Three Tips for 2m FM SOTA

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Bob/K0NR operating from unnamed summit W0C/SP-094.

I do a lot of SOTA activating using 2m FM and have developed a few operating habits that can really make a difference. These may seem obvious but might be overlooked by operators new to the game. To get an overview of using VHF for SOTA, look at this article: How to Do A VHF SOTA Activation.

Here are three operating tips when using 2m FM for SOTA:

1. Upgrade Your Antenna

A handheld radio is commonly used for SOTA operation because it is a self-contained, compact radio. These radios always come with a rubber duck (electrically-short monopole) antenna. These antennas vary in quality but they are universally poor performers compared to a half-wave radiator. I’ve measured the effectiveness of many rubber duck antennas on 2 meters and they are somewhere between 8 and 12 dB worse than a half-wave radiator. So an easy upgrade is to use a half-wave telescoping antenna. Another popular option with a half-wave radiator is the roll-up J-pole (often called a “Slim Jim” antenna). An even better choice is a small 3-element Yagi such as the 146-3 from Arrow antenna,  which is about 6 dB better than a halfwave antenna. Keep in mind that the Yagi should be held vertically-oriented for FM operating.

2. Open Your Squelch

The squelch circuit in an FM receiver requires the signal to be large enough to flip the squelch open. When operating at weak signal levels, the squelch may mask a signal that is actually readable. A recommended technique is to just open up the squelch control and let the FM noise come through. This maximizes the opportunity to pick out that weak signal out of the noise.

3. Point Your Antenna Everywhere

If you have a directional antenna, make sure you methodically point it in a variety of directions when calling CQ. For example, with a 3-element Yagi, you should divide up the 360 degrees around you into 45-degree sections. Point north, make a call, point northeast, make a call, point east, make a call, and so forth. Also be aware that the direct path to another station may not be the strongest path. This is especially true if you have tall summits around you that can block or reflect your signal. Many times I’ve pointed in the “right direction” to work another station but then found that the signals were strongest with the antenna pointed away from the direct path. So the secret is go ahead and try different antenna orientations to maximize the signal strength, even when you know the physical direction to the other station. Sometimes the radio waves decide to take another path.

Those are my three tips for today.
Do you have any to add?

73 Bob K0NR

Is RG-8X the General Purpose Coaxial Cable?

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While doing a presentation about choosing the right coaxial cable, someone suggested that RG-8X (also called “Mini 8”) might be the best general-purpose cable for amateur radio. There is a lot to like about RG-8X. It is about 1/4-inch in diameter, and is flexible and affordable. This comment made me realize that I default to a larger cable (LMR-400 or RG-8) for everyday use and consider RG-8X as the cable for lightweight, portable applications (such as SOTA and POTA). But perhaps I am underestimating the capabilities of RG-8X.

So let’s take a look at the specs on RG-8X, using the DXEngineering RG-8X datasheet. Other manufacturers of RG-8X will have similar specs.

Power Rating

Most general-purpose amateur radio operation occurs at power levels of up to 100 watts for frequencies of 3 MHz to 54 MHz and up to 50 watts from 144 MHz to 450 MHz. I am thinking in terms of a station that has a 100-watt radio for HF and 6m and a typical 50-watt FM dual-band radio for 2m and 70 cm.

These power levels are easily handled by RG-8X. In fact, the cable is spec’d for over 1 kW for all of the HF bands. At 50 MHz, the power rating drops to 900 watts and further reduces to 400 watts at 150 MHz. DX Engineering does not specify the power at 440 MHz, so I looked at other websites and found that the power rating drops off to about 100 watts. So power handling is not going to be an issue.

Signal Loss

Signal loss may be a more significant limitation. How much loss are we going to be comfortable with? That is difficult to answer because each of us may make different tradeoffs to accomplish our radio operating objectives. As an upper bound, I hate to see the cable loss go as high as 3 dB, which corresponds to losing half the power in the cable! But living with 1 dB might be acceptable, which is 20% power loss. So let’s use that.

(Someone reading this is thinking: 3 dB is only half an S-unit, it won’t matter that much. To which I say: it won’t matter unless you are operating near the noise floor and 3 dB is enough loss to have your signal disappear.)

The table above shows the loss in dB per 100 feet. At 100 feet, the loss creeps up to 1.5 dB at 30 MHz. Let’s stretch our 1 dB rule of thumb to 1.5 dB, which means the loss is reasonable for all the HF bands using a 100-foot cable. At 50 MHz, the loss increases to 2.3 dB/100 feet, so to stay within 1 dB or so, we would need to limit our cable length to 50 feet. At 150 MHz, the loss rises to 3.8 dB/100 feet so we should keep our cable length less than about 25 feet. We don’t have a spec for the loss at 450 MHz but checking other websites reveals a typical loss of 6.6 dB/100 feet at 400 MHz. A 25-foot cable at 450 MHz will have a little over 1.6 dB loss.

So now the problem becomes clear: signal loss at high frequencies will be the limiting factor. (This is why I tend to grab a larger cable because I’m often operating above 50 MHz.)

Conclusions

So what can we conclude in very broad terms? Is RG-8X a good choice for a “general purpose” coaxial cable? I am going to say “Yes, But.” The key issue is signal loss and that is driven by the frequency being used and the length of the cable. So YES, RG-8X is a good general-purpose coaxial cable BUT watch out for signal loss and cable length on the higher bands.

Here’s my Rules of Thumb for this cable:

For HF, RG-8X is great for all bands with cable lengths up to 100 feet (maybe longer).
For 6m, RG-8X is good with a cable length of up to 50 feet.
For 2m and 70 cm, RG-8X is good with a cable length of up to 25 feet.

