Sunset Ridge SOTA VHF Only Demo
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- Опубліковано 20 сер 2024
- In this video I show how you can use just a hand held (HT) ham radio to activate a SOTA - Summits On The Air peak with VHF only. I deploy the "rubber duck" antenna, a roll-up j-pole VHF/UHF antenna, and an Arrow VHF/UHF beam configured as VHF only and oriented vertically for FM signals. Each antenna has it's strengths and weaknesses and I reveal what I think every SOTA or portable ham radio operator should have in their arsenal.
More importantly, I was able to spend some great time with my 14-year-old daughter Hailee who is a trail crusher and is launching her UA-cam channel @Hailee Hildeman. You're going to do so good Hay!
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I was asked this question that I feel should be asked of everybody who ventured outdoors to play portable ham radio: “If you had to pick one, HF vs VHF, what would you choose and WHY?”
Well, 90 percent of the outdoor radio I do when the WX is nice is HF. The thrill of making a DX contact on 5 watts, or less, over to Europe or South America is remarkable. Lots of stories about outdoor radio at: www.W3ATB.com TNX for your videos BTW.
Agreed on the thrill of those long distant contacts! 👍🏻 thanks for sharing
As infrastructure is dense in Germany, I prefer VHF/UHF with the repeaters all around. Especially APRS is my killer feature plus one can do a lot with VHF while walking with less hustle.
Up until now this was my security backup for hiking. I want to start SOTA and will see if it makes me more of a HF guy.
73 from Germany
At 20-minutes into the video is BEST part when you put your daughter Hailee on the radio! LOL ...priceless expressions from your teenage daughter's first time on Dad's HT being directed-helped by the OM ...Hah! BTW she did an excellent job in spite of the obvious tension imposed by the OM ...Fun video, Jerry! 👍
Thanks Steve! She’s a character for sure; well all of my kids are actually 😉, Her reaction cracked me up too and HAD to be included lol. Just wish I didn’t forget the GoPro was on narrow FOV instead of medium or wide 😬
I finally got around to watching this video. Hailee, I was honored to be your first Ham Radio contact. I hope to work you with your own call sign some day soon.
Jeff K6QCB
@haileehildeman check this out :)
Sunset ridge is a nice 10 mile hike each way. I hiked up there about 10 years ago and I met shorty working on the win system up there. We need more hams in the area. Encourage your daughter to get her tech license. My niece and nephew are 4 so I will get them in it young.
Great video Jerry! You just reminded me of my rollup antenna, every time I deploy it I get great signal reports! Thanks!! Looking forward to Hailee's channel
Ya, the roll-up j-pole is such a great antenna for the backpacker. I’m looking forward to her channel developing too. She decided to give up volleyball for a season to pursue her UA-cam ambitions so I’m supporting her in that 👍🏻😎
Thanks, Jerry.... best SOTA antenna video out here on the 'Tube.
Keep up with your videos, man.
KN4UNO
Thank you Richard! It’s so humbling to get such positive comments in this negative world. Thanks for being part of my channel and this community.
Great video! I’m going to do my first SOTA this weekend and I have all three of those exact antennas. I was going to bring them all and see what works best.
Hi Jerry, another great vid (been off comms for a bit so catching up on your vids 👍🏻).
I prefer VHF/UHF comms (in particular UHF short distance stuff, but that’s another story 🤣) if I’m being honest, although that’s not to say HF doesn’t have its place 😉.
I’ve got a N9TAX (I think it is), roll up slim jim and swear by it. I once got comms (on a SOTA activation) with a Norwegian ham who was in the middle of the North Sea (between Aberdeen and Stavanger) 289 miles on an Icom ID51. I ignored him at first as I though it was someone taking the urine until I looked up his prefix 🤣🤣, stay safe mate.......Paul 2E0OPV.
Awesome video as always! Even better because I was able to make a contact and made the video! Super motivating to get out and activate my first peak, finally got some free weekends lined up so it should be happening soon. 73!
Steve/ KM6PRD
AWESOME! Hit me up on Twitter if you have anything planned and if it works maybe we could join forces or at least coordinate a summit to summit or barrage of people to help you nail your first activation. 👍🏻
The best part of this video is Jerry's daughter yawning in the background while Dad fucks around with radios...
It's a reminder not to bring my kid on my next SOTA activation...
no like everything was on video but thanks for the kind words
nicely done rock on Jerry!
Thanks man!
Jason @15:10 awesome
Hey Jerry great video but with your Low voice audio we have to turn the volume way up to hear you. It’s not a problem at all but when you drop in a music track and the music is full on blasting it causes us viewers to come flying out of our seats due to the music volume blasting compared to your voice audio seconds earlier. When you drop a music track in your editing be sure to lower the volume down to at least 60 percent or better down to 50%. Remember music is like salt in a meal to much to loud ruins the meal know what I mean. Nothing like jumping out of your seat on the couch scrambling for the volume remote... other then that carry on great video and SOTA. Yes Jerry the J-pole is actually a Ed Fong roll up antenna. I would highly recommend you check out Ed’s website and even give him a call he has a PhD in this field and is very well know in the ham world. He is one of the guest speakers st pacificon in hayward California every year. Ed is from my home town in the Silicon Valley. I have personally met Ed at his home and is a great guy and wonderful family. His antennas are made by his students and all proceeds go to his students. Check out his base antennas also if you like. for the 29 bucks he charges for those antennas it’s a bargain. There are imitators on evilbay but Ed’s j-poles are tuned correctly by Ed himself and as you can see work extremely well.
