which is just enough to get above the noise and be a readable signal. You’ve just gone from “not readable” to “just readable” with only a few dB improvement.

What can we do to improve our signal levels? The first thing to try is improving the antenna, which helps you on both transmit and receive. I already mentioned the need to ditch the rubber duck on your HT. My measurements indicate that a half-wave vertical is about 8 dB better than a typical rubber duck. This is only an estimate…performance of rubber duck antennas vary greatly. A small yagi (3-element Arrow II yagi) can add another 6 dB improvement over the half-wave antenna, which means a yagi has about a 14 dB advantage over a rubber duck.

On the other hand, if you believe that your VHF radio is only Line-of-Sight, then there is no reason to work on increasing its signal level. The radio wave is going to travel to anything within the radio horizon and then it will magically stop. This is the myth that we need to break.

More Power

When doing SOTA activations, I noticed that I was able to hear some stations quite well but they were having trouble hearing me. Now why would this be? Over time, I started to realize these stations were typically home or mobile stations running 40 or 50 watts of output. This created an imbalance between the radiated signal from my 5W handheld and their 50 watts. In decibels, this difference is 10 dB. Within the LOS region, this probably is not going to matter because signals are strong anyway. But when trying to make more distant radio contracts into the NLOS zone, it definitely makes a difference. So I traded my HT for a mini-mobile transceiver running 25W. See the complete story in Chapter: More Power For VHF SOTA.

Weak Signal VHF

Of course, this is nothing new for serious weak-signal VHF enthusiasts. They operate in the NLOS region all of the time, squeezing out distance QSOs using CW, SSB and the WSJT modes. They generally use large directional antennas, low noise preamps and RF power amplifiers to improve their station’s performance. They know that a dB here and a dB there adds up to bigger signals, longer distances and more radio contacts. A well-equipped weak-signal VHF station in “flatland geography” can work over 250 miles on a regular basis…no exotic propagation required.

Now you might think that FM behaves differently, because of the threshold effect. When FM signals get weak, they fade into the noise quickly…a rather steep cliff compared to SSB which fades linearly. FM has poor weak-signal performance AND it fades quickly with decreasing signal strength. This is why it is not the favored modulation for serious VHF work. But the same principle applies: if we can boost our signal strength by a few dB, it can make the difference between making the radio contact or not.

So VHF is not limited to line-of-sight propagation…the signals go much further. But they do tend to be weak in signal strength so we need to optimize everything under our control to maximize our range.

73, Bob K0NR

The post The Myth of VHF Line-Of-Sight appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

For the ARRL January VHF contest, I did a combination Summits On The Air (SOTA) and contest entry. I am recovering from a knee injury so Genesee Mountain (W0C/FR-194) turned out to be a nice easy hike for me. Of course, Joyce/K0JJW joined me and also did a SOTA activation. Caleb/W4XEN came along with us and activated the summit for SOTA using the HF bands. Finally, Brad/WA6MM showed up on the summit for a social visit.

To get to the Genesee Mountain, go west on I-70 from Denver, take Exit 254 to the south. Turn right onto Genesee Mountain Road and head into Genesee Mountain Park. There is an extensive trail system in the park and several different ways to reach the summit of Genesee Mountain. In fact, if the gate is open, you can drive right to the summit. The route we took starts at a parking area that is always open. With only a 0.7 mile hike (300 feet vertical), this is an easy and highly-recommended trail.

Leaving the parking area going uphill, we soon encountered the Genesee Mountain Trail which we followed to the left. Later we transitioned to the Genesee Summit Trail, which goes to the summit. Both of these are well marked but you need to make sure you catch the “summit” trail.

We took more than the usual set of equipment for this activation so that we could cover the 6m, 2m, 1.25m and 70cm bands. For FM, we set up a Yaesu FT-90 2m/70cm transceiver with a ladder-line J-pole hanging from a rope in a tree. This omnidirectional antenna does not have any gain but I figured that for FM it would be most efficient to not mess with having to point a yagi antenna. For 2m and 70cm ssb/cw, I used a Yaesu FT-817 driving an Arrow II dualband antenna. The FT-817 also handled the 6m band, driving an end-fed half-wave wire antenna supported by a fishing pole (HF SOTA style). For the 1.25m band, I just used an Alinco handheld radio.

