Very interesting thread! At the beginning of my ‘SOTA life’, I think I took way too much gear out with me. Now, I normally only go out in dry weather - I don’t mind the cold but, at worst, I will go out in light drizzle if it’s due to stop! So, my kit has been paired back and now only consists of:
Radio: FT817 w/SotaBeams speech compressor; Baofeng UV-5R (for monitoring 2m on way to summit) Antennas: Homebrew 20m EFHW; Watson 2/70 whip; Nelson Antennas 2/70 Slim Jim ATU: LDG Z817 inc cables Ext Batteries: 1 x Homebrew 4cell Li-on; 1 x Zippy 8.4AHr LiFePo4 Poles: Spirit of Air 4m & 10m Analyser: Nano VNA Misc items: iPhone w/OSMaps; Ear buds; Guy strings/Pegs (x3); Bungees (x4); Pad/Pen; Swiss army knife; Electrical tape; Zip ties; Licence and a Snickers Duo.
All this, apart from poles + water (or hot tea), fits into a 10L Molle cross-body bag weighing in at 4.23kgs. This bag is always ready to go!
Currently
FT-857 in a camera pouch/bag that fits in a small rucksack
2 x 4000mAh batteries
Baofeng UV5R
2m Ladder line antenna & length of RG58 with BNC
6m Decathlon fishing pole.
Pad and pen + spare pencil
Multitool
A couple of hivis buckle straps for securing the mast to the Trig point or a tree or what ever.
Bungee cord with hooks at either end
Mobile phone & tablet each with the routes on & off line OS maps (Memory map and MMTracker)
Small 1st aid kit
Water/snack if required.
Waterproof coat & trousers if required
Rockfall boots with composite toe caps (same ones I use for recovery & rescue duties)
Extra quiver with:
DX-Wire Mast Mini approx. 10m
Ring for guy ropes, ropes and harness rings, Stretch Velcro, trash bag to carry trash from Summit.
Antenna: HB9TVK/1 (file:///https://hb9sota.ch/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/wspr_gurten_hb9sota_20170702.pdf) with 4m RG 174 (incl.current balun) … works with the KX2 tuner from 10 - 60 m
Lowepro CS 80 bag with:
KX2, microphone, Bamakey III, Palmkey; old Walkman headphones, XT Power Powerbank, various cables and cords, writing material
In addition:
Icom IC V 80E, Ant RH 770
Leatherman Wave
Endfed 40, 20, 15, 10 with 1:49 balun in plastic photo can (works with the KX2 tuner from 10 - 80 m)
Seat pads
…
In the winter gladly still down jacket, snow shoes,…
No kidding: This is my standard equipment. For occasional VHF activions I will add 2m antennas (2 x 3 Elt.) and a transverter (maybe even a 2m PA with power supply)… and for S2S parties I will add a small PA with power supply.
I have not yet dared to weigh it all. Anyway - It’s part of my fitness program that balances out the good food and wine.
Sometimes I make it easy and take my 3 QCX Mini (17 - 30 - 60m) with the endfed adapted for the three bands.
I’m not sure that Peter really understood this antenna as a multi-band antenna at the time, because on the 15, 12 and 10 m bands, which are interesting for dx, there is an extremely steep radiation with only a low antenna gain (“cloud warmer”).
The reason for this is that the main radiation on these bands is generated by the two radials lying on the ground, which are unfavorable in length in relation to the radiator length (5.1 m wire and 4 m coaxial braided screen).
Hello all. A nice thread. Interesting to read who is qrv with which equipment.
During my SOTA activations I use a Frilufts backpack. In it a few bon bons, some chocolate, cereal bars, handkerchiefs, small torch, writing pad and pen, small seat mat, rubbish bags, SOTA flag, Hiking poles and a small tool pen for quick and small repairs. On one side a fibreglass mast (6m), umbrella and on the other side a handheld radio (Yaesu FT1XD) with additional antenna and spare battery. There is a rain cover on the bottom and a small compartment with a medipack on the top.
Everything is then in a Lock&Lock box. Rig Yaesu FT-817, Elecraft T1 tuner and cable, wire antenna, microphone and compressor, headphones, small paddle. The battery is separate, a LiFePo with 4.5 Ah.
A drinking bottle is added shortly before the start. Depending on the weather, one or two other things are added. For me, everything you need is there. Sometimes a bit much, especially for quick activations. The backpack is so often in the car and you can quickly and spontaneously start one or the other activation.
op KT5X, use the calls W5YA or WS0TA when on SOTA peaks. 900+ peaks as of this writing.
rig: MTR3 (or MTR5, or rain-proofed ATS4, or rarely KX2, too big and heavy)
Battery: 300 mAH LiFePO
Ant: 20/30/40 EFHW trapped (or 12/15/17/20/30/40/60 trapped, or 20/40 half-square)
match: home made, in dental floss case
key: touch paddle, built in, totals six grams
Radios: KX3, KX2, KX1 (3-band with ATU), KX1 (4-band, no ATU), K1 (20/40 with aTU), MTR3B (LED), MTR3B (LCD), 2 x truSDX (kits on the way), NorCal 20, FT1XDR, TH-d72a, VX-3R and FT-60R with custom 3-d printed 18650 battery pack (a MUST for anyone with this radio!)
