All being well hope to be up Kitt Hill tomorrow
Lovely place to drive up too and be interesting to test out the new Portable set up I have recently put together
If it all goes ahead will put up on alert prior to going
Info
SOTA G/DC-003 Kitt Hill
WAB SK-37
main freq be 20m but may be on 40m, 15m and 10m as well see how things go
M3FEH/P
remember will be only running 10w
through inverted V G5RV half Home brew
Trio 120 V and astatic road devil mike
can,t see anywhere it states this, ok in some cases a car you ain’t getting up there just looked through rules states nothing about NOT operating from car
would have thought if your using mobile antenna on the car be mobile
But in my case it is a portable set up and the car is used as a weight to hold the tenna stand to support the main mast and yet one can take the portable table with me and sit out side if weather continues like this
this hill is well acressable via car and is a lovely view of surrounding areas too
any one else seen this so called rule please would like to see it for myself where stated on the sota rule book
Yep got that
will be taking me portable table with me and some weights for the tenna stand and the power supply is seperate anyways its a little power house unit actually this may work out better
as then can get into this little section above the car park and be out of the way
thanks again folks one is new to this
all advise greatly thankfull for
Just curious Karl, this is not a portable generator is it ? I believe these are not allowed either if I am correct on this. Otherwise I would have certainly used one recently.
hi
no not genny either
its a unit thats has batterys in dry celled its used for pumping up types restarting ya car etc
used one before on another errhemmm band with a 40w TX unit and it lasted all day all will be reveiled tomorrow will take plenty photos and and yes do beleive pet or des gens not allowed either anyways be heavy hauling up mountions plus fuel bugger that stick to me dry cell PSU unit
But it is called a little power house unit you can charge off via USB has inverter to 240v and little LED lights niffty little thing but will be running direct off the 12v side of it
roll on tommorrow
You must have missed it. Besides the prohibition in 3.1, there is:
3.7.1.3 “The method of final access to the summit must be non-motorised. Operations must not be in, or in the vicinity of a motor vehicle. No part of the station may be connected in any way to the motor vehicle.”
3.7.1.6 “All equipment must be operated from a portable power source (batteries, solar cells, etc). Operation is expressly forbidden using permanently installed power sources or fossil fuel generators of any kind.”
I thought that would what you were talking of, that will be absolutely fine for SOTA if a little on the heavy side.
You are not the first & I doubt you will be the last to make the mistake of assuming car operation is permitted. As you mentioned earlier, it is better to find out now, before you go up the hill.
As far as antenna supports go, it is best to be away from a vehicle & not use that in any way to support your antenna. However things like fence posts, trig points, walls are permitted & this may be an easier way of erecting the mast to support your antenna.
As for taking a table to operate from, that will be a luxury as most activators simply make use of the terrain around them. I take it you are quite new to SOTA, in which case have a look at some of the photos in the SOTA Flickr group or search for SOTA on Youtube & you will get an idea of how other activators set up & operate.
Even if you don’t get any tips or hints from them you will see some breathtaking scenery
Best of luck with the activation & I hope to work you.
cheers mark
up on Kitt hill on a clear day you get some cracking views of surrounding cornwall
and thanks to all for pointing out rules etc
will park car well away from operations and yes its batterys NOT CARS
Good thing about this site the car park is NOT far way from the summit its self
but would love to operate from top of that tower thats there that must be at least 50ft high
One will get many photos of course rechearging the Little power unit as we speak and the cam battery too
Please note the alert has been corrected
thanks to those pointing this out
Oh man e mails mails its unreal
But thanks to all for your info and advise
First of all this be my first
am using wot i have as this one is an easy one
But looking at ideas as further summits am looking at will have to adapt me portable kit a little to reduce the weight load etc and transporting of
getting rather interesting and mind boggling
but its enjoyable tell ya now
Right sorry folks
won’t be active today winds quite strong up there today had problems
keeping it up the mast that was needed more guy ropes etc
lesson learnt could not risk the mast falling over and to many public about one has to be safe in these matters to yourself and others around u
bit of a fail but will review in where went wrong and another day we will return
all good experince end of day bit of jaunt but enjoyable
shame lack of air time
It sounds like the sort of kit you were trying to use is perhaps not ideal for SOTA activating. Kit Hill is quite a rare summit in that there is the possibility of setting up just a few metres from your car, and as such you can take quite heavy and large equipment, and make several journeys carrying it to your operating position if necessary.
Of course, for the vast majority of summits that would not be possible, and you would need to design your station to be small and lightweight enough to be carried in your rucksack. Now if this was the case you would have probably found that the gear was also much more manageable in strong winds.
Don’t forget also that the 25m activation zone rule allows you to be up to 25m vertically lower than the actual summit for setting up. In practice, this means that you can usually drop down the sheltered side of the hill and get out of the wind. OS 1:25000 mapping is invaluable here for making sure that you remain within 25m vertically of the summit.
There are lots of options for lightweight multiband HF aerials and small yet high capacity battery packs, and you will find plenty of expertise on these things here on this reflector. If you develop your kit so that it could be comfortably carried on your back for a few miles of mountain walking, then you will probably find that it can be erected on a windy Kit Hill as well!
interesting experince for sure
will certainly have to set up better have sep portable set up for the sota
again all down to money of course
cracking view even if it was a little misty up there
Looking at wind sock masts nice 8m fibre glass one for about £20 if that can take a biggish winsock or flag it certian could hold up a G5RV half size
interesting read thank u
just been through your sota web page
well worth a visit and some cracking ideas and not bad prices
better start saving me pennys
Next time if you fancy a 2 man effort I might be able to help you out! Kitt Hill isn’t really that far from me, and I could help you set up your station then I could try and get a few with 2m FM and my MFD attached to the handheld. We could meet in Louis Tea Rooms to plan our mission
