Amateur Radio · VHF/UHF · Summits On The Air · Colorado Mountains · Adventure
Every once in a while, I look at the number of licensed radio amateurs in the US and ponder how ham radio participation rates compare with other hobby activities. Take a look at this post from 2005: Some Amateur Radio Statistics and this one from 2015: Ten Year Trends in US Ham Licenses. The latest number … Read more
On Saturday, I had the privilege of talking to a group of radio amateurs on the topic of electronic measurements. I opened the session with a short discussion of “why do we even need electronic measurements?” This was captured in three “laws” listed below: Bob’s First Law of Electronic Measurement With electricity, most of the … Read more
The Rocky Mountain Ham Radio group offers an educational series they call RMHAM University. I am honored to be able to present on the topic of Practical Ham Radio Measurements on Saturday morning Dec 15th. As many of you know, this topic is an intersection of my hobby of amateur radio and 40 years working … Read more
One of our favorite summit hikes along the front range of Colorado is Devils Head lookout tower (W0C/FR-051). This hike is about 1.5 miles one way with 900 feet of vertical gain. See my summer trip report from July 2012 for more information on the hike. This year we activated the summit in winter. One … Read more
Batteries are a necessity for portable operation, including Summits On The Air (SOTA) activations. In situations where I’m using a handheld transceiver, it has its own battery. I might carry a spare battery or two, depending on how long I intend to operate. I also make use of my Yaesu FT-817 (mostly for 2m ssb/cw) … Read more
Joyce/K0JJW and I were planning a trip that included some time in Europe. It turned out that our airline route would connect through Zurich. Rather than spend a few hours in an airport, we decided to spend a day or two in Switzerland. Somehow the discussion turned to Summits On The Air (SOTA) and whether … Read more