Amateur Radio · VHF/UHF · Summits On The Air · Colorado Mountains · Adventure
One of my favorite rigs is the Yaesu FT-817, the QRP transceiver that covers HF through 70 cm. I use it for mountaintop VHF, including Summits On The Air (SOTA) activations. At Pacificon, I came across this bag by AMP-3 which is custom designed for the FT-817. David KF7ETX did a great job designing this … Read more
As reported here in this blog, the Lost Island DX Society has been missing in action for over a year. Various rumors propagated around the internet and amateur radio community concerning what happened to these LIDS. Recently, the Fi-Ni Report came to life and reported that the LIDS are actively planning (or at least discussing) working the … Read more
Last weekend, I had the privilege of attending the Pacificon amateur radio convention in Santa Clara, something I have been trying to do for several years now. It is a great event, with good technical programs and a super venue. The most interesting presentation I saw was the one on digital voice (DV) technology by Bruce Perens … Read more
Whenever you get a bunch of guys together to build, fix or mess with something, duct tape seems to be a universal tool. Sometimes though, one of The Guys chimes in with the comment about “well, duct tape is OK but gaffer tape is much better.” See the Wikipedia entry for Gaffer Tape. Well, I finally listened to those guys and bought … Read more
Today, Joyce K0JJW and I decided to hike Midland Hill (W0C/SP-117) near Buena Vista, CO (otherwise known as “BV”) and do a SOTA activation on VHF. I call this a “classic SOTA hike” because it is a real hike that requires some exertion, a well-maintained trail to the summit and some great views at the … Read more
Although I’ve operated a number of VHF contests from the summit of Mount Herman, I had not yet activated it as a Summits On The Air (SOTA) peak. Mount Herman is a 9063 foot mountain just to the west of Monument, Colorado, pretty much in “my back yard.” Steve WG0AT did the first SOTA activation of Mount Herman, back in … Read more