Hi all,
My 2nd SOTA activation was today! (Pics at bottom)
I had wanted to have a summit to summit “STS” contact
with Don, NK6A who was activating Calabassas Peak no too far away and was the
inspiration for me to go today. The hike in was 4 miles not 2mi as I had
assumed and missed him.
I lightened my load and only brought my 2m mobile radio and
was gifted yet again with a great hand made antenna by my friend Anthony
KB6WWI. This was a really cool “halo” antenna design of bent copper
tubing. My battery worked solid for 4 hours and the nice 50w Icom radio was a
treat. (10-20w mostly)
" A halo antenna, or halo, is a
horizontally polarized, omni-directional 1/2 wavelength dipole antenna.
It is shaped like a loop with a small break on the side of the loop directly
opposite the feedpoint, so that the dipole ends do not meet. The antenna is
usually one continuous conductor, fed with a gamma match capacitor"
I had 2x 5ft sections of pvc that worked great as hiking
poles and also a 10ft mast! Zip ties worked for mounting. I love zip ties.
Love.
The weather was cloudy and cool with a storm system moving
in from the north. Luckily I only felt a few drops all day and was able to stay
warm and dry.
I was also kept company by the 35 people who called me and
said hello!
Highlights:
-
great looking/performing antenna by KB6WWI
-
plenty of activity on 2m
-
other hams “spotting” me on SOTA
-
SSTV Rx of pictures from KB6WWI- that was really cool
-
the 360deg VIEW
-
the hike back lit by moonlight
Here are the photos from today along with location data so
you can see where I was:
https://plus.google.com/photos/105266388149148864163/albums/6120790890950001681
Have a great weekend everyone-
Clifford
KK6QMS