Looks a bit similar to
73
Ingo
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I drove a hole in the semi-permafrost with a piece of re-bar and inserted the spike base, UHF connector and my 2.9uH coil with the 5.6M whip on top. With eight 3.5M silcone-insulated wires lying on the snow, I had no problem getting the antenna to resonate on 30 metres using my NanoVNA. I hope to be able to work the locals on my upcoming trip to ZL1.
72 de va3rr
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Update: I did the thing.
I bought a KX2, PAR-EndFedz 20m EFHW antenna, and mast. I have received everything but the mast. I clamped one end of the antenna to a sewer vent pipe on my roof (maybe 10m tall?) and draped the other end out into the yard as a “sloper,” I believe it’s called. Was on 14.300MHz and I couldn’t hear a thing nor make any contacts. I could barely make out some voices on 14.15 but it was totally unintelligible. Going to test it out with a local when I get the chance. Then when I get the mast I will attempt SOTA with it
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Congrats! Don’t be surprised if you struggle to hear anyone on 20 - you are WAY far north of most of the action. Try 17, 15, and 10 as well.
I will keep an eye out for your spots and try to make a QSO with you.
Time of day is everything Robert!
As Josh said as well. It’s a matter of being on the right HF band at the right time of day and if the propagation gods smile on you, the world is your oyster even when running low power to a limited antenna.
Don’t give up. I think your first attempt was simply bad timing.
If you can find your nearest Ionosonde in this list
https://giro.uml.edu/ionoweb/
Keep an eye out for the MUF to go high and you want to be on the band below the frequency - so if the MUF is at 18 MHz - try 20m (14MHz) and so on.
73 Ed DD5LP.
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Thanks Ed. Trying to understand this link. I think the nearest Ionosonde is Eielson. (Google the recent F35 crash at Eielson for a crazy video, BTW).
For 8 FEB 2025, at the most recent time (10:52 UTC) it tells me MUF (D) was 15.710. Would that indicate 14MHz might be good? If you had a recommendation on where to learn how to interpret this ionogram that would help. In the meantime I’ll be googling some answers. One last question, it seems these ionograms are only showing data from the recent past. If I were planning a SOTA I would want to look at a near future forecast, what would be your recommendation for that?
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A way to quickly tell if a band is open is to tune over to the FT8 frequency. If you don’t hear a cacophony of FT8, the band is probably not going to work for you.
Another strategy is to keep an eye on SOTA Watch and see what bands others are doing. This is also a good way to get Summit-to-Summit contacts =)
Another trick is to call CQ (using CW or FT8) and then take a look to see if RBN is picking you up: https://www.reversebeacon.net/
This is also a good way to test different antennas - each RBN station that picks you up gives a signal strength. You can A/B bettween antennas that you wish to test, and observe the locations and signal strengths of any stations that pick you up.
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Hi Robert your reading is correct 15MHz - 3000km MUF - try 20m.
For Europe there is a site that makes the Ionosonde data into a nice graph so you can see trends, ( PROPquest | Graphs) unfortunately, I know of no such site for North America.
The latest ionosonde data is normally between 2 and 15 minutes old and no there is no way to tell what the MUF will be tomorrow at the time you want to head to a summit.
You can look at the current day and “hope” that things wont change very much and around the same time tomorrow, the MUF might be around the same frequency. But things like Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) can mess that all up and as we’ve just had two hit the Ionosphere, all bets are off for things being the same tomorrow as today!
Space weather is a full science and there are no simple answers. It’s worth watching the “Space Weather Woman” .Tamitha Skov - https://www.spaceweatherwoman.com/
She will predict what may be coming in the following days, but they are only predictions and while forecasting is getting better - its not a perfect science.
There are generalisms for conditions at different times of day and different seasons in the year and the best source for that sort of information will be from other hams in Alaska as your location on the earth’s globe also has an effect.
Sorry if this all sounds a bit hit and miss. It is somewhat but you WILL start hearing stations and getting out with the Elecraft and wire antenna. It’ll be worth it. Don’t lose hope.
Once you know what conditions tend to be like on what bands from where you are, you’ll be able to get on the “right” bands at the “right” times.
73 Ed.
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Buy once; cry once: Get the KX2! I love mine. I started with Lab599. The KX2 takes a bit on the front end to learn the keyboard and menu system, which both make a lot of sense after spending just a bit of time with the manual. I think it’s the best SOTA radio available today for those of us still using SSB and the Elecraft customer service is touchstone.
73,
Mike
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Gets my vote. I’ve carried one up some pretty big hills.
I am lucky, where I live and operate I can often get plenty of 2m FM contacts with a hand held and a decent antenna. I also use a KX2 with tuner and an EFHW.
