often many miles. we have one local ham who is known to bring beam antennas on long hikes. Another who exclusively uses an IC-7300 with 12 AH battery (and I just did a 12 mi RT hike with him).
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Amazing!
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I agree with Fraser @MM0EFI and Phil @G4OBK. I donāt doubt that some folk do this from time to time especially for some special event under the right conditions, e.g. in good-to-fair weather, over non-extreme terrain, by fit/young persons on non-solo trips. But it doesnāt seem to me practical or safe to carry bulky or heavy antenna systems on regular routine all-seasons solo activations. Why would you bother for the HF bands when you should be able to qualify a SOTA activation with ācompromiseā antennas? And 9N7AC said in his first post carrying masts and large beam antennas is not practical. Any of my EFHWs or CF linked dipoles or Cha MPAS Lite vertical fits ā with radio kit, bothy bag, portable seat, water bottle and extra winter layers - into my 20l rucksack with weight totalling 7 - 9kg.
Iāve very rarely had trouble getting HF QSOs with my 10W of CW and the rare exceptions were due to SIDs on the low bands like 80m and 60m. I probably could have qualified almost all of my activated summits in 15-20 minutes on the 30m band alone. Okay, itās relatively easy in Europe and North America to get plenty of regional and same-continent contacts. But even in Nepal, if most other stations are typically 1000ās of km away, it ought to be possible to get skywaves (even if not at very low-angle take off) up to the F layers on the dx bands, 20m to 10m even if high mountains are 10ās of km away.
If 9N7AC is having RFI problems with electrical appliances, it sounds like he is operating from an urban or suburban location and not portable on the hills. The background noise in my shack on 160m - 30m is S9 or S9+ but becomes S0-S1 when portable.
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No one is saying donāt use a dipole, vertical or end-fed. I was merely countering the statement that carrying a beam antenna and mast is not practical by suggesting that it is not as impractical as it is made out to be and people do just that frequently. Sure, you are limiting yourself a bit relative to a multiband EFHW and you have to have a little more muscle to get it up the hill, but the results can be worth it. To be sure, one could qualify a bunch of summits with merely an HT yet we all take more than that to the summit because HF is more fun. The same is true for antennas.
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And, of course, it depends on your objectives and circumstances.
Many of our lower summits are wooded, often with 50m+ Douglas Fir trees. For Field Day I built a 5-element 20m delta loop beam that just required about 20m of space between two trees. Using thin rope and 1mm alumin(i)um wire, it actually didnāt weigh that much (although rolling it up on a spool so it didnāt tangle made a somewhat large package).
Would I regularly carry such an antenna? No, especially not until I had confirmed that there was a good spot to set it up in the desired direction. But there are many other designs for light weight beams that can even hang from a telescoping fiberglass mast.
If Iām only interested in activation points, it isnāt worth setting up. If Iām trying to work as many chasers as possible, or s2s with some particular summits, then I might try something like that (but perhaps fewer elements).
But then, my objective in such events is often āto play with antennasā more than accumulating points, so I understand that not everyone would make the same choices.
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RFI: yes, getting away from villages is key.
Mountains: Experience suggests itās still an issue. But yes choosing summits some distance away from the ābig onesā definitely helps.
@G4OBK I am not recording anything in the SOTA database as there are no SOTA summits in Nepal, amazingly enough.
VU, B, and YB are the most common contacts, R/UA, UN, UM, and HS also show up a lot. But I have got all the way out to PY on 20m when the conditions were right.
@9N7AC OK, but I thought you may have an opportunity to travel out of Nepal to a country that has an association and do some SOTA activations, you could get some coax while you were there, but maybe travel is not possible for you. However - you could still use your gear to Chase SOTA and enter your contacts in the āNo Association 1Xā category in the database like the 43 1X Chasers who are in the database under that heading.
73 Phil G4OBK
Do you know what is an indisputable factā¦
That SOTA activation can be successful using a wide variety of kit.
Itās great to see so many people explaining what the pluses and minuses are of their own set ups.
The key is to match the kit to your circumstances. Radio remoteness; fitness; weather; summit behavior (quick, multiple summits in a day, or long activations); summit DX aspirations; single, few or multi band/mode operation etc.
After thatā¦ just try some stuff.
I started on linked dipoles for HF and a commercial āwhite stickā colinear for 2m/70cm. Often carting an FT-857 to drive it all.
Through a variety of twists and turns Iām now on an EFHW for HF, carbon 6m mast, Slim G for 2m. With a KX-2 and an FT-270 handheld.
Is that perfectā¦ no of course not.
But for me itās got the balance between performance, weight, ease of set up and use. I rarely deviate from this set up now. But occasionally the FT-857 and linked dipole come out on short hills on sunny days.
Every activator will have a different balance to find and refine over time. Iāve completed over 800 activations so far. I doubt this set up will be my final iteration.
Part of the joy is finding what works for you.
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@g4obk Thanks, thatās a good idea for the future. At the moment my operations make it logistically difficult but I will consider doing that if and when it is practical.
As for operating in other countries, my immediate travel plans donāt include any jurisdictions where there is a SOTA association. That said, if you or other operators know about getting an amateur license in P2 or 4W, do let me know.
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Gerald had summed up my thoughts on this discussion perfectly.
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This is why I dont bother going QRP portable. It can be a fair whack of time, petrol, effort, maybe resulting in a few contacts.
But make your destination a SOTA activation zone, and you have stations from all over the world queuing up!
Plus you take away activator points to feed your contesting habit.
Sota has revolutionized portable QRP operating for me.
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