Any posts related to SOTA Watch
Everything You Want to Know About SOTA (STK) of March 22, 2022 presented by Harold Woering, N1FTP
Video
Printable Copy of the Presentation Slides, – PDF Version
Read the PDF for the slides online. Hover over the image to access the document navigation arrows.
000 SOTA-Presentation
Last fall HCRA and SOTA Jerks put forth a 630 meter challenge to our members. The idea and rules were simple. Get people interested in operating on the new band and offer a $100 prize for achieving the longest confirmed QSO. Yes, there were other rules but lets keep it simple. We’re all about simple!
Staying with simple we’ll let the operators tell their own story.
The WINNER!
Bob/WA1OJN – First Place and wins the $100 prize!
“It’s been a Hell of a ride, and I really enjoyed it! Thanks for the motivation, got me back to the basics on Ham Radio and I learned a lot! Met some great people and had a lot of fun.”
“My longest confirmed QSO ( and the longest in general) was W7UIV in WA state at 2296.96 miles by the link you provided.”
“My longest WSPR that was received by another station was LA2XPA in Norway at 3383.5 miles. See attached PDF. I know this doesn’t count as a QSO, but pretty amazing. Total of 54 QSOs: JT9(51), FT8(2) and CW(1).”
“All done with a Kenwood TS-440 feeding a WA3ETD 25W converter. Antenna is converted 80M dipole 136 horizontal, 25 feet vertical with home made variometer.”
Thanks for the great effort Bob and glad to see you had fun. As an added bonus Bob will be showing off parts of his 630m station at HCRA’s April 6th Show & Tell meeting – don’t miss it!
Jim/KK1W
“First off, a big congratulations to Bob for his outstanding efforts into 630 meters. 54 QSO’s are indeed impressive, there’s not a lot of unique stations to work (yet) on the MF bands. I was quite surprised with the distances possible with low power and small antennas. Some said, “will you even be able to make a QSO across town?”. I guess the answer is YES!”
“I ended up with 29 QSO’s, JT9(25, CW (3) and FT8 (1). I could hear a lot farther than I could work with only 20 watts going into an inverted L antenna. The vertical portion of the antenna is 80′, horizontal about 175′, fed through a fixed tuned loading coil and a half dozen ‘on ground’ radials. My farthest QSO was with ZF1EJ in the Cayman Islands, a distance of 1668 miles. That means Bob only whipped me by 628 miles! Oh well….”
“My station consists of an Elecraft K3s, MFSolutions down converter modified to be a simple 20W amplifier and an Inverted L antenna. Most receiving was done on a 650′ reversible beverage.”
Nick/K1NZ
Nick modified his IC-735 to work on 630 meters. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to get a viable antenna built before winter arrived. He ended up making one CW QSO with Jim, KK1W, confirmed on LotW for a distance of 7 miles. Hopefully Nick will be up and running on 630 next fall and making lots of digital QSO’s
The SWL’s
Al/N1AW
Al didn’t have time to put together a transmit station but received a QSL from AA1A for a beacon reception: Here’s the details:
“Hi,
I am hearing your AA1A beacon on 473.9 KHz. I’m listening with an old IC-706, antenna is a 160m inverted L. The signal does not indicate on my S-meter, and is pretty close to the noise level, but I don’t expect this rig to be much good at receiving at this frequency. According to QRZ.com I am 105 miles from you in FN32qq. This is my first go at doing anything on this band. I have a few other projects to finish before I try to make a transmitter. I wonder what you are using for transmitter and antenna?”
“Maybe you have already heard, one of the clubs I belong to is sponsoring a VLF contest. The info is on their website: https://hcra.org/
73,
Al, N1AW
“Hi Al, QSL 474 cw and that was a rare CW beacon try, am usually on WSPR for automatic unattended operation. The TX is a IC718 feeding a home brew transverter then in to a PA amp then directly in to the wire vertical loop, forget radials and variometers!!… That is interesting hcra page, let’s get going and show them how its done, eh?? You will need a few dozen watts minus antenna efficiency to come out @ 5W radiated, also you are in the side null of my loop so that’s pretty good receiving…”
N1AW DE AA1A TNX Al
Frandy/N1FJ
Frandy listened with his K3 for KK1W’s CW signal on 630m and was able to copy it, a distance of 27 miles. KK1W, being lazy, didn’t send a SWL card.
James/WD1S
James did a lot of listening on 630 meters with his Kenwood TS-590. Unfortunately the 590, like the K3s, only generates about 0.5 milliwatts on 630 meters. That’s just not enough power to run barefoot on 630. I’m not sure if James was able to copy signals from either me or Bob, but I think he did. If so the distances would be 37 and 8 miles respectively.
WRAP-UP
That about wraps it up for our first 630 meter challenge. Thanks to HCRA and the SOTA Jerks for contributing $50 from each club towards the prize and allowing us the opportunity to run the challenge. Everyone learned from their efforts: building and tuning antennas for 630m, designing and building loading coils, modifying radios and amplifiers, learning new digital modes, understanding MF propagation… the list goes on. Our entrants elected not to ‘sit on the sidelines’ but get active and try new things. Not everything worked as planned but, in the end they were successful and had fun. Isn’t that what it’s all about?
Good luck with your amateur radio adventures in 2018!
’73…
Jim/KK1W
Who will claim the $100 distance prize? Please submit your entry as follows:
Submit your longest confirmed QSO to Jim Mullen via email or USPS by March 15th 2018
Email: kk1w.jim@gmail.com or USPS to 144 Tower Hill Rd, Brimfield, MA 01010
Enclose an SASE for return of any submitted cards
No need to submit cards unless you can’t copy or scan them. Use the tools linked in the original article to calculate your longest distance confirmation.
