Bob K0NR

A Decibel Is Still A Decibel

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When discussing signal levels and power output, hams like to say things like: Using higher power isn’t important because it only gives you one additional S unit and You’ll lose some power in the coax but you won’t even notice a few dB These statements are often true and at the same time may be … Read more

About Those Drive Up SOTA Summits

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The Summits On The Air (SOTA) program was designed with hiking/climbing in mind but some SOTA summits have roads that go to the top. Some notable ones that come to mind are Pikes Peak (W0C/FR-004), Mount Scott (W5O/WI-002), Mount Coolidge (W0D/BB-012), Sandia Crest (W5N/SI-001), Mount Greylock (W1/MB-001) and Mount Mitchell (W4C/CM-001). There are also summits … Read more

VHF SOTA Antenna Tests

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A perpetual ham radio question is always which antenna is best? I have several different antennas and antenna configurations for working VHF SOTA and decided to do some comparisons. To test out some of our 2m SOTA antennas, Joyce/K0JJW and I went to Eagle Rock (W0C/SP-113) with an elevation of 9710 feet. I did the … Read more

Monitor Marine VHF Near the Ocean

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When on a road trip, I usually monitor the 2m FM calling frequency, 146.52 MHz. For the most part, that frequency is pretty quiet but sometimes a fellow traveler, camper, SOTA activator or random ham shows up on frequency. I don’t usually bother with tuning into local repeaters as that requires frequent adjustment of the … Read more