Category Archives: VHF/UHF

Can I Use My Ham Radio on Public Safety Frequencies?

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There is a more recent article on this topic. Please see: Can I Use My Ham Radio on Public Safety Frequencies? Updated
We have quite a few licensed radio amateurs that are members of public safety agencies, including  fire departments, law enforcement agencies and search and rescue. Since they are authorized users of those public safety channels, they often ask this question:

Can I use my VHF/UHF ham radio on the fire, police or SAR channel?

It is widely known that many amateur radios can be modified to transmit outside the ham bands. The answer to this question used to be that amateur radio equipment cannot be used legally on public safety channels because it is not approved for use under Part 90 of the FCC Rules. (Part 90 covers the Private Land Mobile Radio Services.) The only option was to buy a commercial radio with Part 90 approval and a frequency range that covered the desired amateur band. Some commercial radios tune easily to the adjacent ham band but some do not. The commercial gear is usually two to three times as expensive as the amateur gear, and just as important, does not have the features and controls that ham operators expect. Usually, the commercial radios do not have a VFO and are completely channelized, typically changeable only with the required programming software.

The situation has changed dramatically in the past two years. Several wireless manufacturers in China (Wouxun, Baofeng, etc.) have introduced low cost handheld transceivers into the US amateur market that are approved for Part 90 use. These radios offer keypad frequency entry and all of the usual features of a ham radio. It seems that these radios are a viable option for dual use: public safety and amateur radio.

Here is a short list of the most common radios on the market:

Model Features Price
Wouxun KG-UV2D, KG-UV3D Several different models with slight variation in features, check carefully before ordering
136-174/420-470 MHz
5 kHz is smallest frequency step		 $120
Wouxun KG-UV6D Several different models with slight variation in features, check carefully before ordering
136-174 / 420-520 MHz
2.5 kHz frequency step		 $175
Baofeng UV-5R, UV-5RC The UV-5RC is an updated case style
136-174 / 400-480MHz
2.5 kHz frequency step		 $65

 Some Things to Consider When Buying These Radios

  • The manufacturers offer several different radios under the same model number. Also, they are improving the radios every few months with firmware changes and feature updates. This causes confusion in the marketplace, so buy carefully.
  • Make sure the vendor selling the radio indicates that the radio is approved for Part 90 use. I have seen some radios show up in the US without an FCC Part 90 label.
  • Make sure the radio is specified to tune to the channels that you need.
  • The 2.5-kHz tuning step is required for some public safety channels. Your particular set of frequencies may or may not need it.  For example, a 5-kHz frequency step can be used to select frequencies such as 155.1600 MHz and 154.2650 MHz.  However, a 2.5 kHz step size is needed to select frequencies such as 155.7525 MHz. There are a number of Public Safety Interoperability Channels that require the 2.5-kHz step (e.g., VCALL10 155.7525 MHz, VCALL11 151.1375 MHz, VFIRE24 154.2725). The safest thing to do for public safety use is to get a radio that tunes the 2.5-kHz steps.
  • Although these radios have two frequencies in the display, they only have one receiver, which scans back and forth between the two selected frequencies. This can be confusing when the radio locks onto a signal on one of the frequencies and ignores the other.

Recommendation

I own 3 different models of Wouxun radios and two Baofeng UV-5R radios. I think they are all great radios for what they do. For serious public safety use, I would recommend getting the Wouxun KG-UV6D with the 2.5-kHz frequency step. The controls of the Wouxun are superior, including a knob for channel/VFO selection and RPT key for changing repeater shift. The Wouxun software works much better than Baofeng’s (which is really a mess). Also, if you show up at an incident with the Baofeng, your fellow first responders will think it is a toy.  If you are absolutely sure you don’t need the 2.5-KHz frequency step, then you might consider one of the other Wouxun models.

I have purchased several radios from importcommunications.com and have been very satisfied with the service. You may want to shop around for the best price.

73, Bob K0NR

VHF SOTA Activation (W0/ SP-081)

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It was another great day for Summits On The Air (SOTA) activity. I hiked up to Kaufman Ridge HP (W0/SP-081) with Joyce K0JJW to do the first SOTA activation of that summit. This summit is just south of Kaufman Ridge North (W0/SP-085) mentioned in this post.

Unlike some of my previous SOTA activations, I actually kind of sort of planned this one. I had my Yaesu FT-60 HT with a decent omni antenna for 2 Meters (the MFJ-1714). I also took along the VX-8GR handheld for use as an APRS station. Note the innovative In The Tree mounting scheme for the FT-60:

On the way up, I heard Steve WG0AT on the summit of Mount Rosa (W0/FR-034) calling on 146.52 MHz. I gave a quick call to Steve to let him know I was hearing him but that I was not at the summit yet. About 20 minutes later, I was on top and worked Steve and his hiking partner Frank K0JQZ, for a summit-to-summit contact.

