You carried that to a SOTA summit?!
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- Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
- Um, yeah... Why not? It's just an Icom IC-7300 and a 4-element 10m beam. It was for the ARRL 10m contest.
With a newly minted 10m portable 4 element wire beam antenna, I couldn't resist hauling the station up to a local SOTA summit. The pack wasn't light, but it's not too hard of a hike - 1.5 miles and 1,000 ft of elevation gain, mostly on trail.
This was its virgin voyage, with no QSOs yet, so let's break this puppy in.
My Gear:
I've had questions about the chair I'm using and unfortunately they don't make the Helinox Ground Chair anymore, but the "Chair One" is an awesome alternative: amzn.to/2JYxeRB
The Icom IC-7300 is not my normal SOTA rig, but for contests, the waterfall is such a benefit, I sometimes carry it out to summits. It's a fantastic radio at an incredible price for what you get: amzn.to/34g4UAZ
Pool cleaning poles make surprisingly good portable antenna masts. This one is a 12 footer: amzn.to/34iaCSW
Here's the battery I'm using: amzn.to/2KDavu8. It's a 12 V 12 Ah LiFePO4 from Bioenno. Great stuff!
#hamradio #youtubersbunch #hamharder
Landras Dream by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
Back To The Wood by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
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Everyone commenting "Oh how cool, sweet antenna!" or "Nice job hauling the 7300 portable!" or any of the other silly radio comments. It's almost as if hams don't recognize a good beard when they see one.
Best comment on this video yet. 🤘😆
😂👏
:))
You are a living legend. Can’t wait for the ROHN’s R-55 50 ft freestanding tower SOTA edition.
At 4:06, you stated with a smile "I'm not gonna lie, this is totally ridiculous" ... yes, yes it is ... but it wouldn't be fun otherwise! Excellent work Adam! Love that homemade 10M beam, mini-rotor and swimming pool cleaner mast. This is what real HAM radio is all about, 73 buddy. KJ6ER, Silicon Valley
It’s good to see a 7300 getting some true field experience.
NGL, being able to setup an antenna on a tall mountain like that and being able to get a Chilean DX? And New Zealand? I'm seriously impressed! Nothing more satisfying than hearing a 5/9 from so many stations. Nice work!
Kudos to you for making that entire setup portable. Well done.
Just made my first real (not on a local repeater) QSOs today, chasing come POTA activators. What I really want to do though, is SOTA! Been watching a lot of your stuff for a while now, very inspirational to me! You are a maniac dragging that skyscraper up that mountain! (hahahahaha, only joking, but maybe not totally joking) Thank you for this video! Have some stitches in my right foot, but I'll be out of the boot on my right foot in 4 1/2 weeks, and I'll be activating, in part, motivated by this video!!!
Well done 👍👍👍
That was awesome - I think if you commercialised that 10m beam setup, you would be on a winner - rotator and all!!! Well done!
"I'm not gonna lie, this is totally ridiculous" . NOT....OUTSTANDING!
This is inspiring! I'm working on getting my license back and going into General. I also looked at the SOTA summits and there's next to no activations on anything in my area... super cool
great video showing what a dominating location does for contacts.
i miss san diego. I was stationed there in the early 2000's having those trails out your back door is amazing. I got a buddy who owns a outdoor shop called kit fox outfitters. If you ever stop in tell the big guy I say hello! Maybe you can talk him into being a sota guy haha.
One of the best SOTA videos I've seen.
I admire your perseverance Adam, of hauling all that gear, love the ic-7300, hopefully we'll get a chance to work you on the bands, keep up the good work, de Ei2iP...
I could stay up there forever. Its beautiful.
This video brings new meaning to the phrase “Send it!”
Good to see good ham radio UA-cam channel.... that is no trying to sell you something.
Nope, not selling anything. Full disclosure - I do include Amazon affiliate links to some of my gear and supplies that I buy from Amazon because I always get asked. I figure, if I'm going to send Amazon the traffic anyway, I might as well get a few pennies out of it since it doesn't cost the person making the purchase anymore. I do plan to start selling some kits to build my mini and fed half wave matching units because there has been so much interest in those. But, as you can probably tell, my goal with this channel is not to make money, it's to get you all stoked on playing radio and building stuff.
Awesome Adam! Just came across you on YT and watched this..Very impressive! I am now subscribed. :)
An interesting creation....the antenna. Thanks for showing us.
