Normally, I avoid posting items of a nostalgic nature, preferring to keep moving forward and not getting stuck in the past. I am going to make an exception today because I stumbled across some photos of my first radio receiver that went beyond the standard AM/FM broadcast bands.
This Aiwa AR-158 six-band receiver covered AM, FM, Marine Band (1.6 to 4 MHz), Shortwave (4 to 12 MHz), VHF1 (110 to 136 MHz), VHF2 (148 to 174 MHz).
Aiwa AR-158 Radio
As a kid, I remember saving up my money and buying this radio from the local “dime store” about 3 miles away from my house. It was a 6-band radio made by Aiwa, not a very common brand. I am not sure of the exact model number but it was probably the AR-158.
Of course, the radio had the standard AM and FM broadcast bands, but the real fun came from the other bands. The “Marine Band”, 1.6 to 4 MHz, picked up some shortwave broadcast stations. The “Shortwave Band” covered 4 to 12 MHz, allowing me to listen to broadcast stations from around the world. The VHF1 band covered the aircraft band from 110 to 136 MHz. I probably did not realize it at the time but the radio must have selected AM for that band. The VHF2 band provided FM reception from 148 to 174 MHz.
Top view of the Aiwa six-band radio.
This receiver gave me my first experience with the wonderful world of radio. My best buddy, Denny/KB9DPF, bought a similar radio about the same time, so we were always comparing notes on what we heard: Radio Netherlands, Deutsches Welle, BBC London, Voice of America, Radio Moscow, Radio Havana, Radio Johannesburg and more. We both installed wire antennas in our attics to see if we could improve our reception.
Sometimes I would hear SSB ham stations but they just sounded like Donald Duck on the AM receiver. I remember stumbling upon the signal from WWV and wondering what this ticking clock signal was all about. Whatever it was, it was really cool. (Yes, I listened to it for hours. Just because.)
The VHF Bands
The VHF aircraft band was fun to listen to, although the transmissions were short. I don’t remember if I could hear the control tower from the local airport (probably not) but I could receive aircraft transmissions. The VHF2 band was very interesting and probably planted the seeds for my interest in VHF. I could listen to the local police and fire radio calls. Tuning was a bit tedious because the receiver had an old-school analog VFO. No digital synthesis on this radio.
The radio picked up the 2-meter ham band, so the actual tuning must have been a bit lower than 148 MHz. Hearing hams chat on the local 2m repeaters got me thinking about getting an amateur license. This receiver did not have a squelch, so listening to two-way FM signals was filled with lots of receiver noise!
Have Fun
Even back then (in the 1960s), this was not a great radio receiver… imprecise tuning, no squelch, limited shortwave coverage. By today’s standards, it’s even worse. But I had a boatload of fun playing around with it and exploring the radio spectrum. So maybe that’s the thing to be learned from this story:
Whatever radio equipment you have, use it.
You can probably have a lot of fun.
Given the Chinese/Wuhan/COVID virus situation, many hams are anticipating a change to their ARRL Field Day operation. I’ve also seen a number of proposals to modify the FD rules to allow for a different kind of operation. I appreciate that kind of thinking outside the box but I think it is misguided. One of the strengths of FD is it already has a set of flexible rules and operating classes, so you can adapt it to what you or your club wants it to be. See my post: ARRL Field Day – Season to Taste
Some Ideas
What are some of the proposals? The first one I noticed is a proposal to allow all Class D stations (home station with commercial power) to work other Class D stations for points. The FD rules do not currently allow this. Class E stations (home station with emergency power) are allowed to any class station. Obviously, this rule is to encourage people to develop emergency power capability (and use it) for their home station. This is perfectly aligned with the emcomm focus of Field Day.
Another proposal is to allow a “backyard operating” class, where you set up a portable station in your backyard. Of course, this is already allowed under the rules as a Class B station.
One of the more innovative ideas I’ve heard is to allow multiple stations (not colocated) to operate under one club callsign, coordinating their operation via the internet. This approach emulates a “normal” Class A FD operation, while everyone is locked down at home. This is not allowed as a Class A station: “All equipment (including antennas) must lie within a circle whose diameter does not exceed 300 meters (1000 feet).” This is roughly equivalent to a group of Class D or E stations working together towards a common score. Why not just operate as independent Class D and E stations, which is more like a real emergency situation?
Adapt and Innovate
Our local radio club is considering different ways to adapt, seeing this as a training and learning opportunity. We will probably encourage our members to get on the air individually, with emergency power. We will likely encourage members to work other members, providing some kind of incentive or award. So our FD may look more like a local operating event, in addition to working distant stations. VHF/UHF will probably play an important role so that we include Technician licensees. Not sure just yet.
We are all experiencing some serious challenges this year and Field Day is not going to be the same. I am a bit surprised that the first thought about Field Day is to change the rules to make it easier or somehow better. I think we just need to adapt and innovate within the existing format. Existing Field Day Rules have plenty of flexibility.
We recently completed a Technician License class that produced a herd of new ham radio licensees. This always leads to a discussion of what radio should I get? Often, this is centered on the idea of getting a handheld VHF/UHF radio to get started. That is a good first move. However, for many new hams it is worth looking ahead a bit to potential future purchases.
Handheld Transceiver (HT)
Let’s start with an HT. Even if your ham radio future is going to be on the high-frequency bands, an HT is a useful tool to have. After all, FM VHF is the Utility Mode for ham radio. Many new hams opt for an inexpensive Chinese radio such as the Baofeng UV-5R. Recently, I’ve been steering them toward the slightly more expensive Yaesu FT-4XR (around $70).
A basic handheld radio.
It is a significantly better radio than the UV-5R but still affordable. Some new hams decide to spend more on an HT, which is also a good option. There are many radios to choose from in the $150 to $350 range.
For hams just interested in local (perhaps emergency) communications, this might be the only radio they get. If it meets your needs, that’s just fine.
