In 2026, the ARRL is running a program to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States (America250). One part of this program is having designated hams activate W1AW (portable) in all 50 states. The operating is spread out over time, with a master schedule determining when each state will operate.
W1AW/0 in Colorado
Our section manager, Amanda/K1DDN, put out a call for Colorado operators to make radio contacts as W1AW/0. Typically, this means a radio ham operates from their home station using the special call sign on the HF bands. Amanda suggested that I should participate using the VHF bands. Knowing that the objective is to make lots of contacts, my immediate reaction was “hmmm, not sure that really works.” Thinking about it more, I realized that operating from Pikes Peak, towering over the populated part of the state might be useful. After all, Pikes Peak is known as America’s Mountain. I mentioned this to Joyce/K0JJW and she signed up immediately. (I think she wanted the ten SOTA points.) We decided to do a combination W1AW/0 effort, plus SOTA (W0C/FR-004), and POTA (US-4404, Pike National Forest).
Pikes Peak is a drive-up summit, so we did our usual thing of driving to the summit and then hiking away from the vehicle carrying our equipment. This time, we planned to operate 5 hours on multiple bands/mode, so we carried bigger batteries and more gear. Our goal was to make at least 100 contacts between the two of us.
Operating
We used three bands: 6m, 2m, 70cm, using only phone (SSB & FM). One station (a small dualband FM mobile) was mostly on 2m FM, either calling CQ or listening there. We used the North America Adventure Frequency (146.58 MHz) to avoid clogging the calling frequency, 146.52. We did use .52 to make announcements that we could be worked on 146.58. We also jumped over to the 446.0 MHz to make Qs there. The other station (FT-991) was on 6m SSB, 2m SSB, or 70cm SSB.
For 6m, we used an End-Fed Halfwave antenna, somewhat sloping, supported by a fishing pole. Our 2m Yagi antenna, supported by a camera tripod, could be oriented vertically or horizontally. (Vertical for FM, horizontal for SSB.) We also had a 5-element 70cm Yagi. Our dualband vertical antenna (TWAYRDIO RH 660S), turned out to be very useful, especially after the wind toppled the tripod and destroyed the 2m Yagi.
Results
We made a total of 132 contacts, with 87 of them on 2 meters, 20 on 6 meters, 25 on 70 centimeters. The dominate mode, no surprise, was 2m FM with 80 contacts. Six meters cooperated by opening for a short time to the eastern US, netting 6 contacts with IA, IN, VA, & NC.
As expected, the weather was cold on the summit, around 30 degrees F, with variable winds up to 20 MPH. As you can see from the photos, the sky was partly cloudy with plenty of blue showing through. We dressed with multiple layers, hats, gloves, etc., knowing that we would operate for 5 hours.
We both received a certificate for participating (see above). Overall, we were very happy with the results and we had a great time on the Peak. Of course, our QSO numbers are smaller than the typical station running on the HF bands. But it was fun to see what we could do on VHF/UHF.
Height Above Average Terrain!
73 Bob K0NR