In all cases, checking the manufacturer’s specs and doing your own calculations is recommended. For a slightly deeper look at coaxial cables, see Hey, Which Coaxial Cable Should I Use? 

73 Bob K0NR

Kilo Zero Naval Reserve

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I don’t usually get pulled into historical investigations, but I recently found something interesting about my call sign, KØNR. I received this vanity call in April 2002. Before me, Craig Larson W3MS held this call sign starting in 1975. These are the only two entries in the FCC database (Universal Licensing System).

The story starts with me poking around the Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications (DLARC), an online archive of radio communications media. I search on “K0NR” and got a number of hits, including an entry from a 1962 Callbook. Back in the olden days, ham radio callsigns and contact info were published in a thick book, kind of like a phone book.

The callsign was listed with “USNR” in the name or organization field. I wasn’t sure what USNR meant so I asked for help via Twitter. Quite a few people came back with “United States Naval Reserve”, which did turn out to be correct. The graphic below is from the 1962 call book and it has multiple callsigns labeled USNR and one labeled USN.

Then Jason W5IPA came up with a page from the July 1949 issue of QST.This article shows there were many amateur call signs assigned to naval reserve stations.

Click to access QST-1949-07.pdf

Then N8URE poked around and came up with this from a 1960 telephone book:

I suspect the 5-digit telephone number is long been obsolete. There still is an address for the Naval Reserve in Dubuque but it is on Jet Center Drive, near the airport.

So there you have it: it was common for Naval Reserve centers to have amateur radio call signs assigned to them. For obvious reasons, they tended to have NR in the call sign. K0NR was assigned to the station in Dubuque, IA.

Thanks for the help from: W5IPA, N8URE, K8BCR, K4ZDH

73 Bob, Kilo Zero Naval Reserve

Announcing: Extra Class License book

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Followers of this blog know that I like to write stuff. My work shows up in many different venues, with a variety of purposes, but mostly I write with the goal of explaining technical topics to help people learn. My most recent project is co-authoring an Extra Class license book with Stu/W0STU for Ham Radio School.

Building on the successful formula of the popular Technician & General License Courses from Ham Radio School, we’ve crafted an Extra License Course that…

  • Prepares you to ace the exam
  • Imparts valuable practical knowledge
  • Is easy to digest
  • Serves as a handy future reference

It’s everything you expect from a Ham Radio School course:

  • Explains all 621 Extra exam question items.
  • Over 230 professionally crafted instructional illustrations.
  • Bite-sized topical sections in conceptual building block sequence.
  • Free online quizzes, section-by-section, and comprehensive practice exams.
  • Tons of free online learning supplements, section by section, including video, audio, articles and links.

Our goal with the book is to have you learn the exam material, not just memorize questions.

73 Bob K0NR

How About An Icom IC-905?

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Being an enthusiast for bands above 50 MHz, I suppose I should weigh in on the new IC-905 from Icom. The street price for the basic unit is ~$3500, with various options and accessories at additional cost.

Let’s be clear about one thing, this radio is one impressive piece of technology. There is no other radio on the market that comes close to covering these VHF/UHF/SHF bands: 144, 430, 1200, 2400, and 5600 MHz (and optional 10 GHz). I won’t mention all of the features and specs covered here. I really appreciate that Icom is investing in equipment for VHF and higher, as evidenced by the IC-9700 and this radio.

For me, there are two main uses I would consider for the IC-905: Summits On The Air (SOTA)  and base station use:

SOTA

I focus on VHF/UHF for SOTA with 144 MHz always carrying the load in terms of making radio contacts. Lately, I have put more effort into 432 MHz and 1.2 GHz. I’ve also been trying to get out of the FM rut and work more SSB and CW on those bands. I really should get going on a portable digital station for FT8 and other modes. I have a good collection of gear to choose from, ranging from basic 5-watt FM handhelds to an IC-705 and an IC-9700. OK, the IC-9700 is a bit large to drag up most summits but I have taken it on some easy hikes and drive-up summits. Joyce/K0JJW and I also have a pair of Alinco triband handheld radios (DJ-G7T) that have 1.2 GHz FM. These radios are popular with SOTA enthusiasts due to their affordability and compact size.

What does the IC-905 offer for SOTA? Well, obviously it is a reasonable way to get on 5 or 6 bands with all modes. However, I already have the IC-705 that covers 144 and 432 MHz (and 50 MHz). Having CW/SSB on 1.2 GHz is very attractive to me but 2.4 GHz and 5.6 GHz are rarely used for SOTA. Sure, maybe the introduction of the IC-905 will change that. Maybe, but probably not. Someone commented in an online forum that you better buy two IC-905s and loan one out so you have someone to work. For my interests, I would much rather have a VHF/UHF-only variant of the IC-705 that covers the 50, 144, 440, and 1200 MHz bands. But I have come to accept the fact that radio manufacturers don’t develop radios just for me.

Base Station

The other option is to use the IC-905 to get on the higher bands from my home station. I am in the process of building a VHF+ station at our cabin in the mountains, which is in a good VHF/UHF location. Honestly, my focus is on getting a tower up with good size Yagi antennas for 50 MHz and 144 MHz. Although I have operated a lot on these bands, it has usually been from portable and rover stations, during one of the VHF contests, or as a SOTA activation. I am looking forward to having an effective permanent station on the two most popular VHF bands.  I am debating how much effort to put into the 430 MHz and 1200 MHz bands at the new station, and 2400 and 5600 MHz are not currently in my plans. Besides, the IC-9700 has me covered for 144, 430, and 1200 MHz. So right now, I don’t see the IC-905 being part of the home station, but that could certainly change with time.