FM VHF/UHF Base Station
Another option to consider is to set up a more capable station at your home, focused on FM VHF/UHF operating. This is probably going to be a dual-band radio that covers 2 meters and 70 centimeters, FM only. One way to do this is to use a mobile transceiver powered by a DC power supply and connected to an external antenna on the roof.
A mobile transceiver deployed as a base station.
With higher power (50W typical) and a good antenna mounted in a high location, this type of station has better range than an HT. See A VHF FM Station at Home and Considering a VHF/UHF Antenna For Your Home. This could be your first radio but why not have an HT in your toolkit?
The All-Band Base Station
Many new hams have their eyes on working distant stations via the high-frequency bands. For many people, this is what ham radio is all about. (Honestly, you’re going to need your General license to really participate on these bands.)
Yaesu FT-991A all-band transceiver
The equipment manufacturers have developed the Do Everything Transceiver that covers 160m though 70 centimeters in one box. (Well, they do leave out the 1.25m band which is lightly used in North America.) The leader in this category is arguably the Yaesu FT-991A. This type of rig has the advantage of providing all modes on all bands, including SSB on 2 m and 70 cm. While most VHF/UHF activity is FM, SSB (and CW) can be a lot of fun.
Setting up operations on multiple bands will require some additional antennas. This can be a deep topic so take a look at this introductory article to understand it better: Antennas…How Many Do I Need?
Two-Radio Base Station
Another approach that many hams adopt is to build their home station around two radios: a 2m/70cm radio to cover local communications and a high frequency (HF) radio for the lower bands.
The 2m/70cm radio is the same idea as the FM VHF/UHF Base Station mentioned previously. It is really handy to be able to leave this radio on your favorite 2m frequency while still having another radio available to operate HF. Compare this to the All Band Transceiver approach which can normally only receive one frequency at a time.
A very popular HF radio these days is the ICOM IC-7300. Like many HF rigs, it covers the HF bands of 160m through 10m AND tosses in the 6m band, too. Recall that 6 meters is actually a VHF band but the general trend is to include this band in HF rigs.
ICOM IC-7300 HF plus 6m transceiver
The Mobile Station
Another popular operating style is to have a transceiver in your vehicle. Because our society is so mobile, this approach can be very compelling. This might just be an HT that you take with you when mobile. The rubber duck antenna might be sufficient but an external (magnetic mount?) antenna can really improve your signal.
Many hams install a VHF/UHF FM transceiver in their car. This provides a more capable station (more power, better antenna) when mobile and it’s always there for use. Again, this will probably be a 2m / 70cm radio that operates only FM, the most common mobile ham station.
Some folks set up their mobile station to include HF operating. This is one way to sidestep HF antenna restrictions at home and it fits into our mobile society. There are Do Everything Transceivers that come in a mobile-type form factor. The Yaesu FT-857D is a popular mobile radio that covers HF, 6m, 2m and 70cm in one rig.
Yaesu FT-857D all band mobile transceiver
General Progression
You can see that there are some paths that hams tend to follow in terms of equipment. What you decide to do is going to depend on your interests and budget. Of course, when you are first starting out you may not know what part of ham radio is going to be your favorite and your approach may evolve as you gain experience.
A good first, affordable step is getting an HT. This puts you in touch on the air with the local amateur radio community. It is clearly a VHF/UHF FM play which aligns well with your Technician operating privileges. You can choose to expand on this general direction by adding in an FM VHF/UHF Base Station, an All-Band Base Station, or a Mobile Station.
If you are interested in using the HF bands, then think about either the All-Band Base Station or the Two-Radio Base Station. Again, obtaining a General class (or Extra class) license is going to be important for HF.
I’ve tried to keep this discussion focused on newly licensed hams. As you gain experience, you’ll find all kinds of other operating activities that are available to you. Sometimes these can be supported by the equipment described above…sometimes you’ll need to purchase additional gear. I’ve mentioned specific radio models that I have experience with but there are many others to choose from. Take a look at the eham.net product reviews to see how well other people like a particular radio.
[My apologies. I fumble-fingered WordPress and published a draft version of this article that was incomplete. This is the corrected version. ]
Sometime during the 20th Century, I learned that fuses (or circuit breakers) are used in electrical circuits to prevent catastrophic failure. Fuses open in response to an electrical fault that causes excessive current to flow. The job of the fuse is to minimize the damage and keep things from catching on fire. When I started installing amateur transceivers into vehicles, I learned that you should connect wires directly to the car battery (or darn close) and you should fuse both the positive and negative power leads. I was surprised by the need for two fuses, but there are technical arguments for it. Besides, the transceiver manufacturers recommend it in their manuals. (See figure below.)
DC power connection as shown in the manual for an ICOM amateur radio transceiver (IC-2730).
I am focusing this discussion on a typical 2m/70cm FM transceiver installation – that is what I have the most experience with and that is the most common ham mobile installation. Such a radio typically draws ~10 A on transmit, so the DC power is usually fused with something like a 15 A (or 20 A) fuse. Keep in mind that a 15 A fuse is not going to protect delicate circuitry but might stop more serious damage or fire.
Connect To The Battery?
Alan/K0BG has an excellent website that provides guidance on mobile radio installations. He points out that modern vehicles usually have an Electrical Load Detector (ELD) inserted into the negative lead of the battery, so that the vehicle control systems can monitor the state of the battery. It is important to connect your radio on the “other side” of the ELD, near where it connects to the vehicle chassis. Oh, and never use the existing vehicle wiring to power your radio (especially not the 12 V accessory plug).
The negative power lead for a transceiver power should be connected to the chassis side of the ELD. Figure: k0bg.com website.
One Fuse or Two Controversy
Recently, I became aware of controversy with regard to proper fusing. Some people are questioning the practice of fusing both DC power leads, while others are vigorously defending it.
Generally, you should follow the advice of the manufacturer on any equipment installation, so I took a look at a few owner’s manuals. Most (or all?) of the manuals for the amateur gear show the two fuse method. See the ICOM example below. (Note that they don’t show the presence of the ELD.)
