Amateur Radio · VHF/UHF · Summits On The Air · Colorado Mountains · Adventure
Charlie/NJ7V invited Joyce/K0JJW and me to be on the All Portable Discussion Zone, on the Red Summit RF YouTube channel. We talked mostly about Summits On The AIr (SOTA) using VHF/UHF. It was a fun experience for both of us.
Once again, I was asked by a new ham “which handheld transceiver should I get?” This is a frequent and valid question that comes up. Often the question gets framed as “Baofeng or something better?” I say “something better.” I am not writing to bash Baofeng radios or the people that use them. The radios … Read more
The light-bulb dummy load has been used with HF transceivers from way back in the old days (and sometimes more recently). These “dummy loads” tended to radiate a bit and can actually be used as a (poor) antenna. A few years ago, the Lightbulb QSO Party promoted the use of light bulbs as antennas during … Read more
Recently, I gave a presentation to the ARROW radio club in Ann Arbor, MI on the topic of “Having Fun With VHF”. I’ve given this talk several times now, highlighting some of the topics in my book, VHF, Summits and More: Having Fun With Ham Radio. When I discussed my Summits On The Air (SOTA) … Read more
For Summits On The Air activations, I have been exclusively using the VHF/UHF spectrum. I like the HF bands but for SOTA, I just think that Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT) of a summit is an ideal match for frequencies above 50 MHz. See Summits On The Air VHF Mountain Goat. After much nagging peer … Read more
On some SOTA summits that are established radio sites, there can be significant RFI on 2 meters. I recently wrote about that here: RFI on SOTA Summits. There have also been discussions from time to time among VHF SOTA activators on which handheld transceiver (HT) has the most robust receiver for use in high RF … Read more