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Today — 5 October 2024Main stream

ARRL Day in the Park on Saturday

By: K5TCO
5 October 2024 at 01:12

From W5XX:

The Jackson ARC invites you to this year’s ARRL Day in the Park this
coming Saturday from 9:00 am until 2:00 pm at Old Trace Park.  The folks
at Ridgeland Parks and Recreation graciously allowed us to use their
Recreation Center adjacent to the main parking lot. This will be a fun
time of fellowship and food (Dutch Treat from Food Truck).   At noon
there will be a few comments by W5XX followed by multiple door prizes.
In addition, Flea Market tables will be available, or you can tailgate
in the parking lot.  For those interested, the Mississippi State Fair
will be open for “after Day in the Park fun and games.”

Old Trace Park is located at 422 Post Road in Ridgeland. To get there
follow the signs to the Bill Waller Craft Center on Rice Road and then
continue on Rice Road a short distance until you get to a stop sign at
the intersection with Post Road.  Take a right on Post Road and Old
Trace Park will then be the second right.  The Rec Center will be on the
right side of the large parking lot as you drive in.  For further
information contact AK5J at cell 601-709-6740 or email ak5j@arrl.net.   
Talk-In: 146.64 (77 Hz) linked to 146.76 (77 Hz)

Best 73 de W5XX

Before yesterdayMain stream

Summit And Park On Angel Island

By: w6csn
14 July 2024 at 21:38

Angel Island State Park sits in San Francisco Bay, separated from the town of Tiburon by a ten minute ferry ride across Raccoon Strait. The island is also accessible by ferry from San Francisco’s waterfront.

Helpful info on the boat helps you prepare.

Nearly all of the island is part of the State Park, so you can activate for POTA US-1123 from almost anywhere. However, if you want to also try for the SOTA activation from Mt. Livermore W6/CC-075 then you’ll need to hike up to the top of the island, by way of either of two trails.

My first activation of this summit and park combo took place two years ago, just before this blog begins. In that effort we used the recommended route of North Ridge trail up and Sunset trail down. This time my hiking buddy wanted the potentially spectacular Golden Gate views on the hike up so we did the route in reverse.

Up through a eucalyptus grove to the trailhead.

Sunset trail begins at the top of the access road that connects the perimeter road with the park HQ at the Ayala Cove area.

The trail follows a series of long switchbacks and is, in places, quite narrow with thorny vegetation overhanging the trail and parts of the trail collapsed on the downhill side.

However, as the “Sunset” name implies, there are occasional vistas that reveal the Golden Gate, Sausalito, and the western waters of the Bay.

Final uphill to the activation zone.

After climbing out of the oak tree covered canyon the vegetation becomes more grassy and sparse. A short while later you come to an intersection with a steep, unnamed trail that takes you up into the activation zone and the summit.

Fenceposts make excellent mast supports.

A short section of this summit trail is so dense with shrubbery that you could fairly call it bushwhacking. And, if you have collapsible mast strapped to your pack, you will undoubtedly get hung up a few times before emerging onto the first of several concrete platforms that once served the operation of the Nike missile defense system stationed on the island in the 1950s.

From N6ARA’s activation.zone web app.

The concrete pads now sport picnic tables and conveniently situated fence posts. We chose the first picnic area we encountered because it was available and I’d successfully operated from here before.

This site can be chilly as it’s exposed to the west winds coming from the Pacific. It turns out that just a short walk over the summit crest is another spot that’s protected from the breeze, about 20 degrees warmer, and gives a clear radio view to the east.

Flying an EFHW from a carbon tenkara rod.

The fence posts offer a convenient spot to use bungee cords to attach the carbon Tenkara style fishing rod supporting one end of my 20 meter EFHW. On the other end I routed a length of RG-316 from the Sparkplug 64:1 transformer to the Elecraft KH1 set out on the picnic table.

Last time we came here I packed an FT-818, external battery, fiberglass mast, and various station accessories, which was all very heavy. When planning for this outing I considered using just the KH1 with built in whip antenna to save pack weight, but decided on a wire antenna to give me the best chance at completing the activations in the limited time available.