Antennas: 3x SOTABeams Dipoles (20/40/60, 20/40, 40/80), SOTABeams Bandspringer, K6ARK EFHW, K6ARK Dipole, 2x AX-1 w/ 40m coil, Ed Fong Roll-up J-Pole, and many HT whips
Keys: Te Ne Key, N0SA SOTA paddle, VK3IR Pressure paddle, K6ARK Capacitive Touch Key, KX2PD
Misc: Elecraft T-1 tuner, SOTABeams TacMini Mast, ~6m Ali Express fiberglass pole, 3.5 A-hr LifePo, MANY 18650 cells in various configurations (recycled from old e-bike batteries), 2x 8 A-Hr Headway LifePo batteries, Ali Express 2m Band Pass Filter, SOTABeams Kite
All my kit is scheduled on a spreadsheet down to the gram. OCD maybe, but it’s really the only way to stop mission creep. If I had my way, I would take a spare for everything, activate on a minimum of 6 bands and log at least 80 different calls… all done within an hour of arriving on the summit so that I can get on to my next summit.
As for navigation to get there, I won’t worry… map and compass, Garmin GPS64 and OsmAnd on my mobile phone, which is also loaded with OS Locate and What3Words. I like to know where I am.
Me too! [spreadsheet I mean, not the OCD]. Mine has five columns for different kinds of typical SOTA activations with headings like “Winter HF/VHF”, “Summer VHF Lite”, “Event with Tent”, etc. If an item from the entire inventory is ticked [checked] in a particular column, the spreadsheet includes its weight for that activation type.
I created it, not only to do weight vs function tradeoffs (e.g. tarp/tent/bothy bag), but also because, particularly in the early days, I would forgot something important (sometimes leading to a failed activation or potential safety compromise) and used it as a check list.
Indeed Andy, I started after comparing notes with Richard G4ERP who scheduled more or less everything. Richard did work in the motor racing industry and some of his kit was amazingly lightweight. He also taught me much about itineraries which has proved essential for multi-summit days.
My schedule, like yours, now has columns for various activities such as the S2S events, QRO VHF, etc. It certainly helps with mission creep where the temptation to add stuff to the backpack “just in case I might need it” is quite strong. Carrying spare battery power is my biggest weakness, probably resulting from the relatively poor performance of SLABs in my early days in SOTA. I now have LiPOs that are 2009 vintage (though with reduced capacity)… none of my SLABs lasted more than a couple of years and they became unreliable as they neared the end of their days.
Over the years I’ve read on this reflector a wide variation on attitudes to carrying spares. As my Tracer 4AHr LiPOs discharge only a bit on a typical activation with my KX2 I take only the one. The spare battery for my FT1D HH goes only because it’s so small and kept in my VHF dry bag. Real spares include pencils, energy bars and hats [Yes, with weather around here sometimes I need both a woolly hat and a sun hat - and before Andy MM0FMF quips about it, No, not simultaneously].
Ooooh, a woolly sun hat. Maybe there is an opportunity for a new SOTA product here?
I’m much more relaxed about batteries now. One 4200mAhr LiFePo does for many activations with the old power hungry 817. I have some adapter cables so I can power my handy (VX170 or DJ-G7) from same battery if needed. I stopped carrying two LiPos or LiFePos but often drop a little 3x 18650 pack in the bag if I’m going on a bigger walk. I can cope with nipping up and oft repeated summit and the battery failing in some way. But when I walked up Beinn Chuirn which is a 6km walk before you start any climbing, I wasn’t going without a spare battery. It weighs 175gm and will do 1.5-2hrs of HF activating.
This revelation is probably going to put me in the OCD zone but again, Me Too!
For domestic reasons I increasingly have to restrict my away-from-home time for SOTA activations so I use a spreadsheet to aggregate estimated drive times, ascent/descent times, on-summit times (HF/2m or 2m only), etc.
I’ve found they are pretty accurate as my posted alert times and arrival home times are usually with about 1/2 an hour except when occasionally something goes wrong. [“Yes, there’s always the unexpected, isn’t there?” - Movie fans quote]
Mostly I activate one SOTA summit at a time. In the past I’ve done 8-11 WOTA summits (Wainwrights On The Air) on one day which is where an itinerary spreadsheet really pays off.
That beats my 6 SOTA summits, but I did have to drive between each one.
Back in 2006 when I started SOTA, I activated some single summits and then expanded to doing a couple in a day. Living so far from the summits, to increase the value for money on each outing, following advice from Ruchard G4ERP, I started to prepare itineraries for activating multiple summits in one day. As they say, the rest is history. I often have a 300+ mile drive to the first parking spot. Itineraries are an absolute necessity under such circumstances. I still do them for single summit days as all outings involve quite a bit of travel.
I’m useless with timings,normally because I start earlier or later than planned, Reg , 2e0ldf reminds me of that fact and sets my time between summits schedule after giving me the usual readjustment chat
Radios: YouKits HB1-1B or QCX+ Minis for 40,20 and 15m
Antennas: 40-15m doublet fed with 300 ohm line to BLT Tuner, or, 40-15m linked dipole or 40-15m EFHW with QRPGuys tuner. Throw bag and slick line or 8m pole.
Accessories: Te-Ne-Key paddles with leg strap, earbuds, 3x18650 3200mAH battery pack, small waterproof notebook with attached pencil, cellphone with Gaia and SOTAWatch apps.
Rarely do VHF FM but if planned then my FTM-100, 4S 6600mAH LiPO pack, pole, IZ2UUF 4 ele yagi.
Yeasu 891 (when power is needed) and TruSDX (when I need a light QRP setup) transceiver
7m and 12m fibreglass poles
4 cell LIfePO4 battery and voltage meter
Various string and pegs
EFHW portable antenna radio-stuff.com (I make my own)
Tarp, roll mat, cooking equipment
I’ll be out and about more this year which will be nice.
