QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo

The QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo is coming this weekend. It will be a much different experience, but with Dayton, Friedrichshafen, Tokyo, and all the other big hamfest cancellations, it will be a fun way to get a ham radio fix. There will be vendors, giveaways, and forums.
https://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com/
There are a couple of SOTA-related topics. Don Minkoff, NK6A will present "Mountain Goats and Shack Sloths and Marconi & Me a QRP Adventure in Italy on Sunday at 2000 UTC. And I will give a talk “Summits On The Air: Practical Tips to Maximize Your SOTA Experience” on Sunday at 1745 UTC. There are also a couple of talks on portable operating and plenty of other content.
https://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com/speakers.html
Don told me his presentation will focus more on basics of SOTA (how to earn points etc). I had a talk prepared for the Dayton Hamvention forum, but in order to try to avoid repeating Don’s content I quickly put together something a bit different. For most of you, my “tips” will likely not be very exciting but perhaps you’ll enjoy some of it. After the talks, which are supposed to run about 30-35 minutes, there will be a Speaker’s Q&A session so if you have any specific questions for me or just want to say “hi”, feel free to drop in on that.
Check out the full speaker lineup as there are going to be a LOT of excellent presentations!

73 es hope to see you on Sunday -

Keith KR7RK

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Hi Keith
Yes exactly, all ham convention has been cancelled this year and I’m expecting a lot in this virtual expo.
See you in expo :grinning:

Toru K JH0CJH

hello Keith I have sign up for QSOTODAY HAMEXPO TOO SEE YOU ALL THIS WEEKEND CHARLES KM6CEM 73

Another SOTA-related talk will be given on Saturday at 1800 utc by Bob, K0NR. His talk is “Having Fun With VHF” and will provide an introduction to VHF operating, Summits On The Air and VHF contesting. Bob is the author of the excellent book, VHF, Summits and More: Having Fun With Ham Radio

Keith KR7RK

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I’ve watched 3 presentation so far; one on activating Pitcairn Island, one on slot antennas and one on a Silicon Valley city’s emergency comms network.

All are quite fascinating …definitely recommend “attending” as the cost is essentially free depending on how you value your time.

Paul

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I. watch nk6a and w6dq eme on 40m

The next QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo is this weekend - 13-14 March. I’m planning to attend. I’m not quite sure what to expect, but apparently they have a feature where people can meet and chat at virtual tables. Would be happy to have a virtual meet-up with any other SOTA folks if you want to say hello.

Not noticed any SOTA or portable ops specific talks, but I’ve got a few I’m planning to attend.

Hi all

Carine, HB9FZC and I will give two webinars on the Virtual booth of ELECRAFT as Official Distributor of them (Saturday 10 UTC and 17 UTC). On our webinars we will talk about our experiences from about 350 SOTA-activations in the Swiss Alps with the KX2 and the Telescopic-antenna AX1 and will show you our newest SOTA-video with some awesome impressions :sunglasses: :sunglasses:

We look forward to meet you on our booth with ELECRAFT on the QSO Today Virtual HAM Expo :+1:

vy 73 de René, HB9NBG + 73/88 de Carine, HB9FZC

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That sounds great! Definitely plan to come to that one. I didn’t see any info on the website about booth talks like this, so thanks for pointing it out. Also interesting that you have a 10 UTC slot - does this mean it is going to be a 24 hr event? All the other timings are West coast US, so I’d been looking forward to an evening in front of the screen in my shack, but maybe I need to plan some daytime attendance too!

Our Webinar takes place on the Virtual booth of ELECRAFT. The QSO Today Virtual HAM Expo is a 48 hr event. Carine and I will be available on our own table on ELECRAFT’s booth between 11 UTC (after the Webinar) until 17 UTC (than the webinar will start once again). I’ve also made a Post on our website: https://www.lutz-electronics.ch/news/samstag-13-maerz-geschlossen-meet-us-on-the-qso-today-virtual-ham-expo/

vy 73 de René, HB9NBG + 73/88 de Carine, HB9FZC

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Family priorities meant I didn’t make any of the talks I had my eye on unfortunately, hopefully get to watch them later. And whatever was needed to get my camera and mic working so I could join in any of the interactive things required more time than I was prepared to bother faffing with it.

Thank you Rene and Carine - really enjoyed the talk and the video which (IMHO) is well worth watching for the amazing mountains as well as the radio. Two weeks ago I ordered a KX2 after deciding the weight of my pack was starting to slow me down … and just like in the talk I have FT 817, battery, speech processor, no tuner but a linked dipole and a small linear… Hopefully by the time we are allowed out on the hills it should be with a lighter rig… I still have a sneaky feeling that the best way for me to get the weight down would be a diet…but every little bit helps!

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Missed the SOTA talk today due to compulsory Covid-19 test here. POTA talk was nice too.

Some technical issues with talks unlike in the first edition of Virtual Ham Expo. Space program and open source hams seemed to manage these better than others.

73, Jaakko ac1bb/oh7bf