When radio amateurs get ready to put an HF station on the air, they often have questions about what antenna to use. The good news is that there are many options to choose from. The bad news is that there are too many options to choose from. It can be overwhelming. This post describes an antenna I just installed that is easy to put up and works well.
The ponderosa pine tree supports the endfed wire antenna.
Having 30-foot tall pine trees on our property, my usual approach for HF antennas is “wires in the trees.” I have several ropes strung up over these tall trees so that I can raise and lower wire antennas as needed. These ropes were installed using a slingshot to launch a fishing line over the top of the tree, then I pulled up a lightweight rope.
The 9:1 UNUN provides the matching at the end of the wire antenna.
End Fed Long Wire
The antenna is the EFLW-1K from MyAntennas.com, which is an End Fed Long Wire Antenna. (This should not be confused with an End Fed Half Wave antenna.) This antenna is intentionally cut to not be a resonant length on any of the bands. The 9:1 UNUN transforms the high impedance at the end of the wire down to something closer to 50 ohms. The match is not perfect so an antenna tuner is required to cover all of the bands. MyAntennas offers this antenna with different lengths of wire, with longer wires required to support the lower HF bands. I purchased the 53-foot version but decided to shorten the wire. My interest is working 20 meters and higher and I wanted the antenna to be mostly vertical, so I shortened the wire to 36 feet. The MyAntennas products are good but other similar 9:1 UNUN products on the end of a wire will work.
An endfed antenna like this needs some kind of counterpoise to balance out the antenna operation. Many people have written about this and there are many different approaches. The MyAntenna UNUN has a connector intended to support adding a short length of counterpoise wire. I could have gone that route but a decent length of coaxial cable lying on the ground can function as this counterpoise. So that’s what I decided to use.
The B11ISO isolation transformer is inserted in line with the coaxial cable.
I also added an inline isolation transformer to minimize the common mode currents getting back to the transceiver. I don’t know that this is required but I had one available so I used it. The antenna has 50 feet of LMR 400 coax laying on the ground which connects to the inline transformer. Then, another 25 feet of RG-8X coax connects the transformer to my transceiver. The internal antenna tuner in my Icom IC-7610 handles this antenna quite well, tuning up on 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m and 10m. This means I can instantly switch between the bands and be ready to go.
I’ve been running SSB, FT8 and FT4 on this antenna, working many stations in all regions: Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, North and South America. Conditions are great and I keep telling newer folks: now is the time to be on HF! This basic antenna is a great way to get on the air and work some DX.
73 Bob K0NR
Update (18 Jan 2024): I gave this antenna a try on 6 meters using the IC-7610 (with tuner) and it works on that band, too.
Update (05 Feb 2024): Just for fun, I tried the antenna on 30m and 40m. I thought it would be too short but the tuner in the IC-7610 was happy and I am making contacts on those two bands.
The Technician license is your gateway to the worldwide excitement of Amateur Radio, and the very best emergency communications capability available! This is the entry-level class for people who do not currently have an amateur (ham) radio license.
The Tri-Lakes Monument Radio Association (Monument, CO) is introducing a new approach to teaching the Technician Level ham radio license class. We have completely overhauled the delivery format of our Tech Class to make good use of both in-person and online training methods. The biggest change is that most of the core material will be delivered to the student via bite-sized online videos, ebook sections, and additional content from Ham Radio School. This dramatically increases the flexibility on how and when the student views this material, eliminating long, all-day classroom sessions. We will have three live Zoom sessions along the way to review the material and answer any questions you might have.
We understand that in-person training is extremely valuable for certain types of activities. Accordingly, we will have an in-person kickoff session (Feb 17) for the instructors to meet the students and show them how ham radio equipment is used. The licensing exam session (Mar 9) is another in-person event. Finally, after you receive your new license, we will have an in-person Get On The Air event (Mar 16) where you will make your first radio contact. To help guide you through this process, an experienced radio ham will connect with you, monitor your progress, and help you through the class.
The cost of the class is $50 ($40 for anyone under 18 years old), which includes everything you need for the class. A non-expiring subscription to the Ham Radio School Technician resources is included. We used to require you to have a printed copy of the Ham Radio School Technician book, but that same material will be delivered to you online as an ebook. Proceeds from this class go to support the Tri-Lakes Monument Radio Association, a non-profit organization.
You still need to pay a $35 license fee directly to the FCC after passing the license exam.
You can probably tell I am excited about the new format for this class. It will make it easier on the instructors to deliver the material AND easier for the students to learn it. If you have questions, let me know!
Closing out 2023, here are the top five blog posts at k0nr.com during the year. Some people may see this as a lazy way of creating one more blog post for the year without much effort and they would be right. These posts are the top five viewed during the year but may have been written earlier than that.
Top Five Blog Posts
Leading the list is this blog post…a perennial favorite that seems to make the top five each year. This particular article is tuned for Colorado but also provides a link to an article covering the topic for the USA.
While investigating some potential Summits On The Air (SOTA) peaks, someone sent me a link for the FAA weather cam that was on a particular peak. I was able to get a real-time look at the snow on the summit and see the terrain. Of course, the world is full of many different webcams providing real-time video but somehow I had overlooked the FAA WeatherCams. (I am sure some of the pilots out there are thinking “duh, everyone knows about these.”) This caused me to spend some time looking at the various FAA webcams available.
The FAA webcam site provides a useful map overview to choose an appropriate webcam.
Monarch Pass
There is a weather cam at the radio site on South Monarch Ridge (W0C/SP-058), a popular SOTA summit. It is labeled Monarch Pass, which is located below the summit. The orientation of the four cameras is indicated on the map. Besides being on a SOTA summit, this camera is in a great spot to see Monarch Ski Area, the south end of the Sawatch Mountain Range, and the north part of the Sangre De Cristo Mountain Range.
This graphic shows the location of the Monarch Pass weather cam, including camera directions.
Here’s the camera view looking northwest from South Monarch Ridge. You can see towers and cables for the tram that goes up to the summit during the summer months. The Continental Divide and the Monarch Pass Ski Area are in the center of this image.
Looking northwest from the Monarch Pass location.
Wilkerson Pass
Another popular SOTA summit, Badger Mountain (W0C/SP-072), has a weather cam on it, labeled for Wilkerson Pass, just below the mountain. Shown below, the SW camera from Wilkerson looks out over South Park with the Sawatch Range off in the distance.