A call on 146.52 MHz got a reply from John N0EVH who was operating mobile. Then I worked Bill KD0PFF who was driving up a 4WD road to Red Cone Peak. Later, I worked his 4WD partner Stan KD0PFC. Fred WA0SIK, a regular in the various VHF contests, came up on five two to give me another contact. Then I got a call from Dave K0HTX who spends many weekends over on the other side of South Park. Finally, I caught Randy KN0TPC and Jeremy KD0MWT on 147.555 MHz, near Divide at a Boy Scout Camporee.

It was really cool to catch all these folks out having fun in the mountains. It was a glorious fall day and the aspen trees were at their peak fall color.

73, Bob K0NR

How Much Does That Second Band Cost?

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I encourage newly licensed radio amateurs to go ahead and get a dual-band FM rig…handheld, mobile or both. I think the additional cost of the dualbander with both 2 Meters (146 MHz) and 70 cm (440 MHz) is justified by having the ability to operate on the additional ham band. I have noticed that the price of the single-band 2 Meter mobiles are pretty low, less than $200… a real bargain in terms of technology. This made me wonder what the price premium for the second band (70 cm) really is.

I pulled all of these prices from the same major ham radio web site, trying to keep some consistency among the price of the various models. (I ignored specials and coupon pricing.) I looked at a basic 2 Meter FM rig and any comparable dual band models from the same manufacturer. I tried to stick to the basic transceivers and not include models that had advanced features such as D-STAR and APRS in them.

The data is captured in the table below. Note that I differentiated between a single receiver (one frequency at a time) dual-band radio and a two receiver dual-band radio, since the latter variety is much more expensive. I calculated a percent premium for each of the dual-band transceivers, calculated as the percent increase in price over the single-band radio from the same manufacturer. I think this is the most objective way to describe the extra cost of a dual-band radio.

Transceiver Price Bands Percent Premium
Yaesu FT-2900R $185 2M
Yaesu FT-7900R $330 2M/70cm 78%
Yaesu FT-8800R $460 2M/70cm Dual Receiver 149%
ICOM IC-2300H $260 2M
ICOM IC-2820H $670 2M/70cm Dual Receiver 158%
Alinco DR-135T $170 2M
Alinco DR-635T $320 2M/70cm Dual Receiver 88%
Kenwood TM-281A $145 2M
Kenwood TM-V71A $395 2M/70cm Dual Receiver 172%

It is worth noting that only Yaesu and Alinco offer a single-receiver dual-band rig. These two radios are 78% and 88% more expensive than their single band counterparts (less than twice the cost). The two-receiver dual-band radios are consistently more expensive, with a price premium ranging from 149% to 172%. While these rigs are often described as having two radios in one, they are more than twice as expensive as a single-band radio.

Although I appreciate the extra utility of the two-receiver radios, it looks to me like the best value is with the single-receiver dual-band rigs.

What do you think?

73, Bob K0NR

Ham Radio Action Next Weekend – Sept 8/9

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There are three excellent ham radio activities going on this coming weekend. Check these out and see if there is an activity that catches your interest. This is written for people in Colorado but items #1 and #3 are North American wide.

  1. ARRL September VHF QSO Party – noon MDT on Saturday until 9 PM MDT on Sunday    http://www.arrl.org/september-vhf
  2. Colorado FM Sprint – a mini version of the September VHF QSO Party,
    using FM only on these bands: 146 MHz, 222 MHz and 440 MHz
    Saturday from noon to 7 PM MDT
    http://www.qsl.net/k0yb/Colorado_FM_Sprint.html
    Suggested frequencies: 146.58, 146.55, 223.5, 446.000, 446.100 MHz FM simplex
  3. North American Summits On The Air (SOTA) Weekend
    SOTA activations all over North America
    http://na-sota.org/NASOTA_Weekend.html
    Go here to see announced summit activations: http://www.sotawatch.org/
    VHF contacts are usually on 146.52 MHz
    (Note: this frequency is NOT allowed for contacts in the
    Sept VHF QSO Party and Colorado FM Sprint)
    HF contacts are on frequencies listed on sotawatch.org

Wow, lots of stuff to choose from!

At the very least, I’d suggest getting on the air Saturday afternoon to see if you can work some of the VHF contest stations. They are likely to be some mountaintop SOTA stations active at that time, too. Some of these folks may try to work the VHF contests AND do the SOTA thing on the same expedition.

73, Bob K0NR

A Great SOTA Weekend

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For the long Labor Day weekend, Joyce (K0JJW) and I headed to the cabin in the mountains. My main objective was to work the Colorado QSO Party. See previous post.

When in the mountains, I try to remember to monitor 146.52 MHz. You never know who might show up on that frequency…some of the locals chatting, a mobile station passing through, people camping or…a SOTA (Summits On The Air) station.