DC power wiring diagram for a Yaesu amateur radio.
I also took a look at some commercial land mobile radio manuals. Motorola shows the single fuse approach.
DC power wiring diagram from a Motorola land mobile manual (CM200- 300).
Hytera also shows a single fuse in its land mobile manuals.
DC wiring diagram from a Hytera land mobile manual.
ICOM makes both amateur and commercial land mobile gear, so I wondered what they recommend for their land mobile product line. Ha, funny thing, they show two fuses, with a comment that says, “Depending on version, the fuse holder may not be attached to the black cable.” Well, isn’t that special?
ICOM land mobile transceiver wiring diagram shows two fuses but says the negative one may not be there. (IC-F5021 manual)
So is the two-fuse thing some kind of ancient amateur radio practice and the land mobile industry has gone a different path? Sometimes industries adopt “standard” approaches and then forget why with time.
Some Circuit Analysis
After reading through all of the arguments, I tried to distill them down to their essence. I created a wiring diagram that may help explain the concepts. Or maybe not. An automobile is a complex electrical and electronic system, so any practical diagram risks oversimplifying the situation. But here’s my best shot at it.
Wiring diagram for radio transceiver installation, including some major vehicle components. (click to enlarge)
The center of the diagram shows the body/chassis of the vehicle which is connected to the negative lead of the battery, through the ELD. The transceiver is directly connected to the + terminal of the battery (via Fuse 1) and the chassis side of the ELD (via Fuse 2). The engine starter is connected to the battery with heavy cables and is also connected to the body/chassis. While there are a large number of other electrical devices in a modern vehicle, only one is shown here as an example (with a switch and fuse).
The circuit shows the antenna connected to the radio with a coaxial cable. The shield of that cable is almost always grounded to the vehicle chassis at the antenna. (Magnetic mount antennas are one exception and I am sure there are others. Update: Ron/N0IVN pointed out that the on-glass antennas are not grounded.) I can say that every mobile installation I’ve ever done had the coaxial cable connected to the chassis. This is an important point because it provides a chassis connection for the transceiver at point C (whether you wanted it or not). There may be other ways that a transceiver is connected to chassis (point B), including the mounting bracket, external speaker, microphone or other accessories.
Arguments For and Against
The argument for fusing the negative lead is to protect against return current from other devices that find its way back to the battery through the transceiver’s negative power lead. For example, the starter could have a fault in its negative cable, causing the current to flow through the chassis to the transceiver and back to the battery. The starter current can be hundreds of amperes which would likely overload the radio wire which is sized for 15 amperes. The fuse will open and protect the negative lead (and maybe the radio, to some extent).
The argument against fusing the negative lead is that if the fuse opens up, it could cause problems. Suppose Fuse 2 opens up due to some transient condition. If the transceiver is completely isolated, Fuse 2 would remove power from the transceiver. However, the return path at the antenna coax (point C) will most likely allow the radio to continue functioning using the coax as the negative return. Typically, this is RG-58 or similar cable, which is not intended to carry significant DC current and may fry under the load. If the current is coming from a fault in the starter wiring (big current), this is going to be a bad day for your mobile.
My Conclusions
I think both arguments have merit but choosing one fuse or two requires estimating which problem is most likely and judging the overall impact of the fault. The negative lead fuse can do only one thing well: protect the negative lead. It might provide some protection to the transceiver but there are a lot of sensitive circuits inside the radio that will get destroyed with 15 A flowing. Again, the connection at point C means that the radio will be connected to chassis and current can flow.
If Fuse 2 is eliminated it allows for the flow of high currents through the negative lead of the transceiver. This is not desirable but is it better or worse than the current flowing through the coax shield? Probably better. If a high current device (the starter) has a wiring failure that dumps large currents into the chassis, it may find a number of return paths. Lots of current is going to flow somewhere and potentially cause damage, with or without a negative lead fuse.
I will note that bonding the transceiver to the vehicle chassis has some benefit (point B in the diagram). You may or may not have this connection depending on how you mounted the radio. This electrical connection can shunt any currents away from the coaxial cable, hopefully doing less damage that way.
What am I going to do? My future mobile installations will have only one fuse in the positive lead. I’ll also bond the radio body to the vehicle chassis, with a hefty, low-resistance connection.
My existing mobile installations all have two fuses. I won’t be changing them out because the risk of inducing a problem with the negative lead fuse is rather low. I don’t see the negative lead fuse as a big risk. If you choose to follow the amateur radio manufacturer’s two fuse recommendation, I understand.
A Request
The amateur radio equipment manufacturers need to give this issue a fresh look. At a minimum, the presence of ELD’s needs to be addressed and the common recommendation of wiring directly to the battery is obsolete. But the one-fuse-or-two issue should also get a careful look by the manufacturer’s engineering teams.
That’s my analysis. What do you think?
(Runs and ducks for cover.)
Note: This article is my technical opinion but my attorney says to tell you that you are responsible if you destroy your vehicle while wiring up your transceiver.
The Baofeng UV-5R established a new price point for an entry-level handheld transceiver and quickly became the “easy choice” for a newly licensed Technician. It is a very impressive piece of technology for the money (about $30).
However, it is well known that the UV-5R struggles to meet the FCC Part 97 emission requirements. The ARRL lab has published the results of testing a large number of the Baofeng radios and many of them do not meet the FCC spec. Also, the receiver performance is not that great, primarily with respect to adjacent channel and out-of-band rejection. In other words, it is easily overloaded by strong radio signals.
In response, Yaesu created a low-cost radio using similar technology as the UV-5R but with (supposedly) higher quality. This radio escaped my attention when introduced but some recent reviews caught my eye. In particular, the QST review of the radio includes a detailed lab test report. (The ARRL does a good job with these test reports.) The review basically says that this radio performs well, especially considering its price class. The price of the radio is currently about $70, so it is more expensive than the UV-5R, but under $100.