Looking SW from Badger Mountain into South Park.
There are many more weather cams around the state and across the USA. They provide a real-time look at what is happening in the mountains which is complementary to a good weather forecast. Take a look to see what cameras are in your area that can be helpful.
I was happy to contribute an article to the recent ARRL Parks On The Air (POTA) book. This piece is based on my Pikes Peak mountain topping article that appeared in the June 2023 issue of QST. This book is a collection of articles about POTA from 14 different authors, each writing about a different aspect of the program. The articles are all easy to read and generally provide a first-hand account of how the author has experienced POTA operating. There is plenty of beginner information and operating tips sprinkled throughout the book. More experienced POTA enthusiasts will probably pick up a few new ideas as well.
The Table of Contents below lists the articles and authors, giving you a good idea of the material covered. The meat of the book is only 118 pages long and it is quite easy to read.
My piece covered the triple activation I did from the summit of Pikes Peak, combining POTA, SOTA, and the June VHF Contest into one mountaintop adventure. For POTA, the park was the Pike National Forest (K-4404). I’ve done this type of combo activation in the past, sometimes just SOTA + POTA or just SOTA + VHF Contest. This time I did all three.
The book is available directly from the ARRL or from the usual book outlets such as Amazon.
The FCC will be voting on and will likely approve a Report and Order that eliminates the symbol rate restriction on HF data transmissions, replacing it with a bandwidth limit of 2.8 kHz. See FCC To Vote on Removing Symbol Rate Restrictions. The symbol rate limit of 300-baud is an obsolete way of limiting the signal bandwidth, created back when the data transmissions were predominately Frequency Shift Keying (FSK). It was a simple, practical way to regulate the bandwidth at that time but technology has moved on. The use of digital signal processing and efficient wireless encoding techniques require a better approach to bandwidth regulation.
A practical impact of this change is to allow higher speed protocols such as PACTOR-4 having a bandwidth of 2.4 kHz. I suspect we will see other protocols emerge that squeeze the best data rate out of the 2.8 kHz bandwidth.
Living in a Narrowband World
The FCC proposal implements a 2.8 kHz bandwidth limit on data emissions on the HF bands. Some folks have suggested a narrower bandwidth while others argue that wider bandwidth signals should be allowed. And some even think we should have no bandwidth limit at all.
The problem is that the amateur HF bands are not very wide. For example, the popular 20m band is 14.0 to 14.350 MHz, providing only 350 kHz of spectrum. Common practice on this and the other HF bands is to use modulation types that have bandwidths of 3 kHz or less. (Yeah, AM signals are twice that wide, at 6 KHz, a topic for another day.) Of course, CW and some of the data modes are much narrower than 3 kHz. But the general approach to regulating HF is to allow many narrowband signals on the band. Limiting HF data transmissions to 2.8 kHz bandwidth is consistent with existing practice while still allowing for innovation and experimentation.
VHF/UHF Bandwidth Limits
The FCC also plans to issue a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPR) that:
Proposes to remove the baud rate limitation in the 2200 meter and 630 meter bands, which the Commission allocated for amateur radio use after it released the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in 2016.
Proposes to remove the baud rate limitation in the VHF and UHF bands.
Seeks comment on the appropriate bandwidth limitation for the 2200 meter band, the 630 meter band, and the VHF/UHF bands.
I won’t comment on the 2200 meter and 630 meter bands. The FCC proposes to remove the symbol rate limit on the VHF and UHF bands and asks what bandwidth limit is appropriate. The current bandwidth limits are 20 kHz for the 6m and 2m bands, 100 kHz for the 1.25m and 70 cm bands, and the FCC seems fine leaving these the same. Authorized emission types are listed in FCC Part 97.305.
With 4 MHz of spectrum, the 2m band is much wider than any of the HF bands. It might be tempting to conclude that there is plenty of room for wideband signals on this band. Many hams think 2 meters is just used for FM simplex and repeaters but a closer look reveals that it supports many diverse modes: weak-signal SSB/CW, meteor scatter, EME, FM simplex, FM repeaters, digital voice modes (D-STAR, DMR, Fusion), satellites, and more. The 20-kHz limit seems appropriate, as it roughly matches the bandwidth of the most common (FM) voice signals on that band. It is not an appropriate band for trying out wider bandwidth signals.
The 6m band should probably keep the same 20-kHz limit. (I don’t think there is a compelling reason to change it.) The 1.25m band already allows 100-kHz bandwidth data signals, which some radio amateurs have used for higher-speed data links (still not what I would call wideband).
The 70 cm band is much bigger (420 MHz to 450 MHz) and could accommodate some wider bandwidth signals. Perhaps the existing 100-kHz limit should be increased? Keep in mind that fast-scan ATV is allowed on this band with a bandwidth of 6 MHz. Maybe we can make some room for a few larger bandwidth data channels, to encourage innovation and experimentation.
The bands above 70 cm have no bandwidth limit other than the signal must stay within the designated ham band. It has been this way for a long time, without causing any issues (that I know of).
Conclusion
The FCC’s proposal makes a lot of sense and it is long overdue. Frankly, it is a bit of an embarrassment that it has taken so long.
A view of the W0C/RG-169 summit from the Continental Divide Trail. Look closely to see the game trail heading up to the right towards the saddle.
Lobo Overlook is an excellent summit and tourist spot near Wolf Creek Pass, one of the most scenic passes in Colorado. I’ve been up there for VHF contests and other mountaintop operations and initially thought it might be a SOTA summit. No such luck, as it is superseded by a higher summit nearby (W0C/RG-169). No problem, we’ll just activate that one instead. Lobo Overlook is accessed via an easy 3-mile gravel road just off the pass. The road leads to two small loops at the top, one of which is the actual Lobo Overlook while the other goes to an obvious radio site. The trail to RG-169 is best accessed from the radio site, so we parked there. Wolf Creek Pass and Lobo Overlook sit right on the Continental Divide and the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) passes through here just a bit to the west.
The Lobo Overlook road starts slightly east of Wolf Creek Pass.
Lobo Peak
This unnamed summit is listed as 11820 in the SOTA database. However, Lists of John (which was used to create the W0C SOTA database) shows this summit as 11831. My topo map seems to agree with 11831, so this might be an error. Of course, such a cool summit near the CDT deserves a name, so Joyce/K0JJW and I decided to call it Lobo Peak, for obvious reasons. (I looked for an existing nearby Lobo Peak and did not find one.)