Sure enough, on Saturday, I heard Eric (W0ECE) calling from the summit of Mount Evans on 146.52 MHz. Joyce and I gave him a SOTA contact (and I got a new county for the CO QSO Party). Then, on Sunday morning, we heard Dave (KI6YMZ) calling from the summit of Mount Shavano, also on 146.52 MHz. We were mobile at the time and both of us worked Dave to give him two contacts. Then on Monday morning, again listening to 146.52 MHz, we heard Bob (AD6QF) on Quandary Peak. We handed out two more contacts.

Sometime on Monday morning, we started thinking of doing a hike. That led to the idea of hiking up Kaufman Ridge North (W0/SP-085), a SOTA peak about 2 miles from our cabin. It had not been activated before,  so that seemed like a good idea.

Except for the fact that I did not bring along any of my SOTA gear. (Note to self: whenever you are in the mountains, take along the SOTA gear.) I scrounged around the cabin and found a dualband HT with fully charged battery. Unfortunately, the only antenna was the rubber duck. (The World’s Most Convenient Crummy Antenna.)

Oh, what the heck, we gave it a try anyway. It was an easy climb to the summit. I got out the HT and called on 146.52 MHz. I quickly got a reply from Ben (KD0ELP) and Mark (KE0P). A little more calling and I raised Jerry (N0VXE) in Salida, CO. To get the minimum four contacts, I tried calling on two of the local repeaters and found Dave (K0HTX) who QSY’d to 446.00 MHz for a simplex contact with me. That made it an official SOTA activation, so we headed down the mountain.

A good weekend for SOTA activity. Keep listening on 146.52 MHz.

73, Bob K0NR

K0NR Colorado QSO Party Results

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It was a fun day working the Colorado QSO Party from the cabin near Trout Creek Pass. State QSO parties are contests designed to focus attention on a particular state, with an emphasis on activation of counties. This brings out the County Hunters and other folks interested in working that particular state.
The contest format is quite flexible, including CW, Digital and Phone on most bands from HF through UHF. There were many mobile stations out activating counties…which is important in Colorado since some counties are sparsely populated and there may be (literally) no active ham radio operators living there.

I decided to operate from our cabin near Trout Creek Pass in Park County, which is considered “rare” by most folks. My station was a Yaesu FT-950 running 100W to a trap dipole up in the trees. I mostly operated phone since I don’t consider my CW skills up to that challenge of a contest. I did make a few CW contacts at the request of a few folks than wanted Park County on CW.

Thanks to all of the mobile stations out there, both in Colorado and out of state. I was surprised how many people were mobile or operating portable (often camping out for the holiday weekend). I normally monitor 146.52 MHz while up at the cabin for anyone out hiking or mobile. I heard Eric W0ECE doing a SOTA activation on Mt Evans and worked him for QSO Party points and SOTA points.

The score below includes the CW contacts so the score will drop a bit when I submit in the phone only category (77526, I think).

I was disappointed with the Qs on 15 Meters but I looked in my log from last year and it was also light on 15 Meter contacts. Twenty meters is always a bit crowded and I really like when 15M and 10M open up. I almost doubled my score from last year, so I was happy with the result.

        Band  Mode  QSOs    Pts   Sec   Mul
            7  CW       3      12    2    0
            7  LSB     93     186   23    1
           14  CW       1      4     1    0
           14  USB    400     802   41    0
           21  USB     23      64    5    0
           28  USB      1      2     0    0
          144  FM       4      8     3    0
        Total  Both   525    1078   75    1
           Score : 81,928

Thanks to the Pikes Peak Radio Amateur Association for sponsoring this event.

73, Bob K0NR

New Transceiver from ICOM: IC-7100

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ICOM has shown the new IC-7100 at the JARL show in Tokyo. The interwebz is buzzing with information, including a preliminary data sheet.

My scan of the preliminary datasheet indicates that this radio is in the class of the IC-7000 or even the IC-706. It covers all modes on HF plus 6 Meters, 2 Meters and 70 cm. (It also has the 70 MHz band which is a nice add for the European countries that have that band.) The radio includes DV (D-STAR) modulation capability and has a new touchscreen user interface. The slanted control panel is meant to make the touchscreen more accessible.

A new HF plus VHF/UHF radio always gets my attention (see my plea for an FT-950 with 2 Meters).  I am starting to think that the real benefit of this rig is the addition of D-STAR capability, which would a good but not essential feature to have.

What do you think?

73, Bob K0NR

Update (30 Aug 2012): Universal Radio has the radio on its website.
There’s a good video look at the radio here.

A Great Day of Mountaintop Radio

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Here is the report on the Colorado 14er Event operation from Mount Sneffels. Joyce K0JJW and I drove our Jeep up to the “upper trailhead” for Sneffels, arriving at 6 AM. The 14ers.com web site describes the trailhead and route.
On paper, the climb is not that difficult but there is quite a bit of loose rock that you have to navigate…annoying on the ascent and very tiring on the descent. We reached the summit at 9AM and fired up the radio gear.