Price

What about the price? $3500 is a serious piece of change but probably not unreasonable for what this radio can do. Some people have said it is worth it and some think it is way too expensive. Price is always an issue, but for me it probably doesn’t matter that much. For the most part, I am saying the radio doesn’t fit a need I have. OK, if the price were a lot lower (like $1500), it would affect my point of view. But at that price, Icom would be leaving money on the table with the folks that really want to get on 2.4, 5.6 and 10 GHz.

So my conclusion is that I probably won’t be buying an IC-905 at this time, but things can always change.

What are your thoughts?

73 Bob K0NR

Close to Denver: Green Mountain (W0C/FR-107)

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Sometimes you just want a close-in SOTA summit that is easy to access and allows you to get on the air. On the west side of greater Denver, a few summits meet that requirement. One of them is Green Mountain (W0C/FR-107), near the intersection of I-70 and C-470. This would make a good beginner summit or an easy-access summit for visitors to the area. Joyce/K0JJW and I activated this 1-point summit today.

The blue line marks our route up Green Mountain, starting at the trailhead on South Rooney Road.

Access is easy and convenient, the trailhead can be found by going west on Alameda Parkway, off C-470, then north on S Rooney Road. There is a large parking lot there and an obvious trailhead with pit toilets. From here we hiked east over C-470 into William Frederick Hayden Park. We followed signs for the Green Mountain Trail, which is basically an unimproved road, to the summit of Green Mountain (see map above). This is not the only option because the park has an extensive trail system to explore. Check out the Lakewood parks map here. Also, you can check the trail conditions here. My mapping app recorded the hike as 1.6 miles (one way) with an elevation gain of 800 feet, not very difficult but still a decent hike. On a cool Saturday afternoon, we met many hikers and mountain bikers on the trail.

The view looking west from Green Mountain.

This hike starts out with a lot of road noise from C-470 but things soon quieted down as we left the highway behind. On the summit, we could see many higher summits to the west and downtown Denver to the east. We just had a couple of handheld VHF/UHF radios with us and made a bunch of contacts on 2m FM. This is usually the case when you have line-of-sight to the Denver area, with plenty of activity on 146.52 MHz.

This summit is not the best SOTA summit in the state but if you are itching to do a SOTA activation without driving deep into the mountains, this one will work!

73 Bob K0NR

My Story on QSO Today

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About five years ago, Eric/4Z1UG interviewed me for the QSO Today podcast. He recently retrieved and remixed the audio recording and posted it on the QSO Today webpage. There are a few places where the discussion seems dated (such as the discussion of Yaesu Fusion, which was relatively new at the time.) However, for the most part, the dialog was good and still relevant. Well, at least to me, because it was my story.

During the interview, I mention some of my Elmers, including Virgil/W0INK who influenced me early in my ham career. I also talk about the concept of 360-Degree Elmering, which means that Elmers (mentors) can be found in many different places. Other topics include: Summits On The Air, Colorado 14ers,  the Tri-Lakes Monument Radio Association (W0TLM), repeaters, DMR in Colorado. There is a plug for Ham Radio School, where I continue to help out. Somehow we got on the topic of lists in amateur radio: DXCC entities, SOTA summits, states, etc.

Anyway, you may find it interesting.

73 Bob K0NR

Another AI Blog Post: Who is Bob K0NR?

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Here is another lazy attempt by me at generating a blog post using ChatGPT. This time I asked the machine to “tell me about Bob Witte K0NR”. I figured there are quite a few things available in the public domain about me, so it would be interesting to see what the AI came up with. Here’s the result with [my comments] inserted.

Bob Witte, also known by his callsign K0NR, is an experienced and respected ham radio operator who has been licensed since the mid-1970s. He is based in Colorado, USA and is known for his contributions to the amateur radio community. [I like the sound of this.]

Bob has a passion for promoting amateur radio and encouraging others to get involved in the hobby. He is a regular contributor to the popular ham radio blog, “The KØNR Radio Site,” where he shares his experiences and knowledge with other hams. He also co-hosts the “HamRadioNow” video podcast series, which covers a wide range of topics related to amateur radio. [Correct on my blog, but I don’t co-host any type of podcast.]

Bob is an active member of several ham radio clubs and organizations, including the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB). He has served in various leadership roles within these organizations and has been recognized for his contributions to the amateur radio community. [Yes on the ARRL, but I am not an RSGB member.]

Bob’s interests in ham radio include VHF/UHF weak signal work, contesting, and digital modes. He is also an avid outdoorsman and enjoys portable operations from remote locations. He has a strong interest in emergency communications and is involved in several emergency communication organizations, including the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES). [Not too bad, but my involvement in ARES and other emcomm groups has faded quite a bit.]

Overall, Bob Witte K0NR is a highly respected and knowledgeable ham radio operator who has made significant contributions to the amateur radio community. [Well, I like the sound of this part.]

I would like to get under the hood of ChatGPT to find out how they connected me with HamRadioNow and the RSGB. These are two statements that can easily be checked and found to be false.

73 Bob K0NR

Blogging With AI (ChatGPT)

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Sorry that I have not been posting much on my blog. I have several other projects consuming my time and this blog has been neglected.

Then, it hit me: I should just let ChatGPT, a free artificial intelligence (AI) platform that is getting a lot of attention, write my blog for me. All the Cool Kids are Using It. I just entered “Please write my next blog post about VHF ham radio” and this is what I got back:

VHF Ham Radio: Exploring the World Above 50 MHz

When most people think of ham radio, they usually picture a person sitting in a dark room, talking into a large radio with a huge antenna. However, ham radio can be much more than that, especially when you start exploring the VHF bands.