Evaluating the FT-4XR
So I went ahead and purchased an FT-4XR to try it out for myself. The main question on my mind is should I recommend the FT-4XR as a good choice for a new radio amateur. I am a license class instructor for our radio club (W0TLM), so I often encounter new hams that are looking for advice on what radio to buy.
My general impression of the FT-4XR is that it looks and feels like a quality product, giving a better first impression than the Baofeng. It fits nicely in my hand and just felt good.
The usability of the FT-4XR is on par with the Baofeng, but a notch down from something like a Yaesu FT-60. In particular, the FT-4XR loads up the keys with multiple functions: press quickly for one function, press and hold for another function, use the “function shift” key for a third function. Yikes! None of this is labeled so you have to memorize all of this or carry a quick reference card with you. Not a huge problem because these are mostly features that are not used frequently or maybe not at all. This means that the FT-4XR is a radio that needs to be set up via programming software to get the desired memories in place. Then, you just choose the right memory / channel. Not any worse than the Baofeng and similar to many, many radios on the market these days.
The standard FT-4XR manual is adequate but not great. There is an “advanced manual” available on the Yaesu.com web site that may help. The USA version of the radio does not allow transmit outside of the ham bands. This is probably a good thing, especially for a new user. Some people may see this as a disadvantage compared to the Baofeng, which usually transmits over a wider range of frequencies.
Transmitter Harmonics
I trust the ARRL lab tests but I wanted to measure the transmitter to see the harmonic performance up close and personal. The spectrum analyzer measurement below shows the transmitter with very clean harmonics on 2m, just as I would expect from Yaesu. If you look carefully, you can see a tiny third harmonic just poking up out of the noise floor. (Sorry about the poor graphics, I just took a quick photo of the screen using my phone.)
Spectrum analyzer measurement of a 146 MHz signal shows very clean harmonics, <-60 dBc.
The 70 cm harmonic performance is also very solid, as shown below.
The harmonic content of a 446 MHz signal, very clean, <-60 dBc.
I also checked the power output, transmit frequency, FM deviation and receiver sensitivity on both bands. Very solid performance. Again, nice job, Yaesu!
Yaesu Inconsistency
One thing I found disappointing is that the radio operation and accessories are not consistent with other Yaesu radios. I’ve got a decent collection of Yaesu handhelds, speaker/microphones, antennas, programming cables, etc. None of these work with the FT-4XR. In particular, the FT-4XR uses the male SMA connector (same as Baofeng) and requires a new type of programming cable. However, for the first-time buyer, this doesn’t matter and it is no different than buying a Baofeng.
Do I recommend the FT-4XR as a good choice for a new radio amateur?
The answer is YES, this is a better radio than the Baofeng UV-5R and it actually meets FCC Part 97 requirements. If you are considering the UV-5R, scrape up a few more bucks and get the FT-4XR.
If you want an even better radio, I’d suggest moving up to something like the tried and true Yaesu FT-60, about $160. It has a more robust receiver and is easier to use.
Many hams put up some pretty impressive antenna farms with large towers and big arrays. I have a small tower up at the cabin but it is quite puny (about 30 feet) compared to these more serious stations. I like to check out big antenna installations, especially the big commercial towers, as we travel around the country.
The WEAU tower in Wisconsin, listed as 2000 feet, collapsed in 2011 due to a winter ice storm. Pete/WD4IXD recently pointed me to this video that describes how the tower was rebuilt within one year of the failure. What an amazing story!
So you may think your antenna is big but it’s probably not 2000 feet tall.
For the 2019 CQ Worldwide VHF Contest, I did a modest effort on 6 meters and 2 meters using mostly SSB and FT8. I operated from our cabin (DM78av). We had some good sporadic-E propagation on 6m which enabled some long-distance contacts to the east. Then I noticed that 2 meters was also open so I quickly turned my attention to that band. While it’s common to have some sporadic E on 6 meters during July, having it on 2 meters is a lot less common. I was thrilled to snag 5 contacts to the eastern US on 2 meters.
One of the 2m contacts was with Jay/W1VD in Connecticut. Shortly after the contest, I got an email from Jay asking about my exact location for the contact, which I supplied using the 6-character grid locator (DM78av). He told me that it is very difficult to work Colorado on e-skip from Connecticut…the general belief among VHF enthusiasts is that they have to use another propagation mode to work the state. Well, apparently that is not true!
Jay also worked Ken/W0ETT in Parker, CO so this turned into a three-way email discussion. Ken is located about 80 miles to the east of our cabin, so my QSO with W1VD was at a greater distance. Jay investigated the ARRL records and found that these two 2m contacts were notable enough to “make the list” at the ARRL but they are not new distance records. See the ARRL records list here.
Here’s a snippet from the ARRL list, with my W1VD QSO shown as 2793 km (1735 miles). The W0ETT QSO is also shown on the list as 2674 km (1662 miles).
You can see W1VD’s station information on the QSL card above. Obviously, a nice setup. I was using a Yaesu FT-991 driving a Mirage amplifier with 150W output to a 2M9SSB Yagi antenna. My antenna mast is only 25 feet above the ground but I benefit from an excellent radio horizon to the east from 9630 feet in elevation.
Closing out 2019, 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 work. This may be true, but I still claim it is a worthy effort to take a look at what content got the most attention for the year.
Leading the list is this blog post…a perennial favorite that seems to make the top five each year.
This last one was published in December so it didn’t actually make the top five for the year. However, every time I look at this photo, it gives me a chuckle, so I am including on the list as the Editor’s Choice.
Black Forest, Colorado
Sat Feb 22 and 29
8 AM to 5 PM
Black Forest Fire Station
intersection Burgess Rd. & Teachout Rd.
The Technician license is your gateway to the world-wide excitement of Amateur Radio, and the very best emergency communications capability available!