Near the radio site, we started at the marked trailhead and headed west on Lobo Trail (878), actually going downhill to intersect the CDT about a half mile down the trail. At the trailhead, it was not obvious which summit we were headed to and it might not even be visible at that point. The summit did reveal itself as we headed down the CDT (see first photo above). We followed the CDT to a visible game trail that takes off steeply to the right (lat/lon 37.49765, -106.81515). There are several game trails that split off, heading up towards the saddle to the left of the summit and we stayed on the most established one. We set up our station within the activation zone just below the actual summit, avoiding the rock scrambling to get to the top.
The trail from Lobo Overlook to RG-169 mostly follows the Continental Divide Trail.
The one-way distance on the trail is 1.2 miles with an up-and-down profile. Lobo Overlook is only slightly lower in elevation from “Lobo Peak”. The trail starts at about 11,770 feet, descending to a low point of 11,500 and back up to 11,800 at the summit. So that produces a net ascent of about 300 feet, maybe more, one way. Of course, you get to repeat this on the way back.
The sign at the trailhead calls this Lobo Pass.
SOTA and POTA Activations
Once in the activation zone, we deployed the IC-705 on 2m FM, driving the 3-element Yagi antenna. We worked Travis/KB9LMJ on 146.52 MHz, who was mobile in Pagosa Springs. Further calling on 2m FM did not yield any contacts, but K0JJW and I did work each other on VHF/UHF. We had anticipated that this might be a tough place to activate on VHF, so we brought along the HF gear and set up an EndFed Halfwave antenna for 20m. Propagation was good and we soon worked 11 stations on 20m SSB.
This summit sits right on the dividing line between the Rio Grande National Forest and the San Juan National Forest, both valid for Parks On The Air (POTA). We opted to operate from the Rio Grande side (K-4405) because that was a new one for both of us.
This is the radio site as seen when you return from the summit, so no excuse for getting lost.
Continental Divide Trail
I’ve hiked sections of the Continental Divide Trail before, including some pre-SOTA backpack trips with Denny/KB9DPF. It is a great trail because it runs along the backbone of the Rocky Mountains. It is often accessible via roads to high mountain passes. (Another example is Wander Ridge, just off Cottonwood Pass.) Once you hop onto the CDT, you are hiking an established trail that is literally on top of the world.
This is an excellent, easy-to-access summit in the Wolf Creek Pass area. So if you are in the area, this might be one to activate. The road to Lobo Overlook is closed during the winter.
Argentine Peak (W0C/SR-019) is a high 13er (13,738 ft) in the Sawatch Range of the Rocky Mountains. I had my eye on this summit for a Summits On The Air (SOTA) activation for quite some time now. This summit is a short distance from Argentine Pass, which is the fourth-highest road in Colorado at 13,207 feet. A non-radio goal I have is to drive the Jeep up the twenty highest roads in Colorado, so Argentine Pass is on that list. Not only that, Argentine Peak sits on the Continental Divide, separating the Arapaho National Forest and the White River National Forest, so it can also be activated for Parks On The Air (POTA).
Bob/K0NR and Joyce/K0JJW on the way up Argentine Peak in the background.
So the plan emerged: Joyce/K0JJW and I would take the Jeep to Argentine Pass and then climb up to Argentine Peak for a SOTA and POTA activation. The road is usually blocked by snow for much of the summer, making it a late summer/early fall adventure. Somehow September slipped away and it is now October, but fortunately, the road is still open. Note that the more common way to hike Argentine Pass is from Silver Dollar Lake trailhead (see KX0R trip report).
The 4WD route is shown above in orange, starting out as FS 248.1 leaving Guanella Pass Road.
The Road
The 4WD route starts with FS 248.1 as it leaves Guanella Pass Road, about 3 miles south of Georgetown, CO (see map above). The forest service road takes off at a point where the Guanella Pass Road takes a very sharp bend. You should have a good topo map to guide you on this route as there are quite a few roads in the area. In general, you follow FS 248.1 which has some subvariants such as 248.1B and 248.1K. The exact choice of roads is not critical but, eventually, you need to get on FS 724.1 which sports a few wide and steep switchbacks up to Argentine Pass. The one-way distance is 9 miles and it took us about 1.5 hours to make the drive.
This road and route is considered moderate 4WD and FS 248.1 provides a good taste of that right after you leave the paved road. Many other sections of the road are easy 4WD but there are some challenging spots along the way. This is a real 4WD road, so you’ll need a decent high-clearance 4WD vehicle in the class of a Wrangler, Bronco, 4Runner, etc. We drove a stock Jeep Wrangler and had no trouble. However, at one spot, the wheel placement was very critical, so Joyce spotted me as I drove through it. Not that difficult…unless you screw it up.
The Climb
As shown below, the climbing route up Argentine Peak (blue line) follows the Continental Divide ridge line as it heads south from Argentine Pass. The road up Argentine Pass ends kind of high in the pass, so at first, we were walking downhill. A faint trail follows the top of the ridge but fades out in many places. Looking at the topo map, I underestimated how much up and down there would be on the ridge but it was not too difficult.
The route to Argentine Peak follows the Continental Divide ridge line from Argentine Pass.
The hike is about 1 mile with 650 feet vertical (one-way). We had fantastic weather in October: sunny, with temperatures in the 40’s F and some light wind (10 to 15 mph). This is one of those top-of-the-world hiking experiences, right along the Continental Divide.
Joyce/K0JJW on the summit of Argentine Peak.
As you can see from the photos, there were some patches of snow on the ground, but it was not an issue for hiking. A real Mountain Goat (not a SOTA Mountain Goat) wandered by and paid us a visit.
This mountain goat wandered by while we were on the summit.We used our standard 2m/70cm FM station: Yaesu FT-90 running 30 watts to a 3-element Yagi for 2 meters or a 5-element Yagi for 70 cm. We worked stations mostly on 146.52 MHz FM and a few on 446.0 MHz. With downtown Denver about 45 miles away, we easily worked stations in the greater Denver area. We were also successful working stations out to 60 or 70 miles, often with good signal reports in both directions. We both made 20 QSOs using VHF/UHF.
For POTA, we were right on the dividing line between White River NF and Arapaho NF but needed to choose one for our activation. We had previously activated Arapaho, so we chose to operate from White River NF on this trip (K-4410) which is a new park for us.