Mt Sneffels (and the other peaks in the San Juans) is a long distance from many of the fourteeners. Take a look at the fourteener map on 14ers.com. Previously, I had operated from Pikes Peak where you hear tons of stations calling and Mount Antero which is centrally located so you can easily work all of the 14ers. Operating from Mt Sneffels is different — kind of like you have fallen off the edge of the earth.

We soon found that the omnidirectional antennas were not that effective at pulling out the other 14er stations and that the Arrow II yagi antenna was the way to go. I’ll so some more analysis on this later.

Most of the contacts were made with the Yaesu FT-817 but we also used a pair of HTs. Note that we used both FM and SSB.

I had my Yaesu VX-8GR burping out APRS packets for the upper half of the hike but it appears they only made it to an IGate when we were on the summit.

The weather was awesome so we stayed on the summit until 11:40 AM. After we finally worked Pikes, we decided to head down. The clouds were building but we did not expect it to amount to much. But the storm moved in quickly and we did get snowed on while hiking down.

Radio Log

Local
Time  Freq        Callsign  Location    Comments
 0934 144.200 USB   N0KE    near Silt   Phil, 100 miles away
 0949 432.100 USB   N0KE    near Silt
 0954 147.420 FM    W0NX    Quandary    Keith, strong signal
 1006 147.420 FM    WE7C    near Cortez Glen, 70 miles away
 1018 147.510 FM    WO9S    Mt Evans    Jon
 1049 147.450 FM    KM5TY   Huron       Strong signal
 1058 147.435 FM    KD0EGE  Lincoln
 1100 147.420 FM    KC0VFO  aeronautical mobile
 1110 147.420 FM    KT0AM   Shavano     Mark, strong signal
 1115 147.420 FM    KI6ASW  Blanca      Strong signal
 1130 144.200 USB   KB0SA   Pikes Peak  Eric
 1132 144.200 USB   W0STU   Pikes Peak  Stu
 1135 147.480 FM    W0STU   Pikes Peak  Stu

Joyce ended up logging for me and pointing the antenna, so she only worked Glen WE7C on 147.42 MHz. She also got to explain to the other hikers what the heck we were doing. People seemed genuinely interested and when we told them we just talked to Quandary or Evans, they’d say “that’s cool.”

This was a Summits On the Air activation, the first ever for Mount Sneffels (W0/UR-001). All in all, a good day playing ham radio in the mountains.

Thanks to everyone that came out to play.

73, Bob K0NR

A Great Weekend on VHF

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CQ VHFOne of the things that makes a VHF contest so much fun is that you never know how its going to play out. One of the major factors is sporadic-e propagation which is, well, sporadic. Sometimes we get rewarded with decent propagation and sometimes we get completely skunked.

In the morning, before the 2012 CQ World Wide VHF Contest started, the 6 Meter band was open from Colorado to the east. The band continued to be open to various locations for most of Saturday, even late into the evening. I made my last contact on 6 Meters to the Pacific Northwest after 10:30 PM local time.

On Sunday morning, 6 Meters gave us some more fun but it was not nearly as good as Saturday. Instead of strong signals and consistent runs, the signals were variable and QSOs were often a challenge. Sometimes it was like pulling teeth. This contest only uses two bands: 6 Meters (50 MHz) and 2 Meters (144 MHz).  As 6 Meters pooped out, the action moved to 2 Meters. Fortunately, we had a number of rovers out that helped activate some of the rarer grids. Thanks W3DHJ, AB0YM, KR5J and W0BL.

This is probably my best score ever in the CQ WW VHF Contest, due to the excellent propagation on Saturday and some station improvements I’ve made over the past couple of years.

     Band       QSOs X pt =  QSO pts.  X   Grids   =     Points
---------------------------------------------------------------
     50         337    1      337           130           43810
     144        34     2      68            13            884
---------------------------------------------------------------
     TOTALS     371           405           143           57915

                            Claimed score =  57915

All in all, a great weekend on the VHF bands.

73, Bob K0NR

Dear Yaesu, Please Make a VHF FT-950

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About a year ago, I bought a Yaesu FT-950 transceiver with HF through 50 MHz. I’ve really enjoyed that radio. This weekend I am working the CQ WW VHF Contest and giving it a good workout on 6 Meters. It is set up quite nicely for contesting with a decent receiver, built-in antenna tuner, DSP processing, dual VFOs, built-in voice and CW keyers, etc. For 2 Meters, I use my trusty old FT-847, which has always been one of the favorite rigs. I have to admit that the 847’s receiver is a bit wimpy when it comes to operating on a crowded band with strong signals, and it only puts on 50 Watts on 2 Meters.