• Earn your ham radio Technician class radio privileges
• Pass your FCC amateur radio license exam right in class on the second day
• Multiple-choice exam, No Morse Code Required
• Live equipment demonstrations
• Learn to operate on the ham bands, 10 Meters and higher
• Learn to use the many VHF/UHF FM repeaters in Colorado
• Find out how to participate in emergency communications
Registration fee: $30 adults, $20 under age 18
In addition, students must have the required study guide: HamRadioSchool.com Technician License Course Third Edition, effective 2018 – 2022, $22.95 print, $19.99 Kindle
Advance registration is required (No later than one week before the first session, earlier is better, first-come sign-up basis until the class is full.)
To register for the class, contact:
Bob Witte KØNR
Email: bob@k0nr.com or Phone: 719/659-3727
Sponsored by the Tri-Lakes Monument Radio Association
For more information on amateur (ham) radio visit www.arrl.org
Twitter is such a wonderful source of knowledge and a great place to pick up amateur radio operating tips. I saw this post from Johnny/W5KV, talking about getting a 146.52 sticker for his truck. (146.52 MHz is the 2m National Simplex Calling Frequency.) I’ve written about these stickers here: Get Your Mobile Frequency Sticker On
A tweet from Johnny/K5KV
These oval stickers originated in Europe, to indicate the country where a vehicle is registered. In general, these oval stickers have become popular for indicating all kinds of things, including country, state, airport code, national park, etc. One of the most common stickers you’ll see has “26.2” on it to indicate the distance in miles of a marathon run. In other words, it means “I ran a freaking marathon” or maybe “I want you to think I ran a freaking marathon.” You’ll also see “13.1” to indicate the completion of a half marathon. Hence, W5KV’s comment about 6 full marathons. You will see other numbers used on these stickers, such as “5.56” for you firearms enthusiasts.
So I posted this photo of the back of my truck. My 146.52 is actually a magnetic sign, not a stick-on label but the intent is the same.
K0NR magnetic label
But of course, radio amateurs are always innovating to find new ways of doing things. Michael/K2MTS posted this photo of his vehicle with a dust-enabled 146.520 indicator on it.
An innovative solution from Michael/K2MTS
Like many brilliant innovations, I immediately realized the advantages of using vehicle dust to indicate operating frequency:
No cost to implement
Flexibility: the frequency can be easily modified
Text messages can be appended, such as “CQ CQ” or “Call Me”
One disadvantage is that it requires your vehicle to be dirty but that seems like a minor obstacle, easily overcome by a short drive down a dirt road.
Last night, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Amanda/K1DDN on the popular TWiT TV show Ham Nation. We discussed my book, VHF ham radio and SOTA. You can watch the whole episode here or view just my segment below.
I have written several electrical engineering books (see electronic-measurement.com). These books were written in the dead-trees print model, focused on creating a book that you can hold in your hand. I recently published VHF, Summits and More in both print and ebook editions. This was a learning process for me and I’ve come to understand a bit more about the differences between these formats.
Print
I definitely have a soft spot in my heart for a good-quality printed book. It is just plain satisfying to hold a printed book in your hand and flip through the pages. Moving quickly between pages and chapters is easy; very tactile with immediate feedback. I often look at our bookshelf at home filled with various engineering, ham radio, hiking and travel books. It just feels good knowing I can reach out to any one of them and access useful information.
Monochrome Kindle
Last year, we went on a long cruise and I wanted to have plenty of reading material while still traveling light. I did not want to drag along a big pile of books, so I purchased a monochrome (“paperwhite”) Kindle with the promise of long battery life and the ability to read it in bright sunlight. It delivered on both items. And it holds a ton of books (most of them I didn’t have time to read).
It didn’t take long to realize that the monochrome e-readers are optimized for plain text. They do pretty well with text-heavy books such as novels but aren’t very good for technical books that have photos or graphics. I mean, the display is only monochrome (and many of the readers are small.)
While creating my new book, I wasn’t really happy with how my book looked on the monochrome Kindles. It seems that there are some legacy formatting behaviors that cause them to present the text in some interesting ways. Also, the photos and other graphics really didn’t look that great. I was not encouraged and almost tossed the idea of publishing an ebook version.
Kindle Fire
Then I decided to purchase a Kindle with a color display, the Kindle Fire HD 8 tablet. This device has an 8-inch display and 16 GB of storage, costing $79. I downloaded the mobi file of my book to the Kindle and was immediately impressed with the presentation of the material. The photos and graphics show up in color and look great. Another added feature compared to print, is that the embedded hyperlinks allow easy to access to web-based information.
One thing I had to adjust to was losing some control over how the Kindle displays the book. With a print book, you have absolute control…put each comma, period, character right where you want them and they stay there. On the Kindle, the reader gets to make a lot of decisions: font type, font size, color, line spacing. While the author gets to choose the words and graphics, the final presentation is in the hands of the reader.
Read Kindle on Non-Kindle Devices
Amazon has done a fantasic job of supporting Kindle books on a variety of hardware platforms. You can get a free Kindle reader for both Windows and Mac. Mobile devices are supported, too, with their own readers (iOS and Android). The mobi (Kindle) file format is dominating the ebook market so I don’t have any plans to add other ebook versions.
I am excited to announce the release of my new book: VHF, Summits and More.
This book is about having fun with ham radio, primarily on the VHF/UHF bands. It covers the basics of VHF, with practical tips for getting on the air and “messing around with radios.” Topics include FM, SSB, repeaters, equipment, band plans, phonetics, portable operating, Summits On The Air (SOTA) activations and more. This book is a compilation of the best articles from the k0nr.com website plus some brand-new material.
The first section explains VHF/UHF concepts via tutorial articles such as “VHF FM Operating Guide,” “Getting Started on 2m SSB” and “How to Work a VHF Contest.” The second section includes blog posts from the k0nr.com website, such as “Choose Your 2m Frequency Wisely,” “VHF Grid Locators,” “Phonetic Alphabets” and “VHF FM: The Utility Mode.” The final section helps the reader understand mountaintop operating, especially Summits On The Air (SOTA) activations, including operating tips and trip reports.
