Summits on the Air (SOTA) Lessons and Another Activation - Black Mesa
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ย. 2024
- Are you into backpacking and amateur radio? Let’s take a look at my second Summits on the Air (SOTA) activation. We’re going to activate Black Mesa (W7A/MN-025) in the Tonto National Forest. With this second peak under my belt, let’s also talk about some lessons.
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Links:
1. AllTrails Map - www.alltrails....
2. W7A-MN-025 - sotl.as/summit...
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As others have said, the gear dump is always useful - your notes in this video of what you took out of the pack for this trip was very interesting to me.
A deep dive on the quick reference cards that you've created would also be of interest.
And lastly, I'd like to see more about how you are setting up the antenna. How much coax you're running, how you're connecting the antenna to the mast, the slope of the antenna, how you're securing the end of the antenna that's not at the mast, etc.
As always, great video with good information!
Thanks for the comment, William. The full gear dump video is inflight. It will be part of the Thursday night ham night line up this week. I'll be making a separate video on deploying the antenna system, soon. It was rough leaving the coffee and cook set.
Very nice video. I have the sota beams 7000 hds mast, that baby is not for toting up a mountain. I'm going to look in to the carbon fiber one. One thing I wanted to mention, a quick and dirty method to convert feet to meters is to divide by 3. So 4712 ft would be about 1600 meters roughly. Luckily here in Pa we have water everywhere (even when we don't want it), so I don't have to carry as much, and I do have a Sawyer Squeeze. 73 and have fun! KB3JC
Thank you. It’s amazing how the ounces turn into pounds. The Sawyer filtration systems are great. I actually always carry a Sawyer Mini with me. My first aid kit also has a few iodine tablets as a backup. You’re fortunate to have water in PA. We’re limited by the water here. The extra gallon of water next to my gear was left in the 4x4 for the trip back. There’s a spring that I’ll be exploring North if me which should allow me to extend a trip by a day or two. Definitely take a look at the Carbon 6. I’m running a PackTenna Mini EFHW (26 gauge wire) in a sloper configuration and haven’t had a problem. 73 de KT1RUN
We had an old saying in the Marine Corps regarding what we carried in our rucks, "ounces equal pounds, and pounds equal pain."
Thanks for your service. Pain indeed. The gear went on a diet after this experiment. Take care!
Absolutely! Bring on the gear dump! 👍🏻
You got it! It's coming this Thursday. There's a ton of gear to walk through. 73
Always enjoy seeing a good old fashion what’s in my pack gear dump video. It would be fun to compare kits. There’s always something for me to learn.
I’m shooting to make the line up for Thursday Night Radio this week. So, stay tuned for a pack dump. Let me know what I’m missing. The learning goes both ways.
Great video! Good job on getting into France! Great to see you got Gary in your log! Him and his wife W0ERI will most likely be all over in your log. I’d love to see a gear dump. My Sota backpack weighs about 26-28 pounds with water. My radio gear accounts for about 8 pounds of it. I’d like to cut some weight. On your mast, when running your antenna as a slooper, is it pretty rigid? Like how much vertical height do you feel you loose if any? On guying, I’ve used the those nite ize gear ties. Like big rubber coated twist ties, tied off to brush or saplings or the like. Unless it’s super windy or a safety concern of my mast falling and hitting someone, I don’t guy it.
I’ve been doing Sota casually for a couple of years. Other commitments just make it so I can’t get out much, but I’d love to email you and trade some tips and ideas!
Please feel free to email me. Just look me up on QRZ. My pack came in at pretty much your weight on my last activation. I was a bit lighter this time around (24-25 pounds). When the Carbon 6 is run as a slopper with the PackTenna Mini EFHW (26 gauge wire), it’s pretty rigid with a noticeable curve at the top. The last section of the mast is the only section that’s not very usable in terms of height. That section almost comes to a 90 degree angle. I’m still new to the hobby, but the performance on 20m meets my expectations in the field. 73 de KT1RUN
Great video - congrats on the activation and the DX to France!
Thanks, Ray. It was fun making a DX content on a peak with a man portable station. I'm planning on a multi-day activation in the backcountry for winter field day. Do you have plans for winter field day?
@@TheTechPrepper no plans yet - that’s the last weekend in Jan?
Nice debrief! I'm especially interested in a gear dump - in particular your APRS setup. Where I like to go backpacking in the Northwest, there is no cell coverage. I need to do a deep dive on APRS in general, and in conjunction with Summits On The Air, so any help would be greatly appreciated!
Glad you enjoyed the after action report, Rodger. I've had varying degrees of success with ARPS in the field, but it's still a very useful tool. I just put together my playlist of videos on this topic. th-cam.com/play/PLZpc6PnzmzmFzrGGowVFXd7ahp0FQSUlu.html Please note, I recorded these as I was learning APRS, but it maybe helpful as they are recorded from the perspective of a newbie. There are plenty of great videos out there. Check out Jason's channel (KM4ACK) and search for APRS. I may do a quick video solely on APRS2SOTA as it was a game changer for me. The gear dump is coming soon. Thanks for the comment. 73
Great video! Thx for the shoutout!
Any time. I appreciate the support as I’m learning the ropes.
Good morning and Merry Christmas Tech Prepper. Thanks for all the great am-radio stuff. I’m a big time noob learner so I enjoy listening and learning
Hey Sarge. Merry Christmas to you and the family. I'm glad you're following along. At some point, I should take a step back and do more of an introduction or 101 video for the non amateur radio folks. Christmas came a bit early and I received a Go Pro Here 9, so I hope that helps with the video quality (compared to the iPhone 8) and will make the action shots more engaging. Feel free to ask any questions on the radio topics or any other topic for that matter that I cover on the channel.
Great video. Balancing what you want to take and want you can dump is something that is always on my mind. I have the 10 meter fiberglass. I epoxied the top 6 sections making them 3, to stiffen them up. So I lost about 6 feet, but it would bend over that far with the lightest of weight. How is the carbon fiber?
You totally MacGyver’d your mast. What, no duct tape? The carbon fiber mast is great, but there’s a small bend even with 26 AWG wire used on the PackTenna Mini EFHW. I haven’t tried an inverted-v, but the sloper works fine with very little bend at the top.
@@TheTechPrepper #modlife LOL.
Let’s see the gear!
You got it. I’m planning for a video on Thursday.
Hi Gaston - good stuff man. Let's do a joint activation. Would love to interview you for the channel on an upcoming SOTA activation together. Hit me up!
Sounds great, Charlie. I have 2-3 peaks lined up in the same area over the next month. I may have some questions for you since you’re a local. I’ll hit you up.
JS8Call and JS8Call utilities github.com/m0iax/JS8CallUtilities_V2 will help you spot yourself with aprs2sota and also use APRS over JS8Call if you plan to use digital. JS8Call utilities simply formats the APRS message correctly for you and sends it over whatever band you use JS8Call on.
Thanks for the tip, Mark. It's nice to have a number of different options in the field for self spotting. I'll give this a try on the next field op.
HF gear Yes Please
I have a full a gear dump video in flight. The HF gear is absolutely included. Thanks for the comment. 73