Summary
We had an absolute blast on this activation. I think it was the combination of a Jeep trip, hiking, SOTA, and POTA all wrapped into one adventure that made it so good. As a bonus, we had excellent weather and a visit by the mountain goat!
The FT8 station consists of an iPad, Icom IC-705, MFJ-902 tuner, a battery pack, and one of many wire antennas.
In a previous post, I described getting the IC-705 set up for FT8 using the SDR-Control app on an iPad. My objective was to have a portable FT8 station for use during SOTA and POTA activations.
To save time, let me get this out of the way:
Yes, I do know that making contacts via FT8 is not as personal and may not be as much fun as running a pileup on SSB or CW. Still, it is Real Ham Radio and enjoyable in a different way.
I’ve used this station on multiple activations now but I have to admit that these have been mostly for POTA. It seems that whenever I get on top of a SOTA summit, I tend to focus on making VHF contacts which consumes the available time and the HF gear remains stashed way in my pack. This is more about my operating habits than anything else. Looking at spots though, there is a lot of FT8 on POTA and not nearly as much on SOTA. The SOTA crowd tends to have a lot of traditional CW enthusiasts and maybe POTA has fewer of them. Also, SOTA operating is usually backpack portable so carrying a compute device for FT8 may be considered an unnecessary hassle. POTA stations are often in or near a vehicle, so station size/weight is less of a concern.
For POTA, I make sure my activation is posted at pota.app, indicating the park number I am activating. When calling CQ, I modify the standard FT8 text to be “CQ POTA” to indicate that I am doing an activation. When my signal is detected by the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN), a spot is created that shows me doing a POTA activation from that park. Pretty cool. If I have an internet connection, I monitor my spots using the Ham Alert app. This provides useful feedback about where my signal is showing up around the world.
But what are the main reasons that FT8 is useful for POTA?
FT8 is popular
In case you haven’t noticed, FT8 has emerged from being just a niche activity to now being very popular on most ham bands. At times this can be a problem with the standard FT8 frequency slice being overloaded with signals. There is a lot of FT8 activity on the bands, for general ham use and SOTA/POTA.
FT8 works well with low power
FT8 and the other WSJT-X modes are designed to work well with weak signals, so they are a great match for low-power operation. Of course, QRP power levels are very common for backpack portable activations, mostly due to the limitations of carrying a reasonable-size battery.
FT8 signals are spotted on RBN
As mentioned earlier, FT8 signals are picked up and spotted by RBN. For better or worse, people have come to rely on spotting for many types of ham radio operating. When on a SOTA or POTA activation, you really want to be spotted as such. For phone activations, I usually do that with a smartphone but that requires some extra effort and a mobile phone connection. FT8 and RBN take care of that for you.
FT8 logging is automated
The various FT8 software applications automatically log the QSO information, which means it is easy and less error-prone. After the activation, I just pull up the ADIF log file, check it for obvious errors, add in the SOTA/POTA info, and submit it to the appropriate websites.
FT8 is campsite friendly
This last one may be a bit subtle but I’ve found FT8 to be campsite friendly. By that, I mean I can get on the air at any time (early, late or at nap time) and not disturb anyone else. (On SSB, I would likely be enthusiastically yelling into the microphone trying to work a pileup.) Besides the audio noise factor, FT8 operation allows for multitasking. I can converse with my fellow campers while still keeping up with the FT8 flow. Alternatively, I can cook dinner, make a fire, or pack my backpack while the FT8 QSOs roll in. This may sound a little bit like cheating but, hey, whatever works.
Wrap Up
So clearly, I’ve been having fun with FT8 for POTA. I consider it to be another tool in the toolkit. There are times when I will make good use of it but there will also be times to use other modes.
This past year, Joyce/\K0JJW and I did quite a few Summits On The Air (SOTA) and Parks On The Air (POTA) activations, often as part of an RV camping trip. During this time, we made some improvements to our portable gear. For SOTA, we primarily use the VHF/UHF bands but we have been sprinkling in a bit more HF activity. For POTA, we often don’t have a Height Above Average Terrain advantage, so we definitely use the HF bands.
The ICOM IC-705 is a great backpack portable rig for SOTA and POTA.
Our main goal was to have a backpack portable station for SOTA and POTA that can cover HF through 70 cm, on the most popular bands/modes including CW, SSB, FM and FT8.
Using The IC-705
This 4.5 Ah battery from Bioenno is a compact, lightweight battery for portable operating.
The Icom IC-705 is a great transceiver for covering most HF, VHF and UHF bands. With an external battery, the transceiver puts out 10 watts of RF power. (This is a bit less than the 50 watts from our Yaesu FT-90, which is our default choice for 2m and 70 cm SOTA.) We have accumulated a number of Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries from Bioenno. They are all set up with PowerPole connectors and are easily interchanged. See a previous post, My SOTA Battery Journey.
Arguably the biggest weakness of the IC-705 is the lack of an internal antenna tuner for the HF bands. Of course, you can operate without a tuner by making sure your antenna is always 50 ohms. I find that limiting, especially under portable conditions where the antenna configuration might be compromised. Also, some common end-fed antennas that cover multiple bands are not a good match for all bands. There are external automatic antenna tuners available for the IC-705, so initially those looked like a good solution. Then I remembered that I had a small MFJ-902 Travel Tuner that could do the job. The MFJ-902 is a classic T-network with two variable capacitors and one variable inductor. I gave it a try and was impressed with how easy it was to tune using the SWR meter of the IC-705. This thing is simple and it works.
The MFJ-902 Travel Tuner is a simple T-network antenna tuner.
The rear panel of the tuner has two SO-239 connectors, one for the transceiver and one for the antenna. I put a BNC adapter onto the transceiver port and used a short BNC cable to connect to the IC-705.
The rear panel of the Travel Tuner, with an SO-239-to-BNC adapter installed.A typical picnic table setup using the IC-705 with the MFJ-902 tuner.
The Travel Tuner is compact and not very heavy, so it works out well for backpack portable use. It can handle up to 150 watts, which is overkill for the IC-705 but it may come in handy when used with a higher power transceiver. Still, I am on the lookout for an even more compact (probably lower power) manual antenna tuner.
A typical end-fed half-wave wire antenna for 15 meters.