Genesee Mountain is a popular SOTA summit because it is so easy to access but still provides a good outdoor experience. We encountered a dozen of so hikers and mountainbikers on the summit and it can be very busy during a summer weekend. The summit is wide and flat with plenty of room to set up a portable station. For VHF, it has an excellent radio horizon to the front range cities.

Joyce made 14 contacts on 2m and 70cm FM. I made 52 QSOs, as shown in the table below. SSB activity was relatively light considering it was a VHF contest weekend. I was pleased to work Jay/W9RM in DM58 on 2m SSB at a distance of 167 miles. W9RM is on the other end of the state with many mountains blocking the path. I also worked Jim/WD0BQM in Mitchell, NE (DN81) on 2m CW, at a distance of 175 miles. VHF is not limited to line of sight!

    Band   Mode  QSOs     Pts  Grd  
      50  USB      5       5    2   
     144  CW       1       1    1   
     144  FM      19      19    2   
     144  USB      7       7    2   
     222  FM       3       3    1   
     432  FM      15      30    2   
     432  USB      2       4    1   
   Total          52      69   11   
        Score : 759

We had a great day on the summit, operating for just under 4 hours (with lots of breaks along the way). Thanks to Caleb/W4XEN and Brad/WA6MM for joining the fun. If you are looking for your first or an easy SOTA activation, give Genesee a try.

73 Bob K0NR

The post Genesee Mountain: SOTA and VHF Contest appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

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.

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.

One question we often hear from new hams (and maybe some not-so-new hams) is “why can’t I get into the repeater?” They get their hands on a new radio, set it up to use one of the local repeaters and it’s not working. Now what?

There can be a whole bunch of reasons why you can’t get into a repeater so it is difficult to come up with a quick fix for all situations. However, in this article we’ll talk about some basic troubleshooting steps to help diagnose the problem. For this article, I am assuming that your first rig is a handheld vhf/uhf transceiver but the general approach will work with mobile or base transceivers, too.

FOT

Many times the problem is due to not having the transceiver programmed correctly. The key things we have to pay attention to are: Frequency, Offset and Tone (FOT). To access a repeater you need to have its Frequency entered into your radio, have its transmit Offset set correctly and have the right CTCSS Tone turned on. You might not need to check all of these things in that exact order but it is a good way to approach the problem. Using the programming software (and suitable cable) for your radio can be a big help.

Frequency –First you need to program in the frequency of the repeater you want to access. The actual key strokes or knob turns will depend on the particular model of radio so consult your operating manual. The frequency you enter is the repeater transmit frequency which will be your receive frequency. Repeaters are always referred to by their transmit frequency, which can be found in an online or printed repeater directory.

Offset – Next, we need to make sure the proper transmit offset is programmed into the radio. This is the difference in frequency between the repeater transmit frequency and its receive frequency. Your transceiver will automatically shift your frequency when you transmit, if you have the right offset programmed. In most parts of the US, the standard offset is 600 kHz on the 2m band and 5 MHz on the 70cm band, and can be either in the positive (+) or negative (-) direction. Your repeater directory will list the offset and direction. Most radios will default to the standard offset but you may have to select + or – offset. Usually a + or – symbol will appear in the display to indicate the offset selected.

As an example, my repeater is on 447.725 MHz with a – 5 MHz offset. So you would enter 447.725 MHz into your radio, make sure the offset is set to 5 MHz and select – as the offset direction. You can verify that your radio is programmed correctly if you see 447.725 MHz displayed during receive, which should change to 442.725 MHz when you push the transmit button.

