Hawaii SOTA and POTA Failure!!! Did Solar Flux set me up?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- After my successful activations of POTA on the Big Island and the SOTA at Koko Head a couple of Novembers ago I had another chance to go to Oahu and try a 2fer POTA and combination SOTA on Makapu’u Head just down the road from Koko Head. I head out the first day and forget a crucial cable that will allow the use of my external battery for the IC-705. The only thing I have now is the internal battery which will only allow 5 watts total transmit and won’t really last longer than about 1.5 hours of operating time.
Once on top of the summit I start on SSB and get a station in Alaska. Nice, I’m on the way and then it goes quiet. I switch over to FT8 and no contacts. Of course the battery dies so I decide to head out. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow but I’m already stiff by the time I get back to the hotel. I do wake up and guilt myself into giving it another try and head back out this time with the correct power cord to allow usage of my external 4.5 Ah battery and 10 watts. Hindsight will show the solar flux for the last 2 days to be around 170 and that is more than likely why after 3.5 hours on the 2nd day I did not receive even 1 contact on any band and SSB or FT8 or FT4.
I will leave this activation with doubt in my mind but relief knowing I had previously done my POTA and SOTA for this state a year or so before so I’m not that upset but definitely sore for going up the hill twice with only one contact.
sorry it didn’t work out, but you gave a great effort and you looked fantastic doing it. Love the shirt lol.. thanks for sharing your fun 73.
Hawaii is unforgiving. The antenna setup is likely to be the primary cause for not getting heard. Having a wire horizontal just a few feet off the ground is an NVIS configuration. Much of your RF energy was directed upward (high take off angle) instead of out. You need a low take-off angle to reach the mainland. Having your antenna vertical or near vertical would have helped immensely. I've activated that park/summit with a 17ft whip as a 1/4 wave vertical and with EFHW's in a near vertical sloper setup cut for 10, 15, and 20 meters. 20m dies out a little after sunrise and doesn't come back until at least mid-afternoon. 15m has been a solid performer almost 24 hours a day lately with 20m being great in the evenings. The time from 10am to 2pm usually has the poorest radio performance in Hawaii. 2pm-6pm usually has the best results for me when I activate here. 73 and aloha.
I appreciate that. I had done Koko Head before with almost the exact same setup but this time was incredibly rough. I do need to get a pole or something that I can fly with to try and help out. I’ll see if the new carbon fiber mast from Gigaparts and Mike K8MRD will work for packing in my suitcase and flying with. Thanks for the advice and the times for different bands. I will definitely try those the next time I’m on the island. Ham-Solo K0FYR
Hahaha….thanks Kevin. It was a disappointment to go up twice for that with the sharp lava rocks. I just did a summit and a seperate 3fer POTA in Quebec City Canada that went much easier using QRP. Will post that video in a couple of weeks after a Vermont activation SOTA/POTA I also did with my son. Ham-Solo K0FYR