Amateur Radio · VHF/UHF · Summits On The Air · Colorado Mountains · Adventure
Charlie/NJ7V and Gaston/KT1RUN did a comparison of VHF antennas during a SOTA activation. Specifically, they compared a rubber duck antenna, a J-pole antenna on a tall mast, and a 3-element Yagi antenna. Spoiler Alert: the rubber duck sucks (they all do) but the Yagi and J-pole performed about the same. Joyce/K0JJW and I use the … Read more
Recently, on the nasota group, there was a discussion about designating an alternative 2m FM frequency for Summits On The Air (SOTA) use (instead of 146.52 MHz). The main driver for this is that 146.52 MHz can get busy with other radio traffic and/or a busy SOTA activation can tie up the calling frequency for … Read more
A big trend in ham radio activity is the use of internet-connected transceivers commonly referred to as hotspots. These devices often use one (or more) of the popular VHF/UHF digital formats (DMR, D-STAR, Fusion) but analog FM is also used. They allow a radio amateur to have a local RF connection into one of the extensive … Read more
After seeing some videos about small HF transceivers for Summits On The Air (SOTA), I feel I need to set the record straight. The following video shows the World’s Smallest SOTA Transceiver in use. Of course, it uses the UHF spectrum because shorter wavelengths enable smaller ham radio stations. The radio shown in the video … Read more
Closing out 2020, here are the top five blog posts at k0nr.com during the year. Some people may see this as a lazy way of creating one more blog post for the year without much work. This is definitely true. I hope you enjoy it anyway. Leading the list is this blog post…a perennial favorite … Read more
The Arkansas River Headwaters is a unique recreation area that follows the upper Arkansas River in Colorado, extending roughly from Leadville to Pueblo. POTA has it listed as the Arkansas River Headwaters State Park, but the Colorado Parks and Wildlife website shows it as the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area. This area is a bit unique, … Read more