RViscara thanks for the feedback on audio and I’ll continue to try and level things out with my audible challenges I face personally. I’ve been using that j-pole for about two years now and it’s the bomb! 👍🏻 It was a total game changer for sure. Good on Ed for being a contributor to the ham community for sure.
Great video Jerry and looking forward to testing for the tech exam license again soon. I'm hoping to ace it this time I been studying more since my vehicle wreck
73's
Rock it on the next one man! Hope you’re healing and studying 👍🏻🤣
KG6HQD Jerry I healed up well I started rucking I been filling up my backpack with heavy gear and walking on my treadmill to prepare myself for sota
Daniel weirdo vato Awesome!
Great info, guess it’s time for me to upgrade from the rubber ducky. KN6DFM
Hey Jerry. I was curious what tripod mount you’re using for your Arrow Yagi. Thanks, and 73s
Hi! That particular one is a Benro in the video. It’s fairly lightweight and portable and works well for this purpose but I don’t usually bring it on my SOTA activations cuz it’s still too heavy
KG6HQD Jerry thanks, dude!
@@KG6HQDJerrySOTA Thanks, dude!
@@KG6HQDJerrySOTA I'm an idiot. I was curious how you were connecting the antenna to the Benro tripod.
1/4 x 20 threaded spot on frame of beam handle to mount camera tripod attachment and all set.
Jerry, Awesome video as usual especially w/ your daughter! One thought on the roll up. I've met Ed Fong several times @ Pacificon and he also did a skype presentation for our club (W6VVR) on the rollup. There's a youtube video of it . If you're involved w/ a local club or group I'm sure he would do a presentation for you. BTW I can't hike the high ones anymore but you've inspired me to try uhf on the hills around my place! I can reach the greater SF bay area plus the Sacramento area from the ridge line above my home qth. Hope to catch you on hf sometime. John WB6V
You're complaining about 18 pounds? I left basecamp when I was 17 with a 60 pound pack and another guy had a pack at one point that was easily 70 to 80 pounds because we had to carry 3 or 4 days of food between pickups.
I wouldn’t say complaining but striving to go minimalistic and ultra lightweight as much as possible for sure. My days of 100lb packs I chose to leave behind me when an Infantryman who also had mortar weapon equipment to carry. I do enjoy the lighter side of being on the trail now and it brings awareness to many others who do carry way too much unnecessarily but hey if you like the added weight then go for it 😁
Great video! How far was the farthest contact? Just curious about the range. Keep it up.
KN4LHZ 73
On this day I think the furthest was about 65 miles or so but I did work into Baja California, MX from Santiago peak with the beam which is about 350+ miles on FM. And I’ve worked several stations on my 817ND in SSB with that rubber ducky in the vertical polarization configuration out to over 100 Miles. So many variables to include who’s on and willing to reply, the peak itself, conditions etc. it’s fun just to see what can be done with VHF for sure.
KG6HQD Jerry thanks for the response and looking forward to trying this out for myself. Recently got a dual band slim jim just for this. 👍
You’ll love it!
All that just to say a Yagi is better than a whip. Not a bad video just long.
Well that’s not really the conclusion I came up with though. I actually factor in more than just which one can get out more with cost, weight, bulk and overall portability for the punch you get. In my opinion the roll-up j-pole is best for SOTA but there’s a lot of folks who don’t know better and run just the stock antenna. I also think the j-pole outperformed the yagi due to Omni vs directional especially from a summit so there was more than just a simple statement in my opinion. But it’s good to know how other perceive these videos so thank you for your honest feedback.
Sounds good Kelley and I’d suggest looking at the Sota database for some drive ups or easier ones to start .. best thing you can do is try but at your fitness level and work on that as you go. Sota really is for everybody if they want to. Also, if SOTA is too much for now maybe do POTA, (Parks On The Air) as it’s still fun operating portable and qrp in my opinion. 👍🏻
Thanks for the video! Love seeing SOTA with VHF only as I'm not HF licensed... YET
HT tip: When you have a coax cable putting tension on the connector - hold the radio upsidedown.
Sounds reasonable and thanks man 😎🤙🏻
I bought the Ed Fong DBJ-2 roll-up jpole recently. Every time I use it on a summit I am amazed. I bought it based on seeing you use it in your UA-cam videos. I now think it is an essential piece of SOTA gear. AE0AX
Couldn’t agree more Stuart! 👍🏻👍🏻
Nice one, Jerry! I look forward to some trail reviews from Hailey. Hopefully you can get her to mix in some radio. 73, N4ARY
Aaron Ray I hope so too Aaron 👍🏻. I preach about everybody doing their part to bring in newcomers to ham radio, and my kids are no different but I want them to do it on their own desire not being forced by me too.