So here’s my request:

Dear Yaesu,

Please add 2 Meters to the FT-950 transceiver. When you obsoleted the FT-847, you left a big hole in the ham radio market. The FT-847 was supposed to be a satellite rig, which is nice but not required. I really just want a radio that can put out 100W on 2 Meters, with the great features of the FT-950. Note that I am not asking for 70 cm operation, but if you want to toss that in, it would be cool. You can even leave out some of the HF bands if that would make it easier.

Thanks and I await your reply.

73, Bob K0NR

 

SOTA Activation Without The Tears

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I recently confessed blogged about a not-that-well-executed SOTA (Summits on The Air) activation, in How Not to Do a SOTA Activation. This past weekend, I made another run at it with much better results. Still, I did use a slacker low impact approach to the activation.

My hiking partner spouse and I decided to go for a hike on Sunday afternoon. It had been many years since we had climbed up to the fire lookout on Devils Head in Pike National Forest, so that sounded like a great destination. There is an excellent view at the top (fire lookouts tend to be like that) and the weather was awesome. I checked the SOTA list, and sure enough, Devils Head is a legitimate SOTA peak (W0/FR-051).

The hike is about 2.8 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 950 feet. I put this in the category of a good tourist hike…with just enough huffing and puffing to make you think you worked for it but not so much that it kills you. Here’s the topo map and route taken from everytrail.com: 

As I put together my daypack, I tossed in my Yaesu FT-60 handheld radio and a 1/2-wave vertical whip antenna. This was going to be a 2M FM operation only.  (I don’t have anything against HF, but there is something magic about VHF propagation with a little altitude.) Then I sent a quick message to a couple of the local email lists asking for people to try to work me on the summit. We drove to the trailhead and started our hike up the trail, which is heavily used but well maintained.

The fire lookout is not a tower. It sits on top of a large rock formation with stairs leading up the side of the rock.

When we got to the top, we spent some time enjoying the view and catching our breath. As the sign says, the stairs have 143 steps which take you to an elevation of 9748 feet.

I got out the radio and started calling CQ on 146.52 MHz. Ted (NØNKG) came right back to me…I think he probably saw my email message. Over the next half hour, I worked a total of 7 contacts: NØNKG, N2RL, NØGWM, W7RTX, WB9QDL, KØDEN and WXØPIX. I even remembered to bring along a log book and a pen to write it all down.

Bill Ellis staffs the fire lookout for the US Forest Service most of the time during the summer. He handed me a card that certifies that I climbed up to the lookout station. Note that this card indicates that it is the 100th anniversary of the fire lookout! And Bill’s been doing this for 26 years. Cool!

Various people have said that Devils Head is a must do hike in Colorado and I have to agree (whether you are doing a SOTA activation or not). It turns out that I was the second person to activate Devils Head as a SOTA summit, with Chuck (N6UHB) having done it in October 2011. I’ll probably do some more of this since it is a nice blend of ham radio, hiking and enjoying the view from a high spot.

   73, Bob K0NR

2012 Field Day: K0NR Results

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For 2012 ARRL Field Day, we operated from the cabin in portable style. Temporary wire antennas were tossed into the trees and  the trusty Honda EU1000 generator provided emergency power. The Spousal Unit, Joyce KØJJW got on the air and made some contacts, making this a multi-op effort.

We used a similar approach as last year, see my post, ARRL Field Day: Season to Taste. The main difference is that the sporadic-e on 50 MHz wasn’t as good this year, but we had a fun time working the event.

  Band  Mode  QSOs    
     7  SSB     15    
    14  USB     78  
    21  USB     73  
    50  USB     33  
   144  USB      3  
   420  FM       1  
 Total  Both   203  
        Score: 406

As usual for Field Day, most of the time the 20 Meter phone band was crammed with stations calling CQ Field Day. There were many times that I responded to one call and had another radio operator think I was working them. It occurs to me that we have this emphasis on exposing new people to ham radio during Field Day via the GOTA stations and public demonstrations. However, this is kind of like showing someone the joy of driving a car by having them experience a giant traffic jam.  Is this really the best way to introduce people to ham radio?

Field Day: Make it your own!

73, Bob K0NR

How Not to Do a SOTA Activation

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This weekend my wife and I were out exploring the San Juan Mountains near Ouray, Colorado. We found ourselves on a Jeep road to Engineer Pass. When we got to the pass, we stopped to have lunch and I examined the high peaks nearby. I saw some people on the summit of one of the peaks, which I determined was Engineer Mountain by looking at a topo map.

Hmmm, I said to myself, Engineer Mountain is a valid peak (W0/SJ-011, 12968 feet elevation) for a Summits On the Air (SOTA) activation. The only portable radio I had with me was a Yaesu VX-8GR with the stock rubber duck antenna. Not a great SOTA station. But if I could whistle up 4 contacts on 2M FM simplex, I would have a legitimate activation. We had already decided to climb to the summit, so any radio activity was just icing on the cake.