We have collected a variety of HF antennas, focused mostly on 20 meters and higher. These are typically end-fed, including single-band half-wave designs as well as multiband random-length antennas. These are used in the classic SOTA configuration with one end of the wire supported by a lightweight fishing pole and the coax connection on the ground, fed by a 25-foot length of RG-8X coaxial cable.
FT8 Solution
With the popularity of FT8 on the HF bands as well as 6 meters, I figured we should include that mode in our portable kit. My first thought was to use a compact Windows computer running the standard WSJT-X software. Ultimately, I chose the SDR Control app for the Apple iPad (by Marcus/DL8MRE), which supports specific Icom radios. The iPad connects to the IC-705 via its WiFi connection, which simplifies the connection/cabling challenge. The SDR Control app does cost $49.99, so it is not your inexpensive iOS app but I have found it to be worth the price. Because this app is focused only on iOS and certain Icom radios, it is well-tuned to be a no-fuss solution. I am currently using the app only for FT8 but it has other features and modes for me to explore.
The portable station for FT8, running SDR Control on an iPad.
The Powerwerx PWRbox is shown in the photo above, which we often use for operating POTA. (This box is a bit heavy for hiking.) The PWRbox holds a 20 Ah battery as described here. Also shown in the photo is a handy little stand for the IC-705, the NEEWER Folding Z Flex Tilt Head. It does a great job of holding and stabilizing the radio at a variety of angles. (Hat tip to Kyle/KD0TRD.) It is also a little heavy for backpack portable, so it usually gets left behind on a hike.
The Maxpedition bottle holder case works well with the IC-705.
For a protective case for the IC-705, we use the Maxpedition 12-Inch X 5-Inch Bottle Holder. I’ve seen other IC-705 users recommend it and OH8STN mentioned it on his blog. At first glance, the case seems a bit large but this provides enough room inside to stow a small Bioenno battery and other accessories. The side pouch is a good place for storing the microphone and power cord.
Wrap Up
This post shares some new equipment configurations we are using for SOTA and POTA, mostly focused on the IC-705. I really like that radio for portable ops as it is the best solution for operating HF through UHF. The SDR Control software on an iPad has also turned out to be a win for us.
What are you using for your portable station?
Do you have any tips or other operating ideas?
Joyce/K0JJW and I enjoy visiting the National Parks in the US, an activity that naturally combines with Summits On The Air (SOTA) and Parks On The Air (POTA). While planning a visit to Isle Royale National Park in upper Michigan, we decided to activate at least one SOTA summit as well as activate the park for POTA. The park is one large island surrounded by many smaller ones, accessible by boat or airplane. The park is actually closer to Canada than the US mainland.
Isle Royale in Lake Superior.
There is quite a bit of information about visiting the park on the Isle Royale National Park website, so I won’t repeat that here. We opted to take the Isle Royale Queen IV ferry from Copper Harbor, MI to and from the island and stay for three nights at Rock Harbor Lodge on the northeast end of the park.
The closest SOTA summit to Rock Harbor is Mount Ojibway (W8M/UP-059), which soon became the objective for our SOTA activation. This summit had been activated only once, by Scott/WA9STI in 2017. I contacted Scott, who was very helpful in sharing his experience on Ojibway. (There are three other SOTA summits in the park, with first activations by Mark/NK8Q.)
We had four friends join us on this trip, including the hike to Mount Ojibway. Two of them were licensed radio amateurs: Paul/KF9EY and Beth/KB9DOU with Paul joining us in doing the SOTA activation.
Trip Planning
We normally do SOTA activations using VHF/UHF, so this raised the issue of whether that was possible given the remote nature of the island. I poked around on the interwebz and reached out to radio clubs on both the US and Canadian sides. Randy/VA3OJ in Thunder Bay and Bill/KD8JAM on the Keweenaw Peninsula were particularly helpful and they both confirmed they can work stations on Isle Royale from their locations using 2m FM. The distance is not that far, especially to the Canadian side, and it is a straight shot over water.
There were two things that I worried about on this activation: bugs and rain, neither of which were under our control. For bugs, we loaded up on a variety of insect repellents and head nets. However, once we arrived at the island, it was pretty clear the bugs were not bad at all, probably because we were late enough in the year (late August). For the rain, we made sure we had rain gear and synthetic clothes, with the attitude of expecting to get soaked and being able to survive it.
There was no internet on the island (the lodge says they have it but it was not working). Occasionally we would get 1 bar of Verizon LTE service at Rock Harbor but is was not reliable. This meant that we were very limited in sending any email updates out to people. I emailed our plans to interested parties and posted an Alert on SOTAwatch before we hopped on the ferry.
We took the water taxi from Rock Harbor to Daisy Farm Campground.
For equipment, we decided to take our Icom IC-705 and an external battery pack for 10 watts of RF on all bands of interest. Our priority was VHF but we also took along antennas for 40m through 10m. In addition, I configured an iPad for FT8 but we did not end up using that capability.
Mount Ojibway is about a 7-mile hike from the Rock Harbor Lodge, so we decided to have the water taxi drop us off at Daisy Farm Campground and hike in from there, which is about 2 miles one way. We also scheduled the water taxi to pick us up for the return trip. So this set us up for a 4-mile round trip hike with modest elevation gain.
Activation Day
On the morning of our activation, a thunderstorm rolled into Rock Harbor delivering a good dose of lightning to the area. I checked on the status of the water taxi and it was uncertain whether it would be running due to the storm. We sat tight and the weather cleared up enough such that we could go. Still, it was cloudy and the forecast included some rain in the afternoon. I told our group, “We are going to get wet today.”
Mount Ojibway at 1150 feet is part of the Greenstone Ridge that runs along the top of the island. It is also the location of an observation tower, now used as a radio site. The SOTA database shows the summit a bit to the northeast of the tower and the ridge is quite flat with a broad activation zone. My GPS app showed our hike as 1.9 miles one-way, with 540 feet vertical. The trail is well-established and in good condition. There were several narrow boardwalks (narrow planks) over marshy areas that were unnerving for some of our group.
The Mount Ojibway Tower, as seen from the trail.