The book is available from Amazon, in paperback and Kindle formats. The normal price for the print version is $22.95, but there is an introductory price of $15.95 through November 18th. The Kindle version is $9.95.
While looking for our next SOTA adventure, I noticed a never-been-activated, unnamed 13er (W0C/SP-020) to the west of Mount Princeton. I checked various maps and it looked like there was a 4WD forest service road that went up to the adjacent saddle. So Joyce/K0JJW and I decided to give it a try.
SP-020 as viewed from the saddle (and parking spot).
We took County Road 306 west out of Buena Vista, towards Cottonwood Pass. Then we turned left onto County Road 344 which goes to Cottonwood Lake. We continued past Cottonwood Lake until we found FS 348, also known as Hope Gulch Road. We followed this road for 5 miles to the saddle.
This graphic shows the 4WD road in red and the hiking route in purple.
The road was easy-peasy 4WD, no problem at all with our stock Jeep Wrangler. A Suburu-class SUV can probably make it but there are a few rocky spots on the road that will require special care. There were two water crossings, one of them with about a foot of water (across Cottonwood Creek). Now this was mid-October, so the streams are not running real strong. Earlier in the year, this could be a major hazard.
Warning: water crossing at Cottonwood Creek.
A closeup view of the hiking path (0.6 miles, 800 feet vertical)
FS 348 is single lane, with long stretches without an easy passing or turnaround spot. We were happy that we only saw two other vehicles on the road.
Talus
We drove a bit past the saddle (where there is a small hut/cabin) and parked where a closed side road heads off toward the summit. We hiked up this closed road and then vectored off towards the summit. The hike was only 0.6 miles and 800 vertical feet. However, there was quite a bit of talus (rock debris) to climb over which really slowed us down. The hiking route does not seem critical but following the top of the ridge seemed to be good.
Near the top, we encountered lots of talus.
Yeah, about the talus. It isn’t any worse than other rocky summits in Colorado but it seemed to catch our attention, usually in the form of “ok, I’ve just about had it with this talus.” A contributing factor was that both Joyce and I had foot/ankle injuries in recent years. So our unofficial name for this summit became Talus.
Joyce/K0JJW on the summit of W0C/SP-020
A pile of gear at the summit.
Joyce/K0JJW took the honors of completing the first SOTA activation of this summit by contacting Bob/W0BV on 2m FM. We also both logged these stations: KD0MRC, W0RW, W6JM, W0LSD and N0AJN.
Bob/K0NR operating 2m from the summit, wearing orange during hunting season.
We sat there quite a while just taking in the view. Mt Princeton is due east; Mt Antero and Mt White are to the south.
The view of Mt Princeton, five miles east of SP-020.
You never know what your gonna get on the first activation of a summit. On this one, it turned out to be a fantastic day. The weather was sunny, temperature about 40 degrees, a little too windy at times. Late in the season, we didn’t have to worry about thunderstorms moving in and blowing us off the mountain. I liked the combination of a good 4WD road, heart-pumping but not-too-difficult hike, a first-time SOTA activation and doing it all with my favorite hiking partner (and wife).
It has been quite a while since I’ve done an “internet spew” post, so here’s a bunch of exciting stuff flowing forth from the interwebz.
Mt Herman is the Most Radio Active (SOTA) Mountain in Colorado. I noticed there wasn’t a good writeup with how to hike and activate it, so I wrote this one up: Hiking Mt Herman for SOTA.
Broken Callsign
I keep an alert on my smartphone for whenever I get spotted on the ham bands. Mostly, this is a way to confirm that I get spotted when activating a SOTA summit. The other day, I was spotted on 20m CW, when I haven’t worked that band/mode in over a decade.
These spots came from the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN), so I pulled the spot data from RBN for that day (483,362 spots). A little bit of searching revealed there were spots for K0NF on almost the same frequency a few minutes off in time going 37 to 40 wpm. Miss one dit and you get K0NR. Mystery solved.
Marconi Station
Last week, I visited the site of the Marconi station on Cape Cod that made the first transatlantic two-way wireless contact. There is not much there…just a stone marker. Yes, I understand Marconi was not real active on VHF.
Legos and Ham Radio
I came across this video of a clever Lego project with a ham radio theme:
ICQ Podcast Interviews the ARRL CEO
This ICQ podcast includes Frank Howell (K4FMH) interveiwing the ARRL CEO and Secretary Howard Michel (WB2ITX), who provides an update from the recent ARRL committee meeting. I like Howard’s style and appreciate his willingness to engage with radio hams.
Regulation By Bandwidth
Dan/KB6NU writes that the ARRL renewed its request to the FCC to replace the symbol rate rule on digital transmissions and move to regulating by bandwidth. On the surface, this seems like a no-brainer thing to do: regulating by symbol rate is archaic and limits the use of new, more efficient modulation techniques. But drill in deeper and you’ll find there are legitimate concerns about protecting narrowband emissions (e.g., CW) and not allowing automated stations to dominate the ham bands. Still, it seems like a reasonable approach can be found. Stay tuned on this one.
View from the summit of Mt Herman, looking out over the eastern plains.
Access to the summit is not difficult and most of the locals know how to find it without a problem. However, there are a few things that can trip up a first-time activator.
Most people will get to Monument via I-25, taking the main Monument exit (Exit 161). Go west on 2nd street through the old downtown area, over the railroad tracks to a stop sign at Mitchell Road. Go left (south) on Mitchell Road and then right (west) onto Mount Herman Road (FS 320). Shortly after entering the national forest, you will probably see a sign that says Mt Herman Trailhead. THIS IS NOT THE TRAILHEAD YOU WANT. Keep going on Mt Herman Road.