VHF, or Very High Frequency, refers to the portion of the radio spectrum between 30 and 300 MHz. This includes the 6-meter (50 MHz), 2-meter (144 MHz), and 70-centimeter (440 MHz) bands, which are commonly used by amateur radio operators for local and regional communication.

One of the main advantages of VHF ham radio is that it allows for much greater range than the traditional HF bands (below 30 MHz). This is because VHF signals travel mostly in a straight line, and are less affected by the ionosphere and other atmospheric conditions that can impact HF propagation.

In addition to traditional voice communication, VHF ham radio operators also use a variety of digital modes such as Packet Radio, APRS, and D-STAR, which allow for the exchange of data and information over the airwaves.

Another popular VHF activity is contesting, which involves making as many contacts as possible in a short period of time. Contesting can be a fun and exciting way to improve your operating skills and test your equipment.

VHF ham radio is also a great way to get involved in emergency communication and public service. Many amateur radio clubs and organizations work closely with local authorities to provide communication support during emergencies and events.

If you’re interested in exploring the world of VHF ham radio, there are a few things you’ll need. First, you’ll need a radio that covers the VHF bands. There are many options available, from handheld transceivers to base stations with large antennas.

You’ll also need an antenna that is specifically designed for VHF operation. These antennas are typically shorter and more compact than HF antennas, and are available in a variety of types and configurations.

Finally, you’ll need to obtain a ham radio license from the FCC. The process is relatively straightforward and involves passing a written exam that covers basic radio theory, regulations, and operating procedures.

In conclusion, VHF ham radio offers a world of opportunities for communication, experimentation, and public service. Whether you’re a seasoned operator or a newcomer to the hobby, there’s always something new to discover on the VHF bands.
[ end of ChatGPT article]

How many factual errors did you spot?

73 Bob K0NR

Most Active SOTA Summits in Colorado

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Previously, I wrote that Mount Herman (W0C/FR-063) is the most radio-active summit in Colorado. Here is a fresh look at the data, with seven Colorado SOTA summits that have at least 100 activations. The W0C page on sotl.as is quite handy for viewing this information. Mount Herman still leads the pack by a wide margin, with many activations by Steve/WG0AT.

A view of Pikes Peak from Mt Herman.

Pikes Peak is still in second place but Genesee Mountain is essentially tied with it. Pikes Peak is a 14er but has a road to the top and most of those activations are probably aided by a vehicle. Genesee is a much lower, easy-to-access summit just west of Denver. Chief Mountain has edged out Mt Evans for fourth place.

The summit formerly known as Squaw Mountain has been renamed Mestaa’ehehe Mountain (W0C/PR-082). There is a gated road to the top so most activators hike that road.

Thorodin Mountain made the list as it seems to be gaining in popularity, with Carey/KX0R as a frequent activator.

Most of these summits are in the Front Range section of W0C, close to the major cities which aids their popularity. The other two are listed in the Park Range and the Sawatch Range, but they are also not far from the large urban areas.

First in North America

In North America, Mount Herman is second to Mount Davidson (W6/NC-423) which currently has 522 activations, many of them by Ellliot/K6EL. Davidson is a small summit in the middle of San Francisco, so it has easy access for a large population. This video by W6DFM provides a tour of that summit.

So that’s your update on SOTA activations in Colorado.

73 Bob K0NR

Top Five K0NR Blog Posts for 2022

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Closing out 2022, here are the top five blog posts at k0nr.com during the year. Some people may see this as a lazy way of creating one more blog post for the year without much effort and they would be right.

Top Five Blog Posts

Leading the list is this blog post…a perennial favorite that seems to make the top five each year. This particular article is tuned for Colorado but it also provides a link to an article that covers the topic for the USA.

Choose Your 2m Frequency Wisely

This is another popular article that provides an introduction to 2m SSB operating.

Getting Started on 2m SSB

In third place, this post explains how the FCC rules get in the way of having one radio that does everything.

One Radio To Rule Them All (Ham, GMRS, FRS, MURS)?

This older April Fools article from 2019 jumped into fourth place this year. I am not sure why it suddenly popped onto the scene but I think it is a fun article as long as you don’t take it seriously.

Radio Club Petitions FCC To Fix Call Area Confusion

In fifth place is one of my favorites, an article that encourages hams to “make some noise on 2m FM.”

Go Ahead and Call CQ on 2m FM

Editors Choice

Just for good measure, I am including one more post that I think is notable. This one promotes the idea of the North America Adventure Frequency (146.58 MHz), which is working out nicely.

North America Adventure Frequency: 146.58 MHz

Also, take a look at this post:

How’s That North America Adventure Frequency Working?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

73 Bob K0NR

Microphone Hanger for Backpacks

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My standard SOTA setup is a Yaesu FT-90 compact VHF/UHF transceiver stuffed into a fanny pack with its Bioenno battery pack. The fanny pack is a pretty nice flyfishing pack that I position on the front side of me so I can easily see and operate the radio. I am usually holding the 2m or 70 cm Yagi antenna and talking on the microphone.

Clip for microphone
These clips used to be quite common on older cellphones (pre-Smartphone) and they fit the standard microphone button.

I’ve been looking for a way to clip the microphone onto the pack. Typically, what happens now is I drop the microphone and it gets banged up when it hits the rocky ground. I needed a way to easily hang it on the side of the pack. I recalled having an old cellphone belt clip that accepts the standard button on the back of a mobile microphone, but I couldn’t locate it. However, I did find one on Amazon.

Typical Yaesu mobile microphone hanging from the clip.