At the summit, we appreciated some blue sky and nice weather that appeared while we set up the IC-705 and 3-element Yagi for 2 meters. We called CQ SOTA on 146.52 MHz and soon worked KD8JAM and VA3OJ. We kept calling and picked up two more 2m FM contacts: W9GY and VA3DVE. About this time, we set up the endfed antenna for the HF bands and (just barely) worked W0BV in Colorado on 20m SSB. (My phone was not able to spot us but I used my Garmin inReach to message W0BV and he came up on frequency.) I also worked W4GO, who had a decent 55 signal at the summit. But 20m was not working very well for us and I started to consider what changes I should make to the station. However, the dark clouds approaching from the northwest made that a moot point as we packed up our gear and headed down the trail. Sorry, we were not able to do more on HF.
Totally Drenched
On the way down the summit, things got a bit more exciting, and not in a good way. The storm clouds moved in and the light rain we experienced off and on during the day turned into a downpour. My warning of “we are going to get wet today” became all too true. This is the kind of rain that turned the nice, well-developed trail into a river of flowing water. With the rain came lightning, not close by but close enough. We were walking through a well-established forest so the lightning exposure was not too bad. The muddy trail definitely slowed us down as we did not want to add injury to our adventure.
We all were thoroughly drenched by the time we arrived at Daisy Farm Campground. At that point, the storm quit and we hung out on the dock waiting for the water taxi to pick us up. The water taxi apparently had its schedule adjusted and arrived over an hour later than expected. I guess we were on island time.
It was a successful but wet activation. Thank you so much to the radio amateurs who worked us, especially KD8JAM and VA3OJ. We couldn’t have done it without you.
For the Colorado 14er Event, Joyce/K0JJW and I decided to do one activation per day during the four-day event. We focused on 2m and 70 cm FM but also took along handheld radios for 1.25m and 23 cm. Our standard 2m/70cm portable station is a Yaesu FT-90, powered by a Bioenno battery, driving a small handheld Yagi (either a single band 2m or 70cm antenna).
Castle Rock is just east of Buena Vista near Hwy 24.
On Friday, we activated Castle Rock, a short but challenging climb with plenty of nasty brush to scar your arms and legs. This is a summit that we’ve done before but not in the last few years. It is relatively close to our cabin so we decided to give it a return visit. Frankly, it is a lot of work for only 4 SOTA points, but it definitely gives you the feeling of a real climb. We had a late start this day due to a meeting that I needed to attend and I noted that we missed quite a few activators in the morning. We each made about 14 QSOs, mostly 2m FM, including 2 Summit-to-Summit (S2S) contacts.
On Saturday, we returned to Mount Antero at 14,269 feet. I did the first SOTA activation of this summit in 2011 and this latest one is my fifth activation. Dennis/WA2USA, W9 Mountain Goat from Indiana, joined us for this effort. Dennis worked CW on the HF bands while Joyce and I worked VHF/UHF.
Ascending the ridge line to Mount Antero.
We drove the Jeep to 13,800 feet and hiked up from there. This turned out to be the most fun summit of the weekend, because 1) it was a 14er with an excellent radio horizon 2) the weather was perfect 3) we had WA2USA along for the ride and 4) we took our time on the summit and just enjoyed the experience. Overall, I made 28 QSOs, 10 of them S2S. I caught Jon/KM4PEH on South Monarch Ridge on all four bands: 2m, 1.25m, 70cm, and 23 cm. It was a pleasure to work Terry/WB0RBA as he did the first activation of Mount Sopris (W0C/SR-039).
Dennis/WA2USA, Joyce/K0JJW and Bob/K0NR on the summit of Mt Antero.
Wander Ridge (W0C/SP-042)
On Sunday, we headed to one of our favorite summits, W0C/SP-042, known as Wander Ridge. See my previous trip report for more detail. This activation starts with a hike on the Continental Divide Trail (and Colorado Trail) from Cottonwood Pass. It really is walking on top of the world.
Wander Ridge (W0C/SP-042) is accessed from Cottonwood Pass via a 2.5-mile hike along the Continental Divide Trail.
The weather was sunny and warm but the wind was a bit of a challenge. We made good use of the rock shelter at the summit, sitting in comfort while we made radio contacts. When we stood up to leave, we were almost knocked over by the high winds.
Bob/K0NR sitting down on the job to avoid the wind, working 2m FM.
I made 19 QSOs, including 4 S2S. Steve/WB5CTS showed up on 2 meters from Slumgullion Pass, but also had 1.2 GHz gear along, so we made a contact on that band (about 63 miles). I was not expecting 1.2 GHz activity but I did have the Alinco HT, so I used it with just a rubber duck antenna. Hey, it worked!
Finally, on Monday we activated The Pulverizer, near Wilkerson Pass, which is a new summit for us. See my trip report for more info: Activating the Pulverizer.
A view of The Pulverizer from just west of Wilkerson Pass.
The first three summits are in San Isabel National Forest and The Pulverizer is in Pike National Forest, so we also submitted our logs as Parks On The Air activations.
We had a great time doing these summits. I enjoyed hearing the other stations having a good time making VHF contacts. It warms my heart when someone makes a VHF contact that they did not think was possible. That is exactly the point…you never know where the signal will go so give it a try and prepare to be surprised!
There is a SOTA summit next to Wilkerson Pass called The Pulverizer (W0C/SP-092). With such an inviting name, of course, we had to activate it.
The Pulverizer (W0C/SP-092) viewed from west of Wilkerson Pass
According to its Summit Post page, this summit was named by well-known mountaineer and author Gerry Roach. Apparently, this name is an adaptation of the name of a nearby summit, Pulver Mountain. The Pulverizer does not have a trail to the summit and is known for having a lot of downed timber in the way. I found a trip report that said,
Overall, this is the kind of “hike” you only do if you really, really want to get these summits. It’s the kind of hike that you take someone on if you never want them to go with you on a hike ever again. Miserable downfall for pretty much the entire hike.
Having climbed the summit, I think this is an exaggeration but we did encounter plenty of downed timber. Many of our SOTA activations involve off-trail hiking, so we have been conditioned to expect the all-too-common dead trees on the ground.
Wilkerson Pass
Joyce/K0JJW and I followed the route identified by Walt/W0CP that starts at the Wilkerson Pass Visitor Center. (This summit can also be accessed from the east, via County Road 90.) We parked the Jeep on the east end of the parking lot and walked the trail (actually a sidewalk) to the south. At the “trailhead” waypoint, we left the sidewalk and headed south on a trail that quickly faded away.
Head south from the parking lot on the trail (sidewalk, actually) that loops around the picnic area.