So off we went up the mountain. I got to the top and started calling on 146.52 MHz FM. Now it hits me that we are in the middle of a national forest, away from population centers and, to top it off, no one is expecting a SOTA activation here today. This might be a bit of a challenge to make 4 contacts. Then Thomas, KRØNK, answered my CQ. OK, there’s one contact. A little bit later Dave, AKØMR, comes on frequency and gives me a second contact. Both of these guys were in Grand Junction, CO, which is about 100 miles from Engineer Mountain. Not bad for a peanut-whistle HT using a standard rubber duck antenna.

I needed two more contacts. I tuned around for a repeater in the area and came across the 147.27 MHz machine which turned out to be a stones throw away from my location. It requires a CTCSS tone, so I fumbled around until I figured that out. No, I did not have a repeater directory with me…that was safely stored in the Jeep at the bottom of the mountain. I gave a quick call with my location and Ben WB5ITS came back to me. We QSY’d over to 146.52 to make my third contact.  Anticipating a rough go of it, I asked my wife Joyce K0JJW to descend off the peak while I remained at the top, so she could be my fourth contact. (SOTA rules do not allow contacts between parties on the same peak.)

Somewhere along the way, I reach for a piece of paper to log the contacts, only to find that I did not have a writing utensil with me. Duh. I would have to remember the times and callsigns of the contacts and write them down later.

I completed the fourth contact and headed down. Later that evening I checked the ListsofJohn database and found that there are actually two peaks in the area called Engineer Mountain. Go figure. The SOTA database only recognizes one of them…of course, you guessed it, not the one I was on. It turns out that the Engineer Mountain I was on is subordinated by an adjacent peak: Darley Mountain (W0/RG-034, 13260 feet). However, since I operated from 13,218 feet on my Engineer Mountain, it is within the 75 foot vertical activation zone for Darley Mountain. So, this does count for a SOTA activation of Darley Mountain.

This is where I could claim that incredible skill, flexibility and a little luck ruled the day. I think a more appropriate analysis is to concede that a complete lack of planning and preparedness produced a marginal result.

What can we learn from this?

  • Do your homework concerning the SOTA peak that you intend to activate before you start the climb. Make sure you know where it is and that you are really on it.
  • Always keep a notepad and pen/ pencil in your backpack
  • Even for casual hikes, take along a decent antenna for the HT. A half-wave vertical is way better than a stock rubber duck.
  • Plan in advance so you can post your intended SOTA activation on sotawatch.org
  • Have a repeater directory (or equivalent) available to identify repeaters in the area.
  • And don’t forgot the normal hiking Ten Essentials

Beyond doing a SOTA activation, some of these items could be important if an emergency should occur. It runs out there was no mobile phone coverage in the area. I used to be pretty vigilant about taking an HT with spare batteries and extended antenna along on hikes but have gotten sloppy lately. See Rescue on Uncompahgre Peak, which describes an incident years ago when my radio turned out to be very useful during an emergency.

In the end, I did complete my first SOTA activation, so I can be happy about that. And it gave me the opportunity to relearn a few things about planning and being prepared.

73, Bob KØNR

P.S. The WØ SOTA guys recently created a great W0 SOTA page.

2 Oct 2013 Update:

Upon further review of the SOTA rules, this was not a valid activation of Darley Mountain. SOTA General Rule 3.7.1 includes this:

The Operating Position must be within the permitted Vertical Distance of the Summit, as defined in Rule 3.5. The terrain between the operating position and the actual Summit must not fall below the permitted Vertical Distance.

There is a significant saddle between Engineer Mountain and Darley Mountain that falls below the 75 foot vertical distance used in Colorado. I have deleted the activation from the SOTA database.

Which provides us with another lesson learned: Read and understand the SOTA rules.

Gear Up for the June VHF Contest!

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This weekend is the ARRL June QSO Party (also known as The June VHF Contest). It is a great opportunity to get on the air and try out the VHF bands. In particular, 6 Meters usually has some fun sporadic-e propagation during the contest. It is a blast when that band comes alive with signals from across North America.

For complete info see: http://www.arrl.org/june-vhf-qso-party

I am going to operate from our cabin near Trout Creek Pass (DM78), focusing on 6 Meters and 2 Meters.

Check out this article that I wrote on how to work a VHF contest:
http://www.k0nr.com/rwitte/vhf_contest.html

Most of the activity will be on SSB, calling frequencies are:  50.125 MHz, 144.200 MHz, 432.100 MHz, all USB
On FM, try these frequencies:  146.55 MHz, 223.5 MHz, 446.0 MHz

Get up off the couch and have some radio fun this weekend!

73, Bob K0NR

This Spewed Out of the Internet #22

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The internet keeps spewing forth a river of bits, some of it actually useful information.

Reliable sources tell me that the date for the 2013 Hamcon Colorado has been set: June 28-30 in Estes Park, Colorado. This event is the best hamfest in Colorado and happens every 4 years. (It is the ARRL Rocky Mt Division Convention which rotates between Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico.) The date is a little later in the year than previous Hamcon Colorado’s which I think will be even better for attracting out of state visitors. The 2012 division convention will be held July 27-29 in Bryce, Utah.