One hell of great job you did there! I really like that. Merry x-mas to you and yours. Stay safe & 73's de Günter
Inspiring video w/ lots of good info; great antenna. Thanks for your mountain rescue work! 73 DE KT6L
Very cool Adam. Back in 2012 when i started SOTA. I carried a icom 706 and a 7ah lead acid battery and a home-brewed buddiestick. My pack weighted about 35 pounds and i did that for the first few years until i got a ft-817 and built some wire antennas. Conditions back then were great on 10m. Regularly worked NZ and Australia on SSB. Fun times. 73 de Kf7sey
Great video, nice atmosphere, and sound is very very good 👍 , love that
Wow! You've got to be the most inventive engineer I know. What an inspiration to all of us newbies. Thank you for sharing your HAM adventures and inventions.
I was listening in on this contest with my rtl-sdr. I heard you a few times in Louisiana. P.s. going take my tech test on the Jan 7th.
BEST WISHES FOR SUCCESS!
Did you pass the test?
@@ecv03 yes I did! Now I need to get my general.
haha great and thanks for writing the cw code in text ... i am start learning morse code and doing also sota.... so it helps alot to see how conversations look like
Great stuff Adam.
Awesome setup to have for SOTA, props for carrying it all up there....
Oh man !!! Idea for antenna is magnificent. Putting IC 7300 into the backpack in order to do SOTA it's a sign of deep devotion to the hobby :)
I worked Javier (CE7VPQ) from my oilfield supply boat in the Gulf of Mexico on 20 M/SSB with my G-90 @ 20 watts. Awesome video, De KN4EQG
Great job. I want one set up like that. 73.
This was a great video again Adam! Its amazing how you get to know people on the air through repeated contacts.
That is impressive!
An inspiration, thank you for sharing.
that is a badass setup
I even did some (not very) badass (really sloppy) welding to make the hub out of some notched fence top rail. Methinks I need to watch some of your videos.
@@K6ARK oh, i dont do how to videos, but i am planning on building a nice and tall tower one day. that will be the video to watch
OMG, that antenna. Looks like a big job to set that up.
Nice video
Great video! Just upgraded from a 718 to a 7300. Loving it so far, but have yet to hear anyone on 10m in my location........
Dude! Amazing construction skills! Love the rotor! You continue to set the bar Sir!
You made it seem so effortless yet I know a lot of work went into this. Well done. Kudos to you for having all that gear up there.
Yes, design time on MMANA (I'm still learning), sketching up plans, welding some steel together for the center hub, boring out some PVC connectors on the lathe to fit a bearing, figuring out guy lines, breaking the tip of one of the poles, then deciding to shorten them all slightly... It's been a journey, and there's more to do on this one. It's far from perfect but constantly getting better.
I did think it was just a little ridiculous when I saw the rotator 😄... Seriously, well done for lugging all that gear up there. Looks like you had some well deserved fun. Thanks for posting.
Increadible location, fantastic set-up! Love the beam! Once upon a time I used to have a Square 2 EL multiband Beam ( a simplified version of the Hex Beam :)) for some 3 years in permanent installation rotated by a small TV rotator. I'm a big fan of wire beams since ! And your project just proves it! 73! Linas LY2H
This is advanced level, bringing a beam and IC7300.
Absolute mental antenna... would love to build one like that.
Well done, fantastic!
Great vid. your camera is great too the scenic footage is awesome. impressed you decided to haul all that gear up there- you reap what you sow! I use a Icom 706 for portable - not the smallest but its ok. cant imagine ever pulling my Icom 751 off the bench and carrying up a summit- though interestingly it could be done! great Qso's Job Done-Well Done, SUBSCRIBED,. M7PBX.
P.S. @ Michael Thompson, the beard is cool- but not white like mine!
Fricken awesome man! I didn’t realize you had a rotator on that thing too, just amazing!!!
Adam, you are one of my heroes. Thanks for sharing your journey!
Crazy-cool video and accomplishment Adam! Really nice. Thanks for all your efforts and the nice production! You're an inspiration, man! 👍📻⚡Cheers & 73, Tom - WA7FLY
Love the attitude! You are truly having a great time and it inspires me to get more active. Thanks for a great video!
Hi,good video, i bring my Icom 7300 to the coast, but what you do is another level, keep up the good work, 73 from Rotterdam.
Hello Adam, great job with the contacts. Fantastic job taking all the gear up there. Some hike and some gear. Super antenna build. Yep four poles. It's been a long day. Motters M7TRS 73
Adam, thats so awesome! That looked like so much fun!
That shot of you sitting there rotating it south to Chile is incredible haha!
I really like the set up with motor for rotating. Nice 10m beam and activation.
You're an animal, Adam. Keep it up.
Sure hope after all of that long hike and walk that you were able to accumulate a ton of points in your 10 meter contest Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year 2021!!!! 73 Anthony O.Ridlen KC9QVE Amateur Extra Marion,Indiana
Sorry I missed this one live. Love learning from you and going with you on these adventures! Oh, and we share an appreciation for bad-A brands of clothing!!