The KH1 is an excellent tabletop radio.

Turning on the radio I discovered what must have been a high speed telegraphy contest on 20 meters. The band was wall-to-wall with rapid fire Morse QSOs. That was no place for a QRPer hoping to be heard doing POTA/SOTA, so I scuttled up to the relative peace of 17 meters, one of the contest-free WARC bands.

Using the Sotmāt SMS service I put a spot out for the SOTA activation and with the activation scheduled ahead of time the RBN caused a POTA spot to post for US-1123.

http://tools.adventureradio.de/analyzer/

Calling CQ SOTA yielded eight QSOs in the first 20 minutes before 17 meters dried up. Another 20 minutes spent down on 14.069 MHz netted another four contacts calling CQ POTA.

This spot overlooking Contra Costa is less windy and warmer.

Our goal was to catch the 3:20pm boat back to Tiburon, so we could not dawdle on the summit all day. Our route back down to Ayala Cove took us via the North Ridge Trail, which is wider and in much better condition than Sunset Trail.

Looking down at Ayala Cove from the summit.

Coming off North Ridge at the perimeter road, a prominent sign points the direction to the ferry dock.

The last section of trail has you descending a steep part of the island via a series of steps worked into the hillside.

After resting a bit and enjoying some cold refreshment from the snack bar we boarded the ferry for the return trip to Tiburon.

73 de W6CSN

Bald Hill W6/NC-400

By: w6csn
11 February 2024 at 02:52

Looking at reports from other activators, it appeared that the approaches to the summit of Bald Hill in Marin County were steep, steeper, and steepest. In the hopes of starting the hike with as much elevation gain as possible already behind us, I chose the route that starts at Crest Road in Fairfax.

The information sign for Bald Hill Open Space Preserve stands just past the locked gate where Crest Road becomes Crest Fire Road. There is enough space for two cars to park at the turnaround before the gate.

About a half mile from the gate you come to the spot where the Google Maps pin for is dropped for Sky Ranch Open Space Preserve. The trail system intertwines through both Sky Ranch OSP and Bald Hill OSP, and with the names of both locations sprinkled around on different bits of signage it can get a little confusing as to which preserve you are in. But it doesn’t matter much, just go “up” and you’ll find the summit.

My hiking buddy used an app on her phone to collect some stats on our ascent to the summit of Baldy. From the trailhead, where the equestrian area is, the fire road goes steeply up and over a knoll to where it joins the Worn Spring fire road.

I recommend to take the Sky Ranch trail from the trailhead. This skirts around the eastern side of the knoll and avoids the steep elevation gain, much of which you give right back on the other side. We took this trail on the return leg rather than climbing straight over the knoll again.

The fire road to the summit is a steep climb but offers enough level spots where you can take a rest, hydrate, and catch your breath while watching other much more fit people run right past on their way up the hill!

activation.zone by N6ARA

The broad summit and activation zone offers panoramic views of the northern part of the Bay Area, but nothing in the way of antenna supports, so be prepared to supply your own.

With the GRA-3750T vertical antenna and the Mountaintopper MTR-4B on 20 meters I collected 15 QSOs within 20 minutes.

The first call was from K6EL a few miles north on Loma Alta W6/NC-350. The familiar duo of W0MNA and W0ERI checked in from Kansas and WU7H and WW7D were on W7W/CW-068 in Washington state.

After securing the HF operations and a successful activation I gave 2 meters a try. A pair of QSOs on FM was enough before heading back down the hill.

From Bald Hill there are views of Mt. Tam, San Francisco, southern Marin and Bay Area, including Mt. Diablo to the southeast.

73 de W6CSN

Outdoor Radio For The New Year

By: w6csn
2 January 2024 at 19:22

The new year means time off work and the opportunity to overindulge in amateur radio activities. With no antenna installed presently at my home QTH, all of my operating must be done in the field.

For January 1st, 2024 I was able to complete two POTA activations at local parks. The first was actually on December 31st local time but was a New Year’s activation nonetheless as the calendar already turned in Greenwich.