If I had the challenge of needing distant contacts in a poor propogation area I’d be using it again.
I am expecting it to come out when the solar cycle drops to the bottom.
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Update:
I made my first ever HF attempt. I activated SOTA on KLA/AN-184 (Rainbow Peak) yesterday. I used the KX2 w/ the 20m EFHW. I heard TONS of people yet no one heard me. I was on the summit for an hour and a half and was unable to get anyone to hear me.
I’m certainly at a disadvantage being so far north and learning but I’m optimistic. I know a few things I can improve on. For instance, I was using 50’ of RG-8X coax (only thing I had) but I have ordered a 4’ section that will also negate the use of two adapters. I also attempted CW contacts though my skills are likely around 7WPM, I know getting better at this will help. Lastly, I will likely soon-ish make a random-wire antenna so I can try other bands for increased chances of success
Anyway, I put together a scenic video for the attempt if any of you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLqapVAgDh4
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Hi Robert,
I was literally WAITING for you to get on summit so I could chase you. You never posted a spot!
SOTA 101: if you don’t post a spot, you won’t make QSOs.
Please post a spot next time.
P.S. I saw your alert. I don’t think taking a bear with you is wise. An Alaska thing? 
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Haha on the bear joke.
So I had no idea spotting was a thing. I posted the alert, then I’m supposed to post a spot when I’m actually on the summit?
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Dang it Robert, I wish you lived closer so we could do some activations together and I could show you the ropes. The Internet is a lousy Elmer.
Yes, you need to spot yourself as soon as you are QRV. Did you have cell service on the summit? If not we can talk about other ways of getting you spotted.
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Dang. I lived much closer to you when I was in Lakewood, WA but that was before I’d even heard of ham radio
I did have spotty service on Rainbow but most peaks here I don’t have service on. I think you’re about to tell me the answer is a GPS-unit sort of like a Garmin inReach. If I don’t have that device and I don’t have service (i.e. no spotting) am I hurting my chances that much? No one is just scanning the frequencies or waiting on a frequency specified the alert?
Also if I do have service is there an app to help me spot?
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Here is your homework… read “12 Ways to Leave Your Spot – Darryl-WW7D and Josh-WU7H”
After that… ask away.
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Robert
Can I reassure you regarding your distance away from others. I am in Australia. From summits here I work contacts in New Zealand, Japan, USA, Europe when conditions are right. That’s using 10w from a kx3. In fact I worked K7ATN (who wrote the article) summit-to-summit once on 18 mhz. Your KX2 is quite readily able to work those distances. Band selection at the time of day is very important, as is choosing the right part of the band. The how-to by K7ATN you have been pointed at for self-spotting will help a lot. Having cell coverage makes it all a lot easier but there are other methods you’ll read about.
There are currently some solar events occurring that will make everything more difficult or complex.
In case you haven’t considered this, you can also enlist a local ham who does have net access to listen for you and post a spot when he works you or even hears you. Once you are spotted on sotawatch, you will be a lot more likely to make contacts. if you have 2m repeaters that are accessible you can also use them to let your contact know to spot you. Short of using carrier pigeon (too slow) any method you can find to get the message out is good.
keep up the good work, hope you have a better activation next time.
73 Andrew VK1DA
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Andrew, Etienne produces the PNWSOTA newsletter, but Darryl WW7D and I wrote that article. We are regular contributors to the newsletter.
73
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Your efhw is already a multiband antenna.
Spotting yourself is most likely your only chance to make contacts, unless you have a friend who is actively listening for you on a predefined frequency, and able to spot you on the sotawatch.
Download the app ham2k https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ham2k.polo.beta&referrer=utm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dorganic%26utm_term%3Dham2k+polo&pcampaignid=APPU_1_4NquZ96AO8mF7M8Plc-jsAg
Its a very nice app for logging contact, especially for sota. If you have cell service, you will also be able to link your sotawatch account and spot yourself directly from the app, in one click.
Once your sotawatch account is linked, you just have to start a “new sota operation”. Then on the logging page, you set your frequency and you scroll the toolbar on the right to access selfspot function:
In the “SPOTS” tab, above, you can check in the spot list if your spot has been received or not. You can also see other activators spots (again, only if you have 4g service).
From the nice article above, when you don’t have cell service, I recommend RBN network if you are CW operator and sotamat when you use SSB.
Sotamat is not easy to understand when you beggin radio, but it’s super efficient once you get it. And unlike some other methods, you don’t need extra devices (Garmin’s , aprs handhelds…) to carry.
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Josh,
Thanks for clarifying, I should have read it more carefully.
It does give lots of options. I wrote a FAQ document for SOTA in VK and it turned out much larger than I expected!
Hope to work you too one day.
73 Andrew VK1DA/VK2DA
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