Qso with your daughter was great!!
hoshnasi was fun man, props to one of your subs for helping me out too 👍🏻
Another great video Jerry! That was awesome your daughter making her first QSO! She handled it well. 👍🏻 73
Thanks Brad 😁
Awesome video... the production quality was really good.
Thanks man!
And good luck to Hailee
Thanks Clint, going to be fun to help her get it up and running.
Dad - 'this is me, taking a selfie.' Daughter - 'eewwww'. Hahahaha!!
hogdriver88 hahaha! I felt like a goober but it was fun so had to add it. Anything to make it fun so she’ll be amused and remember the day with a smile. 😁
It's all good - gotta make it fun so she comes back again! She did great on the radio too. 73 de KE2SX
hogdriver88 agreed!
Nice video Jerry! I had a roll up j-pole but can't find it. It's hiding somewhere in the motor home. Guess I'll have order another one. 73, catch you on 12 alpha, K6SPA
They are worth their weight in gold IMO 👍🏻
Ha! Right on! Good tests. I think my roll up is only 2m. I need to look it up. "What do I say... um thank you.." :-/ lol W6RIP
Haha! Thanks for helping me out on it man 👍🏻
Great video Jerry. I appreciate you posting this for us who just use hts in the backcountry. A suggestion... maybe posting a video using an ht on 52 down in a ravine or gully using your whip and roll up j pole that could stimulate an injury or an emergency in general.
And what roll up J pole do you recommend? There are so many out there when you google it. What company do you recommend buying from? I was given an old one from a fellow ham but it’s no where near as nice as the one you used. It’s bulky and doesn’t roll up that small. Thanks
Kn6mat
hotfootedhiker well, I hadn’t thought of that since SOTA is from the Summits but I’ll see how that idea fits into a video given the right timing. I get why you’d want that so let me think how to best incorporate that idea. Thanks for the idea/suggestion.
KG6HQD Jerry no problem thanks for the video again
Hello Jerry First of all thanx alot for such nice and informative videos u make, i have a tougher for u.....whats ur preference will be if u really have to choose between VHF and HF for your SOTA ops....thnx
AP2FLY RADIO thanks for checking out the video and taking time to comment. Honestly a lot would depend on the circumstances. A peak that overlooks a major metropolitan area you can get away with VHF only but, as an activator I also realize there are chasers looking for unique peaks that aren’t within VHF range. With that factor and knowing if I had to choose just one then I’d go with HF for sure because I could work the close and far stations. For example, would I hike all the way to the top of Mount Whitney with only a VHF? Not a chance! That’s one heck of a hike to make in a remote area that many chasers would most certainly want to bag so I’d would for sure bring both, and if could only use one I’d definitely go with HF. Hope that helps add some depth to the response for ya.
KG6HQD Jerry thanx alot for taking time for such a nice detailed reply.... Though where i live, portable operation is not allowed so i fulfill my urge by watching videos like these so once again thanx alot for making videos for people like me..and i was sure about ur reply hahaha bcoz what i think HF has somehow more sense achievement as compare to VHF... and just my opinion dmr, dstar echolink i dont consider them amateur radio(once again strictly my opinion).. Thanx and will be looking forward for more videos.... Have a nice day
AP2FLY RADIO 😎👍🏻 agreed and thanks for commenting and watching my video too
KG8HQD de AE8CW I have to say man you make excellent videos! I kind of stumbled onto your videos because I am on UA-cam daily watching some sort of ham related video. Your SOTA videos have inspired our club here in WV to plan on doing some activations around here this fall. This video in particular is great! If you don't mind I would like to put a link to it on my Country Ham Facebook page. I have a website that is devoted to getting hams started in the digital modes of HF. thecountryham.com My face is partially paralyzed from a brain tumor so most all of the contacts I make on the radio is with some sort of digital mode since speaking clearly is a bit of a problem. When we do our activations I plan on using PSK even though I know the added weight of a laptop is going to make things harder but whatever. Anyway please keep turning out these videos, they are excellent!
Hey Clint, thanks for your kind words and for what YOU are doing to bring new people to the hobby. Of course you can share this video anywhere you like, in fact I’d appreciate the exposure so I too can continue to reach others and hopefully motivate them to check out what we do. Again, thanks for the comment and checking out my channel.
what about a tube for rolling up architectural plans, maps or artwork? I bet you could find a light weight one. some even come with a sling so you could carry it like a quiver.
See, that’s what I’m talking about! Maybe find one of those lightweight cardboard type ones. But, always a bit right, what about the real heavy part the tri-pod? Great suggestion for the quiver!! 👍🏻👍🏻
What about one of those clamps that the Chameleon antennas use? Maybe you could MacGyver the beam to it. Assuming there was a branch or something to attach it to after that of course... :)
Mike Wood all good ideas and very creative 👍🏻