Amateur Radio · VHF/UHF · Summits On The Air · Colorado Mountains · Adventure
Here are three affordable accessories that can help round out your VHF/UHF handheld transceiver (HT) kit. These items can significantly improve the performance of your radio and make it more useful. 1. A Halfwave Antenna for 2m I’ve already written about the RH660 antenna, which is a huge improvement over a typical rubber duck antenna. … Read more
I came across this new antenna, the TWAYRDIO RH 660S, mentioned in this Ham Radio Crash Course video. I have previously been recommending the TWAYRDIO TH770 antenna via this post. The RH 660S is a newer dual-band 2m/70cm telescoping antenna from the same company. For Summits On The Air (SOTA), I generally take along such … Read more
You’ve probably seen the messages about the ARRL push for relief from antenna restrictions by Home Owners Associations (HOAs). If not, take a look here. It is clear that excessively tight HOA restrictions are a significant barrier to getting started in ham radio. ARRL has launched a nationwide grassroots campaign aimed at securing the passage … Read more
Joyce/K0JJW and I did a SOTA activation with Mike/KE0PWR on Aspen Ridge (W0C/SP-084). It turns out that Mike’s wife, Laurel, has a YouTube channel, so she shot some video of our adventure. Keep in mind that her channel is not focused on ham radio, but has a more general audience. Some time later, Mike did … Read more
On August 18, I activated Mount Peck (W0C/ SP-053) with Steve/K5SJC, which put me over the top of 2000 activation points for SOTA. This is commonly known as 2x Mountain Goat or Double Mountain Goat. (Joyce/K0JJW was out of town, leaving me unsupervised for a few weeks.) Steve, thanks for doing Mt Peck with me, … Read more
I’ve been having fun with mountaintop VHF ham radio for decades, way before Summits On The Air (SOTA) was a thing. It is an activity that I enjoy very much during VHF contests, Parks On The Air (POTA) activations, SOTA activations, and just goofing around in the mountains. Most of this activity has been on … Read more