I clipped it onto my fanny pack and the Yaesu microphone hangs quite nicely on it. This clip can be used for other applications…anywhere you want to hang a microphone onto a backpack, belt, or whatever. Depending on your station configuration, this may be useful for all kinds of portable operating: SOTA, POTA, and satellites.

73 Bob K0NR

Who Does VHF SOTA?

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Who really uses the VHF and higher bands (>50 MHz) for Summits On The Air? Last year, I pulled some data from the SOTA database and provided some analysis.

Looking at VHF/UHF SOTA Data

Here is the short story:

Roughly 20% of the SOTA contacts worldwide are on VHF/UHF frequencies and about 90% of these are on 2m FM.

So that’s the information that is in the official SOTA database. For SOTA, I pretty much operate on the VHF/UHF bands so over time I’ve noticed that four types of operators use VHF/UHF for SOTA. Of course, this is based on my own observations, mostly in Colorado but also in other states.

Beginners

Many newer hams or new-to-SOTA hams just grab their handheld radio and go do a SOTA activation. This makes a lot of sense, assuming there is reasonable 2m FM simplex activity around. Summits that are within VHF range of large population areas usually work quite well. A Technician license is sufficient to have fun with this mode (both activating and chasing). If you are new to ham radio, like the outdoors, and have SOTA summits in your area, this is a fun activity to pursue!

HF+VHF Ops

Many SOTA activators are after longer distance contacts so they naturally gravitate to the HF bands. Some leave VHF behind, as they focus on HF operating. However, many SOTA activators and chasers keep a VHF radio in their toolkit, often treating it as an add-on to their HF activity. Sometimes the VHF radio becomes the fail-safe mode if things are not working well on the HF bands. Sometimes, I hear activators say something like “the HF gear was just not working for me today, so I had to use my HT to log four contacts.”

Non-SOTA Ops

There are quite a few hams out there on 2m FM that are not really focused on SOTA. They like to hang out on 2m FM simplex, especially 146.52 MHz, to chat with whoever comes along. In the backcountry, this may include hikers, snowshoers, skiers, 4WD enthusiasts, campers, etc. It also includes hams just hanging around the shack with a radio or scanner monitoring 2m FM. Announce that you are on top of a summit and these folks are happy to contact you.

VHF Enthusiasts

Finally, there are VHF/UHF enthusiasts that like the combination of higher frequencies and mountaintop operating. The effect of Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT) has a huge impact at these frequencies. A 5-watt handheld (HT) might be limited to a few miles on flat terrain, but from the top of a summit, the range extends dramatically (50 to 100 miles). Improve your station and 200-to-300-mile contacts are achievable. Most of this action is still on 2m FM but adding in additional bands (70 cm, 23 cm) and modes (CW, SSB) provides another challenge. Chasers are included in this category as well…there are VHF/UHF enthusiasts that are challenged by working distant summits from home.

Summary

These are the four categories of folks I usually encounter on the VHF/UHF bands when doing SOTA. Do these match your experience? What did I miss?

73 Bob K0NR

Ham Radio Gamification

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Setting operating goals has been useful for me in ham radio. They often provided a reason or incentive for me to get on the air and make some contacts. I followed the typical award sequence of Worked All States (WAS), Worked All Continents (WAC), DX Century Club (DXCC), and so forth. I wrote about it here: Pursue Radio Operating Goals.

Gamification

Over time, I’ve come to realize that some amateur radio activities include the elements of gamification. Gamification is a hot topic in user interface design, online learning, and other computer-based systems. The basic idea is to incorporate gaming techniques into activities to increase user engagement. From Wikipedia:

Gamification techniques are intended to leverage people’s natural desires for socializing, learning, mastery, competition, achievement, status, self-expression, altruism, or closure, or simply their response to the framing of a situation as game or play.

Gamification commonly uses these elements (also from Wikipedia):

Game design elements are the basic building blocks of gamification applications. Among these typical game design elements, are points, badges, leader-boards, performance graphs, meaningful stories, avatars, and teammates.

This article discusses some of the principles involved and Dennis/AD6DM wrote this piece on the topic: The Gamification of Ham Radio.

Summits On The Air

I first became aware of this topic after I became involved in Summits On The Air (SOTA). Before SOTA was a thing, I was often found on the top of some summit making radio contacts. So when SOTA was established in Colorado (W0C), I thought “this is interesting but I am already doing it.” It did strike my fancy enough that I started submitting logs into the SOTA database. Oh, guess what, many of my mountaintop operations were the first activation for SOTA. How about that? I am the first. I win. I have bragging rights, or something.

Soon I was accumulating SOTA activator and chaser points. My first objective was to qualify for the 100-point activator certificate. (SOTA has many certificates and awards.) Achieving 100 points took me about 15 activations, so it is not too difficult but does represent an accomplishment. It did not take very long to do this and soon I was focused on 1000 points for the coveted Mountain Goat award. That goal took several years to complete, but I got it done. I decided to only use the VHF/UHF bands for the Mountain Goat award, so that was my little personal twist on that accomplishment.

We can clearly see that the SOTA program has these elements of gamification: points, badges (certificates/awards), and leaderboards. For me, the leaderboard is the Activator Role of Honour, with the Colorado (W0C) Association selected:

At the moment, I am #12 on the list. I do not aspire to be at the top of the list but I do want to be on the list, somewhere above the 1000 mark. I also like to see how my fellow W0C SOTA activators have been doing. For example, it has been fun to watch Szymon/WV0X go from zero activator points to over 1800 in a short period of time. Also, Gary/W0MNA and Martha/W0ERI are a couple from Kansas (no SOTA summits in the state) that have both made it to Mountain Goat. Not an easy accomplishment. It is cool to see that we have 19 Mountain Goats in the association and more on their way. Pretty good!

