A few days ago, someone told me that a rumor is circulating that I don’t own any gear capable of operating on the high-frequency (HF) bands. I laughed out loud, wondering where this came from.
Actually, I know where this comes from: most of my postings here at k0nr.com are oriented towards VHF operating, often from the top of a summit. I fully admit that VHF/UHF has always been my favorite part of the amateur radio spectrum.
And I do operate on the HF bands.
Home Station
The photo above shows my ham shack set up at home. The primary transceiver is an ICOM IC-7610, which covers the HF bands and 6 meters. To the left is an ICOM IC-9700 that I use for 2m, 70cm, and 23cm. An ACOM 1000 linear amplifier sits at the far left. It is usually configured for 6m, just waiting for the band to open.
Here is a closer look at the two transceivers. Hey, look at that, the IC-7610 is listening to 20m CW. Yes, I even operate CW.
My antenna farm includes two towers but they are used for VHF/UHF antennas. For the HF bands, I use wire antennas. This article describes the end-fed wire antenna I have been using for the past 5 years. It covers 40m through 6m with one antenna.
Operating Results
I run hot and cold on chasing DX, but over time, I have made many DX contacts and worked quite a few countries. I favor the DX potential of the higher bands: 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, and 10m. Recently, I discovered that the 30m band can be a lot of fun, too. My current stats are: 205 DXCC Entities and 39 (out of 40) CQ Zones. Still looking to work Zone 34, Northeastern Africa. I’ve also been working on Worked All States (WAS) for each band, having completed 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, and 6m.
Update – 21 Dec 2025: I just worked and confirmed Z81D in Zone 34, completing mixed WAZ.
Going Portable with HF
Joyce/K0JJW and I are often operate portable on the HF bands, almost always a Parks On The Air (POTA) activation. Our favorite radio for POTA is a Yaesu FT-991, which covers the HF bands along with VHF/UHF. Almost all of the POTA work is on HF, but sometimes we do make a few VHF contacts.
We also have an ICOM IC-705, covering all bands, that is especially useful for backpack portability. We favor VHF/UHF for SOTA, but sometimes we will use the IC-705 to make some HF SOTA contacts. We have a variety of wire antennas, all different types of end-fed designs. The IC-705 does not have a built-in antenna tuner, so we take along a small manual tuner.
Wrap Up
So there you have it, I do have some HF gear and I do use it!
Remember, the universal purpose of amateur radio is to have fun messing around with radios…using whatever amateur band and mode you choose.
73 Bob K0NR
Someone made a joke in the NA-SOTA slack that activations of 10 point peaks without HF should only award one point. My response was “RIP to Bob K0NR’s point total”. There were some impressed responses when I noted that your 2m QSO count logged on SOTA is an order of magnitude higher than 20m (turns out that’s true of your VHF vs HF as a whole too). I doubt there are any other double goats in the states who can say that. In any case, there’s no wrong way to Amateur or SOTA when it comes to bands, it’s all about what works for you and what you enjoy. Thanks for the peek at your other gear.
Thanks, Brian.
I have been trying to do 100% VHF/UHF on SOTA but have added in some HF contacts on remote peaks where we knew VHF was going to be tough or impossible.
When I hit double mountain goat, a look at the data revealed that I had 9 activations (corresponding to 41 points) that used HF to get the minimum four QSOs.
73 Bob K0NR
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Look like very nice station
And I believe we’ve had a few keysos over the years I used to live in Breckenridge and maintain the second home there for years.
73 from,
Steve https://www.k0uo.com/k0uo “Rhombic Antenna Farm & test range” Miles of Wire In the Air and On the Air Daily.
Thanks, Steve.