Most of this area is in the Pike National Forest but there is a large piece of private property as shown on the map. The route to the summit is not critical but you need to avoid the private property, well marked with No Trespassing signs. The northeast corner of the property is shown on the map below as Fence Corner #1 (39.03252, -105.52364). We aimed for that corner, then followed the fence line heading south to Fence Corner #2 (39.02911, -105.52373). After that, you pretty much head to the summit, adjusting your route to avoid the worst sections of downfall.
Avoid the private property by skirting around it, then head to the summit.
The hike is 1.5 miles one way, with about 950 feet of elevation gain. There is a bit of up and down so the accumulated elevation gain may be higher than this. It starts out downhill, then flattens out but then provides a steep uphill section at the end. On the return trip, head for Fence Corner #2 and then follow the fence line north.
This shows the typical downed timber that has to be navigated.
On the summit, we had good luck with making VHF & UHF radio contacts. This was during the Colorado 14er Event, so we had other summits on the air for S2S contacts. Sitting right above Wilkerson Pass, it has an excellent radio horizon in all directions. Here’s the view from the top, looking east:
The view to the east with Pikes Peak off in the distance.
Final Impression
So the real question is did we like the summit and will we do it again? We are glad that we did it, kind of a check-the-box item for SOTA activations in the South Park area. This is not our favorite SOTA summit but we might do it again sometime. You might say “We Have Been Pulverized” and we are not in a hurry to do it again.
The FT8 mode was first released as part of the WSJT-X software in 2017. This new digital mode was adopted relatively quickly and is now a major force in amateur radio. You’ve probably heard the praises and complaints about it. On the plus side, it enables radio contacts under very poor conditions while detractors say that it is not real ham radio because the computer is making the contact. FT8 is an excellent example of a disruptive technology, impacting daily ham radio operations. This summer, I had two operating experiences (VHF contests) that really drove this point home.
My temporary station setup on the porch for the VHF contest.
ARRL June Contest
In the ARRL June Contest, we had very good sporadic-e propagation on 6 meters (and even 2 meters). I used my IC-7610 for 6 meters and usually had one receiver listening on the SSB calling frequency and the other sitting on the FT8 frequency. My strategy was to operate FT8 while keeping an ear on the SSB portion of the band. If signals were present on SSB, I switched over to that mode. The idea is that the run rate on SSB is inherently faster (and more fun), so it is my preferred way to make contacts.
There was definitely activity on the SSB portion of the band, but it came and went throughout the contest. There were times that I was able to run on a frequency, calling CQ and having a steady stream of stations to work. Other times, I had to search and pounce, tuning around the band to find a new station to work. The FT8 story was different: most of the time there was consistent activity and new stations to work, but at a slower rate.
The FT8 operators tended to stay on FT8, even when the signals were strong. If they wanted to maximize their score, they probably should have switched over to SSB to make contacts at a faster rate. But they didn’t and that is their choice. (One thing I’ve come to accept is that I don’t control the choices that other radio hams make in terms of operating mode and band.) On 6 meters, I made 428 contacts with 80% of them on FT8. Radio operator decisions affect the types of QSOs made and if I focused only on SSB, I would surely have had more SSB contacts (but how many?)
CQ WW VHF Contest
In July, the CQ Worldwide VHF Contest was even more striking. While I was hoping for a repeat of the band conditions from June, the CQ WW conditions were not very good. However, I did manage to make QSOs using FT8 on 6 meters. The run rate was low and I often struggled to complete the exchange before the band shifted. Again, I listened on 6m SSB and picked up contacts there whenever possible. My QSO total for 6m was 164, with 90% of them via FT8.
After the contest, I heard from contesters that used only analog modes (SSB and CW) who reported that the contest was a complete bust. Even with hours of operating time, some folks only made 10 or 20 QSOs. This clearly tees up the choice: if you don’t want to work digital, you can severely limit your number of contacts. On the other hand, if you use FT8, you can make contacts under weak conditions, but at a slower rate with a computer in the loop.
Like many contesters, I would much rather have a nice run of QSOs on SSB filling up my log. It is just way more fun than sitting there watching the computer screen report the slow progress of FT8. But in the end, we all have the same choice when conditions are poor: actually making contacts using FT8 or sitting there hoping that band conditions improve enough to support SSB.
2 Meter Band
I did make some FT8 contacts on 2 meters, but found only a small number of operators using that mode. I expect that FT8 activity will increase on that band as people figure out they can squeeze out a few more contacts & grids using that mode.
The Ham Nation folks invited me on to talk about the Colorado 14er Event last night. Thanks for the invite! This turned out to be a concise look at the 14er event with lots of great photos of past operations.
Here’s the video (my segment was 20 minutes long):
We have lots of information on the event at ham14er.org.
Amateur Radio Fun in the Colorado Mountains
August 4 through 7, 2023 www.ham14er.org
Amateur Radio operators from around Colorado will be climbing ColoradoSummits On The Air (SOTA) peaks and communicating with other radio amateurs across the state and around the world. Join in on the fun during the annual event by activating a summit or contacting (chasing) the mountaintop stations.
This event is normally held the first full weekend in August. Again this year, we will add two bonus days to the Colorado 14er Event. The main two days remain Saturday and Sunday (Aug 5 & 6), while the bonus days are Friday Aug 4 and Monday Aug 7th, for those SOTA enthusiasts that need more than two days of SOTA fun! Be aware that many mountaintop activators will hit the trail early with the goal of being off the summits by (1800 UTC) noon due to lightning safety concerns.
The 14er event includes Summits On the Air (SOTA) peaks, which provide over 1700 summits to activate. (See the W0C SOTA web page or browse the SOTA Atlas.) The Colorado 14er Event was started in 1991, about 19 years before the SOTA program was set up in Colorado. As SOTA grew in popularity, this event expanded from just the 14,000-foot mountains (14ers) to include all of the SOTA summits in the state. We still call it the Colorado 14er Event because, well, that’s where it all started and the 14ers are the iconic summits in the state.
Important: The recommended 2m FM frequencies have been changed to 146.58, 146.55, and 146.49 MHz, to align with the use of the North America Adventure Frequency for SOTA (146.58). The National Simplex Calling Frequency (146.52) may be used as appropriate. There will be plenty of action on the other ham bands, for more information see the operating frequencies page.