SOTA does not specifically have any teams formed as part of the program but the camaraderie of W0C is essentially a team. We share information about various summits and encourage each other when new goals are achieved. Sometimes groups of activators get together for a joint activation. (Most areas that have significant SOTA activity also have this community/team effect.)

Parks On The Air

Recently, I have become involved with Parks On The Air (POTA), which also has gamification built into it. POTA has the advantage of parks being virtually everywhere. (Unlike SOTA summits, Kansas has parks to activate.) As Joyce/K0JJW and I have traveled around the country, POTA has been a satisfying activity to include in our plans.

POTA has many different award schemes, too many to mention here. I pulled up my awards page to see what I have qualified for:

The objective I have set for POTA is to activate all the parks in Colorado. I want to visit them anyway, so this is a good opportunity to blend ham radio with our travel plans. There are 187 POTA parks in Colorado, so this is going to take a while to complete.

Implications

Gamification can be used to make ham radio activity more fun and to more fully engage the participants. Traditional radio contesting is clearly a competition and has the elements of keeping score, having leaderboards (after the contest) and having teammates. However, most contests provide painfully slow feedback. The official results may not be posted until 6 months later. (The 3830 Scores website was created to bypass this delay by sharing scores immediately.) Contesting is obviously a game, so where’s the gamification?  [Update: Justin/K5EM pointed out there are contests that have online live scoring: contest.run and contestonlinescore.com ]

Perhaps your radio club (or just your group of ham friends) can use gamification to have fun. You could leverage programs like SOTA and POTA to create a club activity. Pursue a club goal (activate 50 parks or summits this year), a friendly competition, whatever. POTA lets you activate with a club call while still providing credit for the operator, so that opens up some possibilities.

If you are getting stale in your ham radio operating, perhaps one of these gamified programs would be good motivation for you. It could be SOTA or POTA (both include chasing, so you can do it from home), or maybe some other program out there.

Those are my thoughts. What do you think?

73 Bob K0NR

 

What Do VHF and UHF Mean?

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Recently, I engaged in a discussion about a UHF (Ultra High Frequency) radio. It seems a ham was complaining that someone had advertised an 800 MHz radio, describing it as “UHF”. His issue was that in land mobile radio, UHF is commonly used to refer to radios in the 380 to 500-ish MHz range. I disagreed with him, saying that 800 MHz is in the UHF range. I was using the ITU definition of UHF, which is any frequency between 300 MHz to 3 GHz. The disagreement was not a big deal but it did cause some confusion. (Of course, I was right and he was wrong, most definitely.)

This got me thinking about how we toss around these terms quite loosely, even though they have precise definitions. Let’s start with the basics, the ITU definitions of radio spectrum.

LF Low Frequency 30 kHz to 300 kHz
MF Medium Frequency 300 kHz to 3 MHz
HF High Frequency 3 MHz to 30 MHz
VHF Very High Frequency 30 MHz to 300 MHz
UHF Ultra High Frequency 300 MHz to 3 GHz
SHF Super High Frequency 3 GHz to 30 GHz

You can see that the basic scheme divides up the spectrum into decades (factors of ten), aligned with frequencies that start with 3 (e.g., 3 MHz, 30 MHz, 300 MHz). If we map the amateur bands onto this system, we see that the bands from 80m (3.5 to 4.0 MHz) through 10m (28-29.7 MHz) fall into the HF range, as expected. Note that 10m almost qualifies as a VHF band, coming in just shy of the 30 MHz limit. That band does have some VHF tendencies. The 160m band (1.8 to 2.0 MHz) actually falls into the MF range even though many of us just think of it as HF.

Let’s take a look at how the US amateur bands line up with this scheme.

Amateur bands within HF, VHF, and UHF ranges. (Some omissions for legibility: 60m, 17m, 12m HF bands.) Graphic: HamRadioSchool.com

There are three VHF bands: 6m (50 to 54 MHz), 2m (144 to 148 MHz) and 1.25m (222 to 225 MHz). The UHF range includes the 70 cm (420 to 450 MHz), 33 cm (902 to 928 MHz), 23 cm (1240 to 1300 MHz), and 13 cm (2300 to 2450 MHz) bands.

The two most commonly used bands in the VHF/UHF region are 2m and 70cm. These bands are home for many FM repeaters, FM simplex, SSB simplex, and plenty of other modes. Common dualband transceivers, both mobile and handheld, operate on the 2m and 70cm bands. These radios are so common that we often refer to them as VHF/UHF dualband radios. Accordingly, you will often hear hams refer to the 2m band as simply VHF and the 70cm band as UHF, as if VHF means 2 meters and UHF means 70 cm. I know I’ve been guilty of saying “let’s switch over to VHF” when I really mean “let’s go to the 2m band.” The 2m band is certainly VHF but VHF does not always mean 2 meters. Similarly, we might say “I’ll call you on the UHF repeater” when it would be more precise to say “I’ll call you on 440 MHz.”

Many times being loose with terminology doesn’t matter but there are times when using the right words can make a difference. Think about this the next time you are referring to a particular frequency band.

73 Bob K0NR

SOTA Success on Red Mountain #3

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Last year, Joyce/K0JJW and I tried to activate Red Mountain Number 3 (W0C/UR-016) for SOTA in the San Juan mountains. The map showed there was a road to the top, so we were expecting easy access. However, the road is gated off about 2 miles from the summit, requiring a hike. So we hiked almost to the summit but turned back when the thunderstorms rolled in. We retreated to safety and vowed to return another day.

Red Mountain Number 3 as viewed from Red Mountain Pass.