Mt Herman Road angles left (going south) at the intersection with Red Rocks Drive. At this point, reset or check your odometer as it will help you find the actual Mt Herman Trailhead (see map). Continue on Mt Herman Road for 2.6 miles, where the trailhead is off to the right as the road curves left.
The condition of Mt Herman Road varies considerably from year to year. Most of the time the road is OK for high-clearance 2WD vehicles. Sometimes it deteriates to easy 4WD. The road and trail are often usable in the winter months but it depends greatly on recent temperatures and snowfall. The road is not maintained in the winter so definitely 4WD required.
Trailhead
The actual trailhead is not that well marked, hence the need to watch the odometer. However, on most summer days, there will be cars parked at the trailhead. Parking is informal, just a gravel area off on the right side of the road.
The red line shows the trail to the summit.
The trail to the summit is 1.2 miles one-way and 800 feet vertical. Make sure you stay to the right about 500 feet from the trailhead, on a trail that takes you up the mountain. There is another trail that continues straight at this point, which may throw you off. You should soon encounter a steep switchback at this point as you start to work your way up the mountain (see map above).
The trail is usually in decent shape with a few steep sections where the loose granite marbles can make it slippery. Hiking boots with some tread on them are recommended and trekking poles can be helpful, too.
Typical trail section with Joyce/K0JJW hiking it.
At the summit, there is a fire ring where people sometimes camp out overnight. The hike is popular, so you’ll probably have other people stopping by. There is plenty of room in the activation area, so I set up my radio gear some distance from the actual summit.
Mt Herman is a wonderful hike with great views (even if you don’t want to do a SOTA activation). With a superb radio horizon, it is also first-rate place to make radio contacts.
SP-089 has a large rock face on the south/southwest side, so it is best to approach from the other side.
Back in 2014, Joyce/K0JJW and I did the first activation of W0C/SP-089 (also known by its elevation: 10525). See the trip report here.
As noted in that trip report, we never did find much of a trail so we had to do some serious offtrail bushwacking. Being on the summit was great but bushwacking up was not. Later Walt/W0CP found a much better route using the Davis Meadow Trail. We definitely wanted to try this route and get back on top of that summit.
This overview of the area shows the route we took up SP-089 in blue and the Davis Meadow Trail as shown on the Trails Illustrated map.
We approached the Davis Meadow Trailhead from the east via Highways 285 / 24. We took FS 311 from Trout Creek Pass to FS 373, then FS 373A. FS 311 starts out in good condition, passable by high clearance 2WD vehicles. Later it turns into “easy 4WD” but it gets very steep in spots which may be a problem during wet weather. You can also approach from the west side coming up from Buena Vista. Check the San Isabel National Forest map for the complete picture.
Just to the east of the unnamed summit is a natural arch, marked on some maps as Aspen Arch. We’ve hiked up the arch on numerous occasions, often with visitors from out of state. So we’ve started referring to this unnamed SOTA as Aspen Arch, to differentiate it from the other unnamed summits in the area.
SOTA summit W0C/SP-089 is also known by its elevation (10525). A nearby landmark is Aspen Arch.
The Davis Meadow Trailhead is marked by a sign. Trail 1413 heads north and loops around the north side of SP-089. The trail is well laid out with plenty of switchbacks, much more than indicated on the Trails Illustrated map.
The blue line shows our actual hiking route as tracked by my GPS app.
We followed the trail until it looped around the north side of SP-089. Marmot Peak, another SOTA summit (W0C/SP-063), sticks out prominently to the north and is a good landmark to use for navigating. As shown on the map above, we left the trail and bushwacked south up to the summit. I don’t claim that our route was optimal. It was classic offtrail hiking with some areas quite open and others clogged with plenty of downed trees and rocks. (Next time, I think we’ll try to stay a little further east of our recorded track. It looked a little better over there.) Expect to be slowed down during this stretch.
Joyce/K0JJW on the well-established Davis Meadow Trail.
The GPS app on my phone recorded the one-way hike as 2.7 miles and 1100 vertical feet.
This was typical of the downed timber on the bushwack portion of the hike.
We arrrived at the summit around noon and thunderstorms were moving into the area. We both made four quick radio contacts on 2m FM to get the activation points, then headed back down the trail. The summit is exposed and very rocky but once we got off the top, we were hiking in trees with limited lightning danger. Thanks to Bob/W0BV, Jim/KD0MRC, Larry/KL7GLK and Kevin/KD0VHD for working us.
After our first bushwack adventure on this summit, we were not motived to activate this one again. However, using the Davis Meadow Trail has changed our opinion. (Thanks Walt/W0CP!) This route still has some offtrail bushwacking but it is not bad. We will be back!
When planning for the next Summits On The Air (SOTA) hike, I want to understand the difficulty of the climb. The main things to evaluate are the length of the hike (horizontal distance), the vertical (elevation) gain and other contributing factors.
Most of the SOTA summits in Colorado have a simple profile: pretty much uphill on the way to the summit and then mostly downhill on the way back to the trailhead. Yes, there may be flat sections and sometimes there will be a downhill section or two on the ascent, which means you give back some elevation gain only to regain it later. Usually, we think of going downhill as “easy” but if you have sensitive knees or other joints, you may disagree.
The first question is how far do I need to hike? Clearly, hiking 10 miles is a lot harder than hiking 1 mile, all other things being equal. However, I usually find the vertical gain to be more important. (Typically, the horizontal distance of a SOTA hike is within my capabilities and the vertical gain is the thing that wears me out.) I also do a back-of-the-envelope calculation on slope. My benchmark for slope is 1000 vertical feet in one mile, which is an uphill slope that will get my heart pumping but is not too difficult (corresponds to ~20% slope). Anything steeper than that starts to feel more challenging. A slope less than that is easier. Be careful with average calculations. You might find that a particular trail is flat for 3 miles and then gains all of the vertical in the last mile. Having a good topographical map is a must for understanding the route. I generally use GAIA GPS, an online mapping website and smartphone app.