The Presidio of San Francisco National Historic Site K-7889 is the park in my “backyard” where I rolled in just after 00 UTC. It didn’t occur to me to take a lot of pictures of the radio action but there was a nice sunset.

A total of 16 QSOs made it into the log, one was a duplicate and it seems two of the other contacts were “busted” as they didn’t return anything from lookup in qrz.com. I didn’t have any difficulty copying the calls and neither operator corrected me so I can only log what I copied.

Advice to hunters: don’t be afraid to correct the activator if you have any doubt as to whether they copied your call correctly, even if you are on the slower side with CW or the activator is working fast. POTA is not a contest and I’d rather take the time to log your call correctly than end up with a busted contact and you not getting hunter credit for the QSO.

The next morning we got up early for the traditional New Year’s Day hike. In the mediterranean climate of central California, there are good odds that January 1st weather will be clear and bright, if not overly warm.

We headed to the Tennessee Valley which cuts through the Marin Headlands out to a small beach of the same name. All of this area is within the expansive boundaries of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area K-0647.

The problem with being in a valley is the surrounding terrain is not exactly conducive to QRP radio operating. So we began to hike up one of the “roads” up toward Coyote Ridge. These trails are wide enough for a vehicle to pass but most parts are so steep that only a serious off-road vehicle could manage it. Besides, the gate is locked at the trailhead parking area.

After 800 feet of elevation gain I was not at the top of the Coyote Ridge but high enough to have a radio view to the east. The hike this far had been short, but quite strenuous so I was happy to find a flat-ish spot off the trail to setup a tripod and antenna.

The GRA tripod adapts easily to uneven terrain

I ran the RG-316 coax 25 feet from the antenna to the operating position where an embankment offered perfect place to sit by the side of the trail. While I worked for about 45 minutes to get ten contacts on 20 meters my hiking companion continued up the steep trail to Coyote Ridge, from which she assured me that the views were excellent.

Expansive views from Coyote Ridge

Again, between the hiking and scratching for QSOs I neglected to take pictures of the radio setup. But picture in your mind the red Mountaintopper MTR-4B with N0SA Sota paddles and black 3ah 12v power source and that was the station.

The entire station minus antenna fits in a MaxPedition pouch

As soon as the activation was complete, I packed up the station and we booked it back down the hill as we had a some errands to run before a family get-together in the afternoon.

Happy New Year and 73,

W6CSN

WELCOME

7 January 2033 at 00:01
Welcome to my amateur radio BLOG. Here at N1CLC.com (aka HamNinja.com), I hope to cover my exploration of ham radio, summits on the air (SOTA) and general RF geek stuff.  My other BLOGS focus on technology (cloudrant.com), photography (cameraninja.com/blog), and life (thethroboflife.com). QSL via QRZ, LOTW, cards.

* Reference Links Page    * SOTA Specific Links  
* My Equipment Loadout    * DMR Tips    * My Youtube Channel


I monitor 146.520 and DMR SOTA (973)
track me on the trail HERE.  Donate HEREMastodon

Check out the latest videos by the Ham Ninja


Live in San Diego close to the top of a hill so I have the luxury of access to just about any repeater in the county.

I find that I enjoy SOTA operations more than playing with my 7300.  I use a FT-817ND for SOTA opperations, but there are days I wish I had more power given the conditions and people don't want to wait so I use a FT891 (see my full loadout here).   While doing SOTA, you'll find me scanning 146.520 and DMR SOTA (973) and I normally turn on my Inreach tracking so you can watch here for better arrival times.  At my QTH AO, you can find me on DMR San Diego Hangout (310014), or SoCal Talk Group (31066).

My first successful SOTA opp was off a small mountain by my house and I was able to conduct a QSO with a dude in Japan via SSB phone at 5 watts.  That was a kick.  I'm still struggling at this hobby, trying to figure out what antenna works the best.  At home, I'm happy to keep my max at 100 watts, but my end-fed antenna has me a tadd baffled.  I do like to keeping it stealth, so having it on a pole that I can extend up and then put away is awesome.


-- N1CLC, Christian Claborne
(aka chris claborne)

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