I caused a minor kerfuffle on Twitter recently, when I posted this:
This connector, properly called a PL-259, is the most common RF connector for ham radio use. The female counterpart is called the SO-239 connector. While these connectors are often called “UHF” connectors, they actually don’t perform very well at those frequencies (300 to 3000 MHz). So I feel justified in disparaging that name.
The tweet generated a large number of replies, mostly in support of my anti-UHF-naming sentiment. It seems that other highly-educated and thoughtful radio amateurs agree with me. (It seems that the wise hams out there always agree with me.) You should be able to view the thread here: https://twitter.com/K0NR/status/1653575723838492672
Some people pushed back on the anti-UHF sentiment, usually saying that it is the common name for this connecter. A few folks pointed out that Amphenol calls these things “UHF Connectors”, which did surprise me. Who am I to disagree with this manufacturer of high-quality connectors? Of course, Amphenol also says this:
Originally intended for use as a video connector in radar applications, UHF coaxial connectors are general purpose units developed for use in low frequency systems from 0.6 – 300 MHz. Invented for use in the radio industry in the 1930’s, UHF is an acronym for Ultra High Frequency because at the time 300 MHz was considered high frequency. They can be used when impedance mating is not required.
Well, there you have it: the connector was named UHF back when UHF meant up to 300 MHz. (Today, UHF means 300 to 3000 MHz). I particularly like the comment “They can be used when impedance mating is not required.” What? That does not sound good for RF applications. I do agree that these connectors can generally be used to 300 MHz, but these days the ITU calls that VHF (30 to 300 MHz).
OK, so the name “UHF” is archaic but it has kind of stuck, the way old terminology sometimes does. I am still going to avoid using this term because it really should be deprecated.
And don’t use these connectors above 300 MHz (UHF frequencies). Unless you have to. Which I did last weekend when the only cable available for my 440 MHz antenna had a PL-259 connector on it.
My article that describes last year’s SOTA/POTA/VHF contest activation from Pikes Peak appears in the June issue of QST magazine. This VHF/UHF activation occurred on the Saturday of the ARRL June VHF Contest and qualified for Summits On The Air (W0C/FR-004 Pikes Peak) and Parks On The Air (K-4404 Pike National Forest). The article highlights the use of the North America Adventure Frequency of 146.58 MHz.
I made 80 radio contacts that day, on the 6m, 2m, 1.25m, 70cm, and 23cm bands. Not a great score for the VHF contest but quite nice for a VHF SOTA and POTA activation. My primary piece of equipment was the ICOM IC-705, which enabled all modes on the main VHF/UHF frequencies.
If you are an ARRL member, look for the article on Page 58 of the print edition of June QST or the online version. Not an ARRL member? Darn, you should fix that if you want to read articles published in QST.
If you are an ARRL member, please look at the article and consider voting for it in the QST Cover Plaque Award. Thanks!
We were looking for a SOTA summit to activate near Salida, so I started to poke around using SOTLAS. There is still plenty of snow at the higher elevations, so we wanted to stay lower. SOTLAS has some useful filtering features that allow you to show only the summits of interest. Initially, I looked for a summit that Joyce/K0JJW and I had not yet activated.
Bob/K0NR and Joyce/K0JJW with SC-102 in the background.
Then I noticed that an unnamed summit (W0C/SC-102) had never been activated, not by anyone. When a summit has never been activated, it is often because it is really difficult to access or it is on private land. Using Gaiagps, my preferred mapping software, I checked out land ownership and the surrounding terrain.
A map of the area around SC-102, which is indicated as the 8380 waypoint.
The summit is on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The box labeled Sand Gulch is Colorado State land. This area is clearly on public land without any private property to deal with. We considered two routes to get to the summit. One option is to hike up from the west, which would probably work. But we noticed a 4WD road that approached from the north side that might provide better access. We weren’t sure how difficult the road would be to drive but we decided to give it a try. The road turned out to be easy 4WD, with just a few steep sections that might prove troublesome if the road were muddy. It presented no problem for our stock Jeep Wrangler. There were several side roads not shown on the map that could be a diversion, so having Gaiagps on my iPhone was helpful.
The red line is the 4WD road and the blue line is the hike to the summit.
The parking spot for the Jeep is shown on the map above. We were careful with the route finding for this summit, even though it is only a mile or so. We wanted to stay on top of the ridgeline and not get lost in one of the side drainages. Gaiagps on my phone recorded the hike as 1.1 miles one way with an elevation gain of 360 feet, so not very difficult.
The Jeep Wrangler parked at the “trailhead”.
The photo below shows the typical terrain as we hiked along the ridge. There was plenty of pinion pine and juniper, along with a surprising number of small cacti. Since the summit is unnamed, we decided to call it Cactus Ridge.
There is no established trail but the bushwacking is relatively easy. This photo shows the typical path with not-so-dense pine trees.
We made contacts mostly on 2m FM (146.52 MHz) using the 50-watt Yaesu FT-90 transceiver driving a 3-element Yagi antenna. I was curious to see how far we could work because the summit is not that high and sits roughly in the canyon of the Arkansas River, between Salida and Canon City. As expected, Salida stations (KD0VHD, K0LPR) were close by and easy to work. Stations in Buena Vista (KF0IHL, KD0MRC, W0BV) also came in quite strong. Our best DX for the day might be N0KM near Center, CO at a distance of 55 miles. But we also worked K0EEP, N0CFM, and KA0SDE camping somewhere near Jefferson, perhaps 60 miles or so, not sure exactly. Although they were due north of us, we had to point the Yagi antenna to the south to work them, apparently getting a nice reflection off one of the high peaks. Similarly, when we worked K0LTH in Guffey (to the north), we had to point the antenna south. We tried to work Amanda/K1DDN in Canon City but were unsuccessful. I thought we might be able to funnel a signal down the canyon to her with a few favorable reflections. No luck with that, but you never know until you try.
Thanks to everyone that listened for us and worked us!
The weather report was sketchy for the day but conditions were cloudy and warm (50 deg F) when we were on the summit at 11:30 AM. Later in the day, after we were back in Salida, we had rain and snow coming down. Springtime in the Rockies.
This was a very enjoyable summit, partially because it had the experience of exploring something new. The easy 4WD road was a pleasant surprise and made us wonder where the other roads in the area lead. At 8280 feet, this summit is only worth two SOTA points. But it’s not about the points, right?
