VHF SOTA Antenna Tests

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

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

Looking at VHF/UHF SOTA Data

On Twitter, someone recently commented that it would be nice to have more 2m SSB activity for Summits On The Air (SOTA). It is well known that FM is a more commonly used mode but that its performance suffers for weak signals. This got me wondering about which bands and modes are being used for … Read more