This week, we went back and activated the summit, along with Stu/W0STU and Liz/KT0LIZ. Red Mountain No. 3 sits just southwest of its sister summits: Red Mountain No.1 and Red Mountain No. 2. (Red Mtn 1 is also a SOTA summit, so we’ll need to activate that one sometime.)

We accessed Red Mountain 3 (RM3) by taking Highway 550 to Red Mountain Pass. The road for RM3 is County Road 14 but is not well marked. The turnoff (shown on the map above) is just south of Red Mtn Pass, going to the east (37.89587, -107.71369). County Road 14 is a narrow but easy road, barely 4WD, that leads to the gate (37.89476, -107.70774). We parked there and hiked up the road.

The sign on the gate.

I don’t usually like to hike on roads but this one turned out to be just fine. It was a nice, easy grade and was flat without a lot of rocks poking up. The sign on the gate indicates that the road crosses private property but that hikers are welcome. My GPS app shows that we hiked 2 miles one-way with 1400 vertical feet. We met about a dozen people on the hike, so this seems like a popular summit. We noted other trails and roads in the area and wondered if some of them might provide a better route but everyone we saw just used the same road that we used.

 

Stu/W0STU examines his VHF/UHF handheld, positioning it for optimum signal level

As you can see from the photos, we had excellent weather that day. This time, no thunderstorms to chase us off the peak!

The San Juan mountains are remote, with not a lot of people within VHF range. We were all using just VHF/UHF for SOTA, so I was concerned we could get skunked on making our four SOTA contacts. There are a few smaller towns within range and we might be able to work Grand Junction from there. I knew that Lloyd/W7SAO in Delta usually monitors 146.52 MHz and we worked him right away. After that, we called our fellow campers, James/KD0MFO and Vic/KD0OGE, working them mobile near Ridgway. We kept calling for a fourth contact and sure enough, Mike/KE5YF showed up on 2m FM. Mike is from Sweetwater, TX and was driving his Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) over Engineer Pass. So we made our four contacts to qualify for SOTA points.

Traditional summit photo: Stu/W0STU, Liz/KT0LIZ, Joyce/K0JJW, Bob/K0NR

 

Liz and Joyce are hiking on a typical stretch of the road.
Bob/K0NR operating 2m FM for SOTA. (Photo: W0STU)

The four of us had a great day on the summit. We took our time and enjoyed the hike and the radio operating. The easy access and excellent views from the top make this an attractive SOTA summit if you are traveling in this area.

73 Bob K0NR

Ham Radio School Does Video!

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I’ve been teaching ham radio license classes with our local radio club for many years now using the Ham Radio School books, written by my friend Stu Turner (W0STU). We use a fast-paced two-day format that strives for efficient learning…go fast but have the students actually learn something. Towards that end, we were frustrated with the existing license books and online material available: they either just “taught the exam” or overwhelmed the student with too much detail. Stu ended up writing the Technician license book that solves this problem. It is easy to read and covers just enough of the material so that the student actually learns about ham radio.

Now Ham Radio School has moved to the next level, offering an online Technician class based on high-quality video training. Stu is an excellent instructor and very competent at explaining the key concepts, so the videos are easy to watch and digest. Different people have different learning styles, so the Ham Radio School learning system includes the highly successful Technician book, online videos, and an extensive set of support materials on the hamradioschool.com website. Of course, these different elements are integrated together and present the ham radio concepts in a consistent manner.

This is a snapshot from the Ham Radio School website showing the recommended study flow for getting your Technician license.

Stu has developed a video production system that really works, using professional computer graphics tools. The videos are easy to watch, proceeding at a decent pace. If you miss something, you can always back up the presentation and look at it again.

The Ham Radio School videos are professionally produced and easy to watch and understand.

You can try out the first four Technician lessons at no charge and then decide if this approach works for you. The entire video course is available for an introductory price of $15.95. (The Ham Radio School book is available for $19.95). Depending on your learning style, you might just want to read the book, view the video class, or do both. Your choice.

73 Bob K0NR

Disclosure: I have contributed content to the Ham Radio School website, provided technical consulting on the General License class book, and have received compensation for this work.

 

Why is a 14,000 Foot Summit Not Valid for SOTA?

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There are over 50 summits in Colorado with an elevation of 14,000 feet or higher. These are commonly called fourteeners (or 14ers) and get a lot of attention from outdoor enthusiasts. Some folks have climbed all of them, which quickly leads to the question of What Is A Fourteener? This question is really about what is a distinct fourteener versus when is a summit just a subpeak of another fourteener. The Colorado Mountain Club list of 14ers shows 54 peaks, while other lists include a few more summits. Doing a search on Lists Of John reveals there are 74 locations in the state that exceed 14,000 feet. What constitutes “the correct list of 14ers” is often debated in the climbing community but I won’t try to sort that out here. I’ll use the Colorado Mountain Club list of 54 summits for this posting.

Summits On The Air (SOTA)

Obviously, if these are the 54 highest summits in Colorado, they are all going to be SOTA summits, right? Not so fast, Sir Edmund. The SOTA program generally requires summits to have 150 meters (492 feet) of prominence, a measure of the elevation of a summit relative to the surrounding terrain. From peaklist.org:

Prominence is the elevation of a summit relative to the highest point to which one must descend before reascending to a higher summit. 

A simple graphical representation of prominence.

There are exceptions in the SOTA program that allow for summits of 100-meter prominence, but this does not apply to Colorado. Paul/VK5PAS has a webpage that explains prominence as applied to SOTA.

