Amateur Radio

[mtnbkr]

I did an "interesting" SOTA/POTA activation on W4V/SH-021, aka Johnnie's Knob and K-4526, The George Washington and Jefferson National Forest. This summit hasn't been activated since 2016, but the national forest has been activated several times recently (probably elsewhere). There was no trail to the summit, the entire climb was bushwacking while following a GPS to a coordinate. The activations themselves went smoothly, and I managed to make two contacts on 6m FM. There was other traffic on 6m, but it didn't seem they could hear me.

After making a couple contacts on 6m, I moved to 40m and made 8 more. Satisfied I had what I needed for the activations, I decided to pack away the HF gear and play on 6m FM for a while. I got my j-pole antenna back up in a tree and started to call CQ when I noticed a roaring sound off in the distance (maybe 100-150ys). I couldn't see anything, but my buddy, who was also doing a SOTA activation there heard it as well. Having hunted this valley for over 20 years, I'm pretty familiar with the animals that live there and there was only one thing that would make that sound, a black bear. I've come across black bears many times in that valley and elsewhere in the Blue Ridge Mtns, but they've never made a peep, just turned tail and run. This was the first time I've heard them make any vocalizations. Needless to say, we decided we should pack up and head out. We each stood watch for the other while packing up, then hiked down the ridge a bit in the opposite direction of "the sound" before heading down the mountain. The rest of the hike was non-existent, but this activation was certain memorable.

It sounded exactly like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4yEIbZY08A

Operating position and view of direction our "bear" was hailing us from (those are 15' tall rock plateaus we're on):


Chris

[mtnbkr]

I checked the location of my other 6m contact. Georgia! From the northern border of VA! With me using an HT! Must have been a helluva opening on the 6m band yesterday.

Chris

[2xAGM114]

I've got the KX2 but don't really have a 6m resonant-ish antenna and have not ever made a contact there. Are you using a random length and the KX2's ATU to get decent SWRs for 6m?

Last summer I activated a summit in southern WA, Chase Mountain W7W/WE-007 which required an overland drive in the truck and then about a mile of bushwhacking in heavy woods. Once at the top I set up my tent, built a fire and got on 2m to start my activation while intending the spend the night solo. Some time after dark I heard a sizeable pack of coyotes move through the area down the hill, maybe a hundred yards out. Not wanting to meet them face-to-face I started making the most gawd awful human howls loudly in their direction to make my presence known. I also made that fire as big as I safely could and woke up several times to repeat the process through the night. I was never so grateful to have the OMs ragchewing on the repeater down in the valley below as I fell asleep with the radio on.

Really cool experience I never want to repeat.

[mtnbkr]

I've got the KX2 but don't really have a 6m resonant-ish antenna and have not ever made a contact there. Are you using a random length and the KX2's ATU to get decent SWRs for 6m?

Last summer I activated a summit in southern WA, Chase Mountain W7W/WE-007 which required an overland drive in the truck and then about a mile of bushwhacking in heavy woods. Once at the top I set up my tent, built a fire and got on 2m to start my activation while intending the spend the night solo. Some time after dark I heard a sizeable pack of coyotes move through the area down the hill, maybe a hundred yards out. Not wanting to meet them face-to-face I started making the most gawd awful human howls loudly in their direction to make my presence known. I also made that fire as big as I safely could and woke up several times to repeat the process through the night. I was never so grateful to have the OMs ragchewing on the repeater down in the valley below as I fell asleep with the radio on.

Really cool experience I never want to repeat.

Apologies, I neglected to mention I used my Yaesu VX-7r for the 6m operations. It's a quad-band (usually listed as tri-band because the 220mhz capability frequently isn't mentioned) handheld that does 6m. It's quite a versatile little radio, but some of those capabilities aren't very useful in an HT context (such as 6m AM!)

Coyotes are common around here and I've had them around our campsites in the same valley I was in yesterday. They never mess with us and always stay just out of sight.

