KLA/AN-125 Harp Mountain, Alaska gave me a challenge today. The bands were noisy and it seemed as if nobody could hear my big 5 watts being forced through a SOTABEAMS 20M dipole. Thanks to everyone who tried to work my portable station today, I heard so many call signs in and out, up and down, through the noise floor then gone again. I was able to make contact with F4WBN, WB6POT, WW7D, and W4GO. I also copied K9BBQ but could not quite close the QSO.
The hike felt hard today, I started with sore legs from mountain biking yesterday. No scare factor on this one, just steep, steep, steep. Activations here are challenging! The terrain is rugged, remote, and many times in avalanche territory. The distance between Alaska and the rest of the world is felt every time I transmit, the weather is all over the place, and the wildlife will kill you.
5 watts with marginal conditions feels defeating. I am thinking about upgrading to the Xiegu 6200 for the built in FT8 decoder. The snow is melting more everyday, we have plans for some pretty extreme summits this year, all unactivated! More soon! 73 K9ROB
Rob, you did some CW three years ago from a summit, and CW is something like 18 dB more readable than SSB. When you can’t get that 4th contact and you are freezing your tush, why not try CW again? Veteran SOTA people are used to going QRS all the way to 5 wpm on request. I have a personal interest in hearing you on a summit, since my 389 regions chased in 64 associations does not include Alaska, which I helped N7UN put into SOTA.
Great to hear from you! Yes I can operate CW enough to get the summit, that being said… I would much rather just go to FT8. I just can’t bring myself to enjoy CW, for the functionally FT8 is superior but I also don’t want to bring a laptop. That’s why the Xiegu X6200 has a lot of appeal. I have an app on my iPhone that was suppose to do FT8 but did not seem to work.
I have no doubt we will work soon my friend. Im going to refine the antenna tailoring it for a just a few KHZ and see if I can’t find a little more power. Look forward to getting you Alaska sir! I activate in the Fairbanks area on Monday, just something small as I will be up there for business. I’ll try and message you next time im going to get out. 73 K9ROB.
Rob, thanks for the QSO – good to be one of the lucky four! Nice pics too.
As you could tell, it was a struggle to hear you on 20 m from VA. I had a SpiderBeam – three elements on 20 m – aimed at you and running 100 W.
Based on current HF conditions and the time of day, I would have expected to hear you better on 17 m and 15 m than on 20 m, yet the opposite was true – I didn’t hear a drop of RF from your spots on those bands, again listening on the SpiderBeam which has two elements on 17 m and three on 15 m.
You mentioned a 20 m dipole – what antenna were you using on 17 m and 15 m?
Nice SOTA activation and photos.
I got your sig RS33 with deep QSB, and I think you copied “ whisky echo” couple times.
Maybe we have a chance to log in.
I am looking forward to it.
GL & 73,