Tone – For most repeaters, you will need to transmit a CTCSS tone to access the repeater. (CTCSS is Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System.) Repeaters with carrier access do not require a tone, so you can skip this step. This is normally a two-step process: set the tone frequency and then enable the tone. Sometimes this is done with one selection (with “Off” being an option for the tone frequency). Some radios have separate settings for the transmit tone and receive tone. For now, just leave the receive tone off, since it can be a source of confusion. The tone that you need to set is your transmit tone. Most radios display a “T” somewhere on the display when the tone is enabled. Again, check your operating manual.

Kerchunk

At this point, you should be ready to try accessing the repeater. After listening on frequency for a minute, transmit and identify using your callsign. On most repeaters, you will hear a short transmission coming back from the repeater along with a courtesy beep. A courtesy beep is just a short audio tone or tone sequence that occurs after someone finishes transmitting. If you hear the beep, then you accessed the repeater. Congratulations! Go ahead and make a call and see if someone will come back to you.

Troubleshooting

What if you don’t hear the repeater coming back to you? Then we need to go into troubleshooting mode. If the radio is new, you might wonder if it is even working properly. The quality level of today’s equipment is quite good, so most likely your radio is just fine. Still, you may want to check it out.

First, you can check to make sure your radio is receiving properly. In the US, a good way to do this is to tune into your local NOAA weather transmitter.These transmitters are on the air continuously, operating on 162.400, 162.425, 162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525 or 162.550 MHz. These frequencies are outside of the 2m ham band but most ham transceivers are able to listen to these frequencies. You’ll want to set this frequency as simply as possible…use the keypad or VFO mode to enter it directly. In most cases, you can just try the short list of frequencies until you hear the transmitter in your area.

Next, you might want to know that your radio is able to transmit a signal. The best way to do this is find a local ham nearby that can run a simplex check with you. By nearby, I mean within 5 miles or so, because we want someone so close that there is no question about whether they should be able to contact us. Program your radio to a 2m simplex frequency such as 146.52 MHz (the National 2m FM Simplex Frequency). For this test, we do NOT want the transmit offset turned on…the radio needs to be set to simplex. You can double check this by looking at the display when transmitting—it should show 146.52 MHz (transmit frequency is the same as the receive frequency). For this test, we don’t care about the transmit tone…it can be on or off. Have the other ham give you a call and see if you can contact him. If you happen to have a second transceiver, you can try this test yourself – just see if each radio can hear the other one. One warning: do this on a simplex frequency. Trying to go through a repeater can really confused things because you may not have the offset and tone set properly. Even more confusing is that one radio can “desense” the other radio, which means that the other radio’s receiver will be overloaded and not able to receive the repeater’s signal. Using simplex keeps things simple.

The final thing to check is whether your signal is able to reach the repeater. Well, that is a bit of a challenge! For starters, are you sure you are within range of the repeater? Have you ever heard a signal from this repeater, and was it full scale on your S meter? You may want to ask local hams about whether you should be able to hit the repeater from your location with the radio you are using. For that matter, you might want to check if the repeater is actually on the air – they do go down from time to time.

This brings us to an important point about the use of handheld transceivers. They are really, really handy. How else can you carry a complete ham radio station in your hand? Well, the tradeoff is that an HT operates with relatively low power (5 watts or less) and has a compromised antenna. (The standard rubber duck antenna on an HT is a very convenient crummy antenna.) You may need to add some extra umph to your signal by improving the antenna. Some good dualband choices are a longer whip such as the Diamond RH77CA, SRH77CA, or SRJ77CA  or a magnetic-mount mobile antenna placed on a vehicle or on other metal object.

Summary

In this article, I’ve tried to provide some assistance in figuring out why you aren’t hitting the repeater. The most common problem for newly acquired radios is getting them programmed (remember FOT: Frequency Offset and Tone). Once you have that right, it is usually just making sure that you have enough signal to make it to the repeater.

73, Bob K0NR

Note: this article is adapted from Hey, Why Can’t I Access the Repeater? on hamradioschool.com

The post FOT: Frequency, Offset and Tone 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.