Chris

[2xAGM114]

Apologies, I neglected to mention I used my Yaesu VX-7r for the 6m operations. It's a quad-band (usually listed as tri-band because the 220mhz capability frequently isn't mentioned) handheld that does 6m. It's quite a versatile little radio, but some of those capabilities aren't very useful in an HT context (such as 6m AM!)

I looked at the VX-7 (and looked for) only to find it was discontinued / unobtainium. I ended up with the FT-3DR which I like for SOTA with the APRS functionality. 6m in a HT would have been cool.

[ccmdfd]

I looked at the VX-7 (and looked for) only to find it was discontinued / unobtainium. I ended up with the FT-3DR which I like for SOTA with the APRS functionality. 6m in a HT would have been cool.

Yeah, I'm brand new to the Hobby myself. Got my technician license the very first part of this month and just did General this last week.

It's funny, go on YouTube and look up Best radio for 2020. A significant number of them are no longer in production.

I'm also a happy FT3Dr owner.

[mtnbkr]

I looked at the VX-7 (and looked for) only to find it was discontinued / unobtainium. I ended up with the FT-3DR which I like for SOTA with the APRS functionality. 6m in a HT would have been cool.

I bought mine back in 2006 when I got licensed as a Tech (this was when CW was still a requirement for General and Extra). At the time I didn't want a mobile or fixed station and did (and still do) a lot of backcountry stuff, so an HT made the most since despite what folks say. I got the VX-7 because it gave me the most options for experimentation and such.

I still need to make a contact on 220mhz with it and an unscheduled contact on 6m AM (only 1w carrier, more of a stunt than something useful). I did coordinate with a buddy to do 6m AM, but I want to string up a dipole, call CQ, and get a response without prior planning.

The FT-3DR looks nice. I've only recently started messing about with APRS myself via a Mobilinked device.

Chris

[mtnbkr]

It's funny, go on YouTube and look up Best radio for 2020. A significant number of them are no longer in production.

Hams be like that. There are still those, when asked for an HT recommendation, trot out some antique from the 90s that only uses an unobtanium nicad pack. Thanks grandpa, how about a useful recommendation.

That said, I have some fairly specific requirements and think some of the older radios are better than current models for those specific use cases, but if someone was looking for a general purpose HT, there are plenty of new models to choose from (ie you want a basic dual-band FM HT, get a Yaesu FT-60).

ETA: While doing my SOTA/POTA activation yesterday, I worked a guy on 40m in Camp Lejeune, your neck of the woods.

Chris

[Duelist]

Hams be like that. There are still those, when asked for an HT recommendation, trot out some antique from the 90s that only uses an unobtanium nicad pack. Thanks grandpa, how about a useful recommendation.

That said, I have some fairly specific requirements and think some of the older radios are better than current models for those specific use cases, but if someone was looking for a general purpose HT, there are plenty of new models to choose from (ie you want a basic dual-band FM HT, get a Yaesu FT-60).

ETA: While doing my SOTA/POTA activation yesterday, I worked a guy on 40m in Camp Lejeune, your neck of the woods.

Chris

An FT-60 is still my only radio.

[Wheeler]

So as a mini update, I've managed to get a dual band, VHF/UHF antenna installed and am now able to hit local repeaters. There was a rather steep learning curve figuring out how to program the FT-897 not only for offset but, for tone activation, then get it stored into the memory. I bought a CAT (Computer Aided Transceiver) cable and and data cable and not only got computer control via a Raspberry Pi and Fldigi, but also used the data cable to build a audio on and out via a sound card to transmit and receive. I was able to pick up a couple of test messages from a cohort in NC but was not able to transmit to him. As it turns out there are a bunch of fiddly bits in the settings that have to be just right.

I head a boatload of folks up in VA today working a contest on 40M LSB. That was fun to listen to.

I'll eventually need to get a better HT but the Baofeng BF-F8HP does what i need it to for now.

No black bears to be see nor heard!