The ARRL June VHF QSO Party is coming up on June 9-11. This is my favorite ham radio event of the year, since it stimulates VHF activity and (usually) has some good propagation on 50 MHz. Get on the air and have some fun!

For the EEs in the crowd, my friend Ken Wyatt (WA6TTY)  is now writing an EMC Blog for Test and Measurement World. Ken is a industry expert on Electromagnetic Compatibility and a pretty darn good author as well.

This article in The Atlantic says that people are using their WiFi SSID to share their political position (“I Heart Obama”). This is sad, really sad.

Neil Armstrong is one my personal heroes, not just because he was the first man on the moon (I mean, if you believe that really happened). He has had every opportunity to promote himself as a celebrity but instead he keeps a low profile. I like that. I came across the video of an excellent (and rare) interview with him on an Australian web site.

There is a new ham radio podcast on the air: Ham Radio Podcast. Check it out and give it a try. And, in case you haven’t found this one, check out the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast by my friend Jerry Taylor (KD0BIK).

The ARRL has launched the digital version of QST magazine. It seems to work but it’s not a very satisfying experience on my little netbook. Probably better with a large monitor. See comments from AA6E and KE9V.

– 73, Bob K0NR

A New Digital VHF/UHF Radio from Yaesu

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A while back, Yaesu published a white paper/brochure on VHF/UHF digital technology that slammed D-STAR for using GMSK modulation and stated that C4FM (4-Level FSK) is the way to go. See my previous posting on that topic. The paper also talked about DMR and APCO 25 as standards that use C4FM.
Page 14 of the document says:
At this point in time Vertex Standard believes the C4FM (4-level FSK) FDMA or TDMA are the most suitable selections for Amateur radio applications. In early 2012, we will release a C4FM (4-level FSK) FDMA Handy-Talky and a Mobile transceiver into the Amateur radio market. After our initial introduction, we plan to introduce a C4FM (4-level FSK) TDMA (2 slots) or TDMA Handy and Mobile transceiver into the Amateur market.
This led to speculation that we would see a Yaesu DMR or APCO 25 radio at the Dayton Hamvention. The topic was hotly debated in various online forums, with the prevailing theory being that it would be a DMR radio to play and compete with Motorola’s MOTOTRBO™ radios. It now seems that the initial introduction is the FT-1D, a dualband handheld that just does analog FM and a plain C4FM digital format (no DMR or APCO 25 protocol).  This blog has the product brochure for the FT-1D.  (Click on “Page 1” and “Page 2” links.)
The general reaction from the ham radio community is WTF, over? I don’t know why anyone would buy a radio to use with digital C4FM modulation. This digital mode is incompatible with D-STAR, DMR and APCO 25…the most common digital formats on the VHF/UHF ham bands. The quote listed above indicates that there will be more coming from Yaesu later in the year, that includes TDMA. This could be DMR but who knows?
– 73, Bob K0NR

2012 Jeep Wrangler Radio Install

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We recently sold the old white Jeep and bought a 2012 Wrangler (JK). After quite a bit of researching and experimenting with antenna mounting options, I finally got the ham gear installed in it. My objective is to get 2 Meter and 70 cm FM capability into the vehicle, using the Yaesu FT-7800 that I pulled out of the old Jeep. The big question was what to do about the antenna. The fiberglass hardtop does not make for a good antenna ground plane. Even if it did, during the summer months, we’ll sometimes take the top off to enjoy the open air ride.

The 2012 Jeep Wrangler Sport — Can you spot the antenna?

Initially, I planned to use the Arizona Rocky Road NMO antenna mount with a Diamond dualband antenna that is a 1/2 wave on 2 Meters. The 1/2 wave does not need a ground plane, so the performance is usually better with irregular mounting structures. However, I found that this antenna combination did not clear my garage door. I don’t like to have to remove or tilt a vehicle antenna to get in/out of the garage — my experience is that it usually just gets left in the “down” position. I tried a shorter 19-inch dualband whip antenna but its performance was dismal due to these factors: lack of a ground plane, being blocked by the vehicle body and poor grounding on the spare tire carrier. By the way, the grounding issue on the tire carrier (and many other technical topics) are discussed in these online forums: WranglerForum, JK-Forum. I think the Arizona Rocky Road mount would have been my preferred way to go (with the longer Diamond antenna), except for the garage issue. One problem I ran into with that mount is that the standard NMO mounts I have (the basic mounts with the cable attached) did not handle the thick steel of the mount. I had to purchase special NMO mounts made to handle thicker metal (see TheAntennaFarm.com).

The antenna mounting bracket near the hood, driver’s side.