Thanks Brooke! Serious outdoor shenanigans warrant some quality gear. By the way, I loved your stream with TO.
@@K6ARK Thank you!!!! I had a blast for sure!
Not a clue whats going on here...... but as a fan of Radio i think this is the most fun video ive seen in a long time. keep it up, jersey checking in
Basically, I'm using radio waves bounced off of the ionosphere to talk to a bunch of people in South America from California. And my antenna is a crazy rickety fiberglass frame with some wires which somehow focus my radio signal where I point it. It's stupid good fun 🤘😆👍
That is insane! Wow so cool!
Inspirational!
HRCC brought me here
73 de N2NLQ
Love that antenna ! I may have to steal your design..... I've never back packed my 7300, but have used it portable several times. Now that I see that it can be done, it gives me some confidence that I can do it also. Nice video ! VA7BVV
Brave man hauling a $1500 rig (well, it WAS originally priced at $1500, you can pick up an IC-7300 for just under a grand today with rebates) out into the field!
Cool video! What we do for the hobby! looks like it was fun 🤩 i could sit there operating CW All damn day!
This is so awesome! Way to go.
THANKS ,, ANTRIM IRELAND
Outstanding 😅
A worm screw drive on that rotator would be self-braking in wind. To some extent...
Yeah, good idea. I may try that. The round belt on the pulleys slips, which I kinda wanted to prevent damage. I have some toothed pulleys and belt as well that I want to try.
Simply awesome. You are an inspiration to many. Merry Christmas. John N6NRO Lompoc
There was a ton more activity on cw. Plus you get a 10db advantage. Glad you had fun!
Perhaps next year I'll do CW, or both. I spent so much time on SSB, I decided to just stick with it for the day other than the SOTA contacts.
@@K6ARK California appeared to have much better propagation than Ohio. I had 250 plus Q’s on CW. I ran about 300 watts and a TH11 at 60 feet and it often felt like a struggle.
We had a good pipeline North and South, but not much to the East.
Awesome, just awesome!
I absolutely love your videos. Inspired to say the least!
Very nice I like it. I love to see a more detailed video of the antenna. I wasn't really able to figure out if its configure as a Moxon or if there are elements strung across like a yagi. I'm guessing the later, if so how many elements is it 2 plus reflector?
Standard yagi configuration. 4 elements currently, but I'm adding one more for a total of 5. "Boom length" will be 7.5 m.
You are MAD...but in a very good way!!! You did really well with the contacts and I loved the beam and rotator. Look forward to seeing further developments of this. Just wondering if you considered making a 2 element qua-gi using your struts and wire techique?
Yes, but then you need a rigid boom or a really funky hub and 2 more poles. Designing for portable is just that much harder. Yagis are easier.
@@K6ARK Understood, thanks Adam.
so crazy that it is great! well done de AI6XG
Very, very cool! How many AH was that battery? I take it there wasn't much juice left after your operation?
Kicked in around 20:00 and i started jamming to it😂
Great pole/beam setup! 73 DM2VV
This is great! My hero. I just realized you took your 7300 to summit.However the antenna is great. Consider a multiband dual quad?? The band opening was awesome!. The antenna is great! KD9POE
waoohh you number one terrific set up you the best thanks 73 from kb2uew
Good stuff!
I “liked” for the SOTA operation, now I’m commenting for the beard.
what a great video K6ARK, the antenna looks amazing with a great performer , 73 from Massachusetts.
And it'll get better when I add an element for another 2 dB and a lot better F/B
Kudos for that great effort! Very inspiring! 👍👍👍
K6ARK appears to be a difficult call sign on air. I note that call signs that have letters repeated in them seem to cause people confusion. A guy in the UK had 2E0EZT and the 'echo-zero-echo-zulu' bit threw people quite often.
Amazing video, that beam is awesome. I have a non radio related question? Which model of La Sportiva shoes are those and would you recommend them?
Really awesome video and great beam. Has been funny to know how big battery pack you have, how many Ah when running the 7300?
10m contest was great here south of Boston. De w1cjf
Awesome!!!
Fantastic contacts. What power were you using in the hill? Cheers Gary (M7EGD)
The full 100w. The 12 Ah Bioenno can put out enough current to run full power. Pretty sweet!
KD2QOJ. Great antenna performance
Wow, very nice location and great setup. Not shure about the benefit of such a big beam though. It has almost no f/b. Are you shure it works well? I would choose a simple design like a 2 element beam. A moxon design would do the trick... Anyway, it was a crazy SOTA activation for shure. Great video...