In recent history, the folks that set up the SOTA Associations have done a great job of sorting through what is a valid summit. In the US, there are excellent databases of geographic information that make this possible. Which is to say that in a particular SOTA Association, a consistent method is applied for determining “what is a summit”? This is all documented for Colorado in the W0C SOTA ARM here: https://sotastore.blob.core.windows.net/arms/ARM-W0C-3_3.pdf

Lincoln, Bross, Democrat, and Cameron

Now, back to the Colorado 14ers. There is a popular trek that allows a climber to summit four 14ers in one day, without extreme effort. The trail starts at Kite Lake, heads up to Mount Democrat (14155 ft), then over to Mount Cameron (14222 feet), and on to Mount Lincoln (14293 feet). The return trip passes over Mount Bross (14178 feet) and back down to Kite Lake. (There have been access issues in recent years concerning private property on this loop, so be sure to check that out and respect any closures).

Map showing the area around Mount Democrat, Mount Cameron, Mount Lincoln, and Mount Bross.

If we check out the official list of SOTA summits, we will find Mount Democrat (W0C/SR-059) and Mount Lincoln (W0C/FR-001) listed but not Mount Cameron and Mount Bross. Per Lists of John, Cameron and Bross have prominences of 152 and 315 feet. The col between Lincoln and Cameron, does not drop down enough to provide Cameron with sufficient prominence. Same with the col between Cameron and Bross. Mount Lincoln has the highest elevation of those three summits and wins the honor of being listed as a SOTA summit. Note that Democrat, with the lowest elevation of the four summits, does qualify for the SOTA list due to its 770 feet of prominence. (There is a big enough dip between Democrat and Cameron.)

Now back to the list of 54 Colorado Fourteeners: Mount Cameron is not on the list but it often shows up on other 14er lists. Mount Bross is shown on the list of 54 but is not a SOTA summit. There are seven other Colorado 14ers that don’t qualify for SOTA: Crestone Needle, El Diente Peak, Tabeguache Peak, Sunlight Peak, Ellingwood Point, Little Bear Peak, and North Maroon Peak.

You don’t need to become an expert on calculating prominence to do SOTA activations. Really, the key thing is to check the SOTA list and make sure your intended summit is on the list before you hit the trail.

73 Bob K0NR

Rito Alto Peak SOTA W0C/SC-004

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Rito Alto Peak is an easy 13er about 15 miles west of Westcliffe, CO in the Sangre De Cristo mountain range. This summit caught my attention because it was near Hermit Pass, one of the highest passes in Colorado at 13047 feet. We’ve been taking the Jeep up the highest roads in Colorado, and Hermit Pass was on The List. Looking around on the map, I noticed that Rito Alto Peak was an unactivated 10-point SOTA summit right next to the pass. Not only that, the summit is in the San Juan National Forest (K-4404), enabling a POTA activation as well. So how could we not do a trip up there?

Bob/K0NR climbing up Rito Alto Peak near Hermit Pass

Rito Alto Peak (W0C/SC-004) and Hermit Pass are about 15 miles straight west of Westcliffe, CO. To get there, take CR 160 (Hermit Road) west and then turn south onto FS 160. The turn-off is easy to spot and begins the 4WD portion of the trip. The 4WD road is not particularly difficult from a technical point of view, but the road is very rocky for most of the 9 miles. Every once in a while, the road has a smoother section, only to be followed by lots of rocks. I call these roads “moderate but annoying.” Any real 4WD vehicle should be able to handle this. We drove our stock Jeep Wrangler and it did fine. This is not a road for Suburu-class SUVs.

To get to Hermit Pass, head west from Westcliffe, then follow Hermit Road south.

At the end of the 9 miles of bouncing up the road, we parked at Hermit Pass and started the climb there. (It took us about 2 hours to drive this road.) Of course, you can always hike some or all of the road. Useful climbing info can be found here on 14ers.com. Hermit Peak, to the south of the pass, is NOT a SOTA summit. However, further south is Eureka Mountain (W0C/SC-007), which could also be hiked from Hermit Pass.

Climbing route shown in blue.

The figure above shows the track of our climbing route. There is no trail and there is plenty of talus to step over and around. The route is not critical but we tended to stay on top of the ridge line, sometimes deviating to find a better path. The distance was 0.7 miles one way with an elevation gain of 700 feet. So not too difficult, except for climbing over rocks. Trekking poles are highly recommended.

We spotted three bighorn sheep on the next ridge over.

On the summit, we set up our normal 2m FM station: the Yaesu FT-90 transceiver with 3-element 2m Yagi antenna, and started calling on 146.52 MHz. Joyce made the first contact so she has the honor of doing the first SOTA activation from this summit. You Go Girl!

Bob/K0NR and Joyce/K0JJW on the summit of Rito Alto Peak.

I was a bit worried about getting enough contacts to qualify for SOTA points but that turned out to not be a problem. We heard strong signals from the Buena Vista area (W0BV, KD0MRC) and Florrisant (K0MGL). We also made some Summit-to-Summit QSOs (S2S): WV0X (St Charles Peak, W0C/SC-031), W0ADV (Snowmass Mountain, W0C/WE-003), and W0CP (McQuaid Butte, W0C/SP-109). We also worked K0EEP, K9RZK, W9RIK, and W9NDR. Our Best DX for the day was 104 miles, with W0ADV on Snowmass. Thanks for all of the 2m FM QSOs!

Just one of the many fantastic views from the mountain.

As shown in the photos, the weather was excellent. We took our time on the mountain and never saw signs of thunderstorms. The climb down was easy and we returned to the Jeep. Then it was 9 more miles bouncing down the road and on to Westcliffe for a late lunch. What a great day for SOTA + POTA + Jeep trip.

73 Bob K0NR