I abandoned the Arizona Rocky Road approach and decided to use a simple NMO mounting bracket (Laird SBTB3400) on the driver’s side hood.  Like all Wrangler antenna installations, this is a compromise. It is lower on the vehicle than I would like but it does not block the driver’s view. Other people have used a variety of “trunk lip” mounts to accomplish the same thing but be sure to check out the driver’s view before installing. Installing the mount was easy, just three holes drilled and three sheet metal screws.

The next question was where to install the radio. I took advantage of the FT-7800’s detachable control head, mounting it on the dash, while placing the radio under the driver’s seat. I attached the radio’s mounting bracket to the floor of the Jeep with two heavy sheet metal screws. This keeps the radio up off the floor in case water gets into the Jeep. However, it only provides about 1 inch of water clearance, so you hard core Jeepers that are used to flooding the interior of the vehicle during stream crossings may find this inadequate.

The radio body was installed under the driver’s seat

I have to admit that I ran into a significant problem at this point. There was not enough clearance around the radio mounting bracket to get all four of the screws installed that attach the radio to the bracket. In the end, I unbolted the drivers seat and tilted it back, which gave me room to insert and tighten the screws. More careful positioning of the radio mount might have saved me from this hassle.

It is always a bit of an adventure to find a way to route the power cable from the engine compartment to the vehicle interior. Fortunately, Jeep has made this very easy, but it is not obvious just by looking around. Fortunately, the folks on the various online forums have scoped this out and provided good advice.

I popped off the small side panel of the dash on the driver’s side, to expose a hole filled with foam (see photos).

The plastic panel on the driver’s side of the dash pops open to reveal a routing hole filled with foam

A stiff wire or coat hanger can be poked into this hole and the foam easily gives way.

A coat hanger is shown poking through the routing hole

And the coat hanger comes out the other side, right next to the antenna mount.

Coat hanger pokes through near the antenna mount

I routed the power cable and the antenna cable through this hole. I connected the power cable directly to the battery, which is the recommended approach to avoid alternator whine and other problems. I understand there is a similar routing hole on the passenger side but I did not verify that.

The last thing to figure out was where to mount the control head. Although it is a tight fit, I mounted it in front of the gear shift. (I have the 6-speed manual transmission…the automatic transmission gives you more room here.) The control head is very light, so I used stick-on Velcro (about an inch wide and four inches long) to attach it to the dash. This seems to work OK but I will admit that the attachment is just a bit wobbly…fine for turning volume and VFO knobs but the not so good for pushing buttons. Also, I’ll have to see if it shakes lose on bumpy 4WD trails.  If so, I’ll fabricate a small bracket to provide better attachment.

FT-7800 Control Head and Mike Mounted to the Dash

In the process of exploring, I did take the dash apart to figure out what my options were. In retrospect, it was probably unnecessary due to where I eventually mounted the radio and control head. I found this youtube video to be very helpful in dismantling the dash.

Initial checkout shows that the radio installation is working fine. I was pleasantly surprised that the antenna SWR was quite good (<1.5) over the bands of interest. I will use the short 19-inch whip most of the time but I can swap out other NMO mount antennas (including the Diamond dualband antenna I mentioned earlier.)

I appreciate all of the info out on the interwebz concerning JK radio installs and I am passing along what I learned to assist other folks with their Jeep installations.

– 73, Bob K0NR

Update 20 June 2012:

It turns out that the Velcro (hook-and-loop fastener) approach did not work. The Velcro attachment itself was pretty reliable but the stick-on adhesive failed after a few weeks. I used a couple of L-shaped brackets to attach the control head to the dash and it seems to be working fine. I have used Velcro successfully in past installations but in situations where the control head was positioned on top of the center console so the main purpose of the Velcro was to prevent horizontal movement. In other words, the Velcro did not have to support the entire weight of the control head, just keep it from moving around.

Update 8 June 2014:

A number of people have emailed me to ask about the sturdiness of the antenna installation. The vehicle sheet metal that the mount attaches to is not all that thick, so they are worried about putting stress on it and having metal fatigue over time. I have inspected this several times now and it is not showing any signs of wear. The antenna I use is small and lightweight so it does not put much load on the antenna mount. I would be more concerned if the antenna was massive, so keep that in mind when you choose your NMO antenna.

New Categories for ARRL VHF Contests

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The April 25th issue of Contest Update from the ARRL had this item:

The ARRL Programs and Services Committee has approved a rule change for ARRL VHF+ contests effective beginning in 2013 (not this year) to create a Single-Op FM-only category (100 W max, 50/144/222/440 MHz) and a three-band Single-Op category (100 W PEP on 50 and 144 MHz, 50 W PEP on 432 MHz). These changes will apply to the January, June, and September contests – again, beginning with the 2013 January VHF Sweepstakes.

I am always looking for ways to get more people involved in VHF contests and these two new categories may help. The basic idea is to create categories for simpler stations to participate in the contests without having to be in the same category as The Big Guns.

73, Bob K0NR