Certainly the condition of the trail and its inherent terrain are an important factor to consider. The SOTA hikes I do are typically Class 1, 2 or 3. I don’t do summits that require ropes or technical climbing.
Class 2. More difficult hiking that may be off-trail. You may also have to put your hands down occasionally to keep your balance. May include easy snow climbs or hiking on talus/scree. Class 2 includes a wide range of hiking and a route may have exposure, loose rock, steep scree, etc.
Class 3. Scrambling or un-roped climbing. You must use your hands most of the time to hold the terrain or find your route. This may be caused by a combination of steepness and extreme terrain (large rocks or steep snow).
Example summits
Let’s take a look at some specific summits as examples.
Note: there are often multiple routes to the same summit, so don’t use this information for trip planning. Do your homework.
Mt Herman (W0C/FR-063): a bit steep in spots but typical of many SOTA hikes: 1000 feet vertical gain in about one mile, right at my benchmark of 1000 feet vertical per mile. I consider that an easy hike.
Genesee Mountain (W0C/FR-194): is one of the easiest and enjoyable SOTA summits in Colorado, only 0.7 miles and 300 vertical feet. The average slope is 430 feet per mile, so not very steep at all.
Mt Sherman (W0C/SR-061): is considered to be one of the easiest fourteeners, but it is still a fourteener: 2100 feet vertical gain in 2.6 miles (807 feet per mile).
Mount Elbert (W0C/SR-001): A more challenging (middle of the road?) fourteener with 4700 feet vertical gain over 4.75 miles). The average slope is 1000 feet per mile so it’s not that steep but 4700 vertical feet will definitely wear me out.
Other Factors
Not to be overlooked, the condition of the route can make a big difference. Often, there is no established trail to a SOTA summit, which means you’ll need to hike offtrail or “bushwack”. If the ground is uncluttered and the trees well-spaced, bushwacking can be easy. On the other hand, if there is a lot of downed timber, you have to climb over and around obstacles to get to the summit. Some summits have willows or other scrub brush that gets in the way. Intense bushwacking can make a huge difference, making the hike more difficult by a factor of two (or more). Many times, I’ve looked at the route to a summit on a topographical map, judged it to be not so bad and later discovered that it requires serious bushwacking. Hikes like that really help me to appreciate a well-designed and maintained trail.
High altitude and the resulting lack of oxygen contribute to the difficulty of the climb. This is going to vary considerably between individuals. Almost everyone feels the effects at 14,000 feet but at lower elevations individual performance will vary dramatically. Normally, I don’t have an issue at 10,000 feet, notice some effect at 12,000 feet and I’m definitely huffing and puffing above 13k.
Finally, weather can play a big role in increasing the difficulty of a hike. In the winter, it is common to use snowshoes when deep snow is present on the route. The snowshoes tend to sink into the snow with each step, causing more effort to be expended hiking the route. Ice can also be present requiring microspikes or other traction devices. Icy conditions tend to slow you down and can be a safety issue.
So that’s a quick look at how I judge the difficulty of a SOTA hike. The SOTA database often has trip reports from other SOTA activators, which can be extremely helpful. It is always great to learn from the experiences of other folks. I can’t tell you how difficult a climb will be for you because your physical abilties are likely different than mine. But taking note of the factors mentioned in this post will help you develop a sense of how difficult a summit is for you.
Black Forest Fire Station 11445 Teachout Road Colorado Springs, CO 80908
The General License provides access to regional and worldwide communications on the HF bands, greatly expanding your ham radio fun!
• Upgrade from Technician to General Class radio privileges
• Pass your FCC General Class amateur license exam Oct 12*
• See live equipment demonstrations and activities
• Learn to operate on the HF bands, 10 Meters to 160 Meters
• Gain a deeper understanding of radio electronics and theory
• Take the next step with antennas, amplifiers, digital modes
Registration fee: $30 ($20 for under 18 years of age)
Prerequisite: Students must already have their Technician License
The required study guide is:
HamRadioSchool.com General License Course
Third Edition, effective 2019 – 2023, $24.95
* Free FCC exam session on Oct 12 at Black Forest Fire Station 9:30 am.
To register for the class, contact Bob KØNR, bob@k0nr.com
Amateur Radio operators from around Colorado will be climbing many of Colorado’s 14,000-foot mountains and Summits On The Air (SOTA) peaks to set up amateur radio stations in an effort to communicate with other radio amateurs across the state and around the world. Join in on the fun during the 28th annual event and see how many of the mountaintop stations you can contact. The covers the entire weekend but many mountaintop activators will hit the trail early with the goal of being off the summits by noon due to lightning safety concerns.
The event includes all Summits On the Air (SOTA) summits, which adds over 1700 potential summits! If you aren’t up to climbing a 14er, there are many other summits to choose from with a wide range of difficulty. See the Colorado SOTA web page at w0c-sota.org
Radio operators who plan to activate a summit should post their intent on the ham14er group via the ham14er groups.io website. Also, be sure to check out the event information at http://www.ham14er.org
Frequencies used during the event Activity can occur on any amateur band including HF and VHF. The 2m fm band plan uses a “primary frequency and move up” approach. The 2m fm primary frequency is 147.42 MHz. At the beginning of the event, operators should try calling on 147.42 MHz. As activity increases on that frequency, move on up the band using the 30 kHz steps. Don’t just hang out on 147.42 MHz…move up! The next standard simplex frequency up from 147.42 MHz is 147.45 MHz, followed by 147.48 and 147.51 MHz.
For a complete list of suggested HF, VHF and UHF frequencies see this web page.
Warning: Climbing mountains is inherently a dangerous activity.
Do not attempt this without proper training, equipment and preparation.
There is a lot more information available here: www.ham14er.org
The Baofeng UV-5R established a new price point for an entry-level handheld transceiver and quickly became the “easy choice” for a newly licensed Technician. It is a very impressive piece of technology for the money (about $30).