Thanks. I originally designed the bean with the SSB portion of the band in mind, and didn't check the front to back ratio on the CW portion of the band. On top of that, my design was poorly optimized. I am rebuilding the elements on the same spreader and adding one more for a total of five elements. The new design will have about 8.5 dBd forward gain, and 20 dB front to back ratio on SSB. On CW, the front to back ratio will decrease to about 14 dB. Still, that's far better than what I'm getting now, and overall performance should be better. Each time I build, I learn, and it's a continual improvement process for me. Appreciate the comment and the helpful feedback.
It's also worth noting that front to back ratio is less important than forward gain when operating from a remote summit. Noise levels out there are negligible, and the primary purpose of the beam in that application is just maximizing the amount of your radiated power getting to the station on the other end.
So is there a video showing the antenna build (assuming it's DIY)? And any links to rotator build as well. Great set up would love to try make something similar. Great video keep up the good work and thanks.
No build video yet, but there have been multiple questions/requests about it, so I'll put one together when I update for an additional element. The design of both the antenna and rotator certainly have their weaknesses, and I'm still working those out.
@@K6ARK can't wait. K5WCF
Subscribed, love these SOTA and POTA channels (like Outdoors On The Air - Tracey - VE3TWM).
I'm thinking about getting into SOTA/POTA, loved that behemoth antenna. What I would love to know is exactly how did you guy that down? That's one thing I don't understand when working with rocky or very hard surfaces. Thanks and great stuff, keep it up! 73 KE7BUA.
Sweet, thanks Jason. I stat with a PVC fitting used as a hub for the guy points on the pole. I drilled 4 holes and tied small loops of cord to tie off to. photos.app.goo.gl/Yxmw1yax1KifYLGH8
I carry 4 stakes with about 6 feet or cord attached to each. The stakes are aluminum tent stakes - knock-offs of the MSR groundhog style. There are lots of ways to get them wedged into cracks in the rocks. For example, in a narrower crack just point the stake into the crack and pull perpendicular to the crack. The stake will stick even in a loose crack. For more direct pulls in a wider crack, stick the stake in backwards with the tip against one wall and tied end further in against the other wall. Apply tension and the canning action will hold it in place. Don't release tension or it'll fall out. These tips work great when all you've got are rocks and cracks.
@@K6ARK Thanks for the very detailed reply! I also use a 3" PVC drainage pipe to hold up my 12 meter Spiderbeam that supports my endfed, but it's staked in grass. The part that I wasn't sure about was the actual tie downs/stakes in rocks. That's what I thought you did but wasn't sure. Ingenious really! Thanks again, 73.
Legend!
thank you for the video, very inspirating antenna... and of course nice contacts. VY 73 de Ľubo... OM6IN
Hi Adam,
You did great during the contest. Are you going to make a video on the antenna? I've been under the weather the past couple weeks. Stay safe. 73 WJ3U
Have you considered using the HealthKit sb 200 this boat anchor would be a great seat warmer while making contacts .
HA !!! Getting Axel RRN for your first, he's a great contest officianado and an awesome operator! !!! LOL that's great...As for the ridiculousness of the the antenna, your a man after my own heart, carrying too much just for the experimental fun of it. I have a portable Spider Beam I want to haul up somewhere one day! KJ6VCM Awesome video !
Thanks Peter, there may be a homebrew spiderbeam in my future at some point.
Well done, Adam. What is your background? You come up with some good ideas and great ways of making them work. Are you an engineer or just a ‘hobbyist mechanic’? Hope to work you one day! Les g0nmd QRP
I'm a mechanical engineer by degree and work as a quality manager at a large aviation industrial facility. I've always been a hobbyist tinkerer since I was a little kid.
@@K6ARK Wow! Thanks for the rapid reply!! I’m just a tinkerer, though trained as a motor mechanic back in the ‘60s, before then going into the Church of England ministry. Now retired. Your stuff is certainly an encouragement to keep on tinkering😁
73, Les g0nmd
Adam, HNY, nice video and VfL activation. Any construction details of this antenna available? many thanks, 73, Adrian, DH1AHL
Serious signal... 100 watts through summit yagi!
Would you be willing to share the plans for this antenna, or at least provide some of the basic specs so some of us can replicate? That would be awesome Adam! Thanks, DE NØTTI
Yes, its a basic 4 element 26 ga wire yagi. I actually plan to re-build with 5 elements as it will work better for the size of the frame. There is nothing special about the yagi design - it just has straight elements and was optimized for a 50 ohm match. I just modeled it up in MMANA, optimizing for the size of the frame I made.
The frame is made of 16 foot telescopic fiberglass poles on a hub welded out of fence post top rail. Guy lines and an elevated center support help keep everything taut.
I can share the MMANA file if that would help.
@@K6ARK that we be a huge help, thank you very much Adam! Look forward to building it! My qrz email is good. Thanks again! Appreciate you taking the time to help. De NØTTI