To keep things interesting it would be great if everyone who participated, whether or not you confirmed contacts or simply listened on the band, sends me the following:
1. Number of QSO’s made and if possible broken down by mode.
2. Longest QSO (unconfirmed or confirmed).
3. Brief station description (if I don’t already have it).
4. If SWL a brief overview of activity and mode.
Going forward prospective MF operators (630m & 2200m) can make use of this information an an indication of what to expect when they are QRV on Medium Frequency.
The prize will be awarded along with a quick overview of activity at our April 6th meeting. This is also our Show & Tell meeting. Why not enter something you built for 630m? Maybe you can go home with multiple prizes 
Many thanks to everyone participating. You folks are pioneers on a new amateur band. Exciting stuff our hobby and our club, keep up the good work!
630 Meter Challenge – Halftime Update:
The HCRA/SOTA Jerks 630 meter challenge crosses the halfway point January 1, 2018. So far close to a half dozen members have made QSO’s or SWL reports on our new, medium frequency (MF) band. Here’s a quick overview of their achievements so far along with station descriptions and photos. Not sure about the 630 Challenge? Details can be found here. The purpose of the event is to encourage members of both clubs to expand their amateur radio horizons, “Go Low” and enjoy ham radio fun. There’s a list of links at the end to get you started on your exploration below WHYN AM if you’re so inclined.
Bob/WA1OJN – First member QRV!
Bob was our first member QRV on 472 MHz. Bob hadn’t done any home-brew for many years and was excited by the Challenge announcement at the October meeting. Here, in his own words, is his description of progress to date on 630m:
Nick/K1NZ and Jim/KK1W made their first QSO on 630 by working each other! Separated by a vast 7 miles here’s their story:
Nick’s station consists of an Icom 735 and a 160m Inverted-L antenna. The Icom is fully capable of transceive on 472 MHz and Nick had been monitoring WSPR and JT9 activity for a few weeks. When KK1W got his station QRV on the new band they decided to try a CW QSO. Guess what, it worked! Signals were weak but readable with a 339R/599S report at Nick’s end. Power was very low at Nick’s station because of high SWR concerns.
Since that QSO Nick has made modifications to the IC735 to improve RX and TX and hopes to get a resonant antenna up soon. One thing is certain, it’s not expensive to get on this band but it takes some ‘experimentation’ and good old ham tinkering to make it happen.
Jim’s stations features an Elecraft K3s, MF Solutions converter, an Inverted L antenna for TX and a 650′ Beverage for RX. The K3s is a great receiver on 472 MHz (with the general coverage filter) but sports only a half milliwatt (0.0005 watts) output! Getting that tiny signal boosted is the job of the MF Systems converter. The converter was modified to use only the amplifier portion and puts out about 20 watts.
The Inverted L antenna has 75′ of vertical, about 175′ horizontal and a half dozen 100′ ground radials. It’s tuned with a loading coil wound on a 2 gallon plastic pail.
Results have been good so far with over 20 QSO’s, two on CW, one on FT8 and the balance on JT9 with 9 states and three countries. Jim’s longest QSO to date was with ZF1EJ in the Cayman Islands approximately 1600 miles.
Plans for station improvement include a variometer to replace the fixed tuned coil and more power. With only 20 watts his station is a “rabbit with big ears” hearing much better than it can be heard.
James is an avid 160m operator with a nice location in Chesterfield, MA. His station consists of a Kenwood TS-590 and various wire antennas. He has been receiving signals on 472 and 137 MHz since the beginning of the challenge.
Like the K3 his TS-590 has very low output on 472HKz. James has tried to work a few local stations but his 1mw signal is just not heard, at least so far.
Frandy added a general coverage filter to his K3 and is using a G5RV for receiving. To date he has copied KK1W’s CW CQ and NDB’s lower in the band. He has obtained an MF Solutions converter and hopes to get on the air soon feeding an Inverted L antenna.
This wraps up our mid-Challenge activities. There are others expressing interest in the band including George/KC1V and Bob/W1QA but we’re not aware of their progress to date.
There’s remains plenty of time to get into the fun of MF over the next few months. Winter months are great for these frequencies with little atmospheric interference. It is amazing the distances achievable on these so called ‘low bands’ and you will be too – if you give it a try. Many ham transceivers and most general coverage receivers can receive below 500 KHz. Besides amateur activity on 472 KHz and 137 KHz there’s many interesting signals at VLF frequencies. Between the two amateur bands are many non-directional aircraft beacons (NDB’s). How many or how far can they be heard? Give it a listen and use one of the links below to see where they are located. Interested in digital modes? WSPR, JT9 and FT8 abound on both bands.
Why not make a 2018 resolution to spin the tuning knob and “Go Low for big fun”
’73…
Jim/KK1W
The links below have proven very useful for our members. They concentrate on the basics and will get you QRV on 630m quickly.
HCRA & SOTA Jerks
VLF Competition
As you know the FCC has recently approved amateur radio use on the VLF (Very Low Frequency) bands starting September 15th, 2017. These bands are 135.7 to 135.8 kHZ (2,200 meters) and 472 to 479 kHz (630 meters). More information can be found about the authorization and bands by clicking the links.
It’s unlikely anyone will be using these bands for a SOTA activation but nevertheless the SOTA Jerks have proposed a QSO competition to spark interest in the new allocations. Our two clubs have gathered together $100 to award the winner of the competition. In the spirit of keeping things simple we’ve made the rules easy to follow. It’s up to you, the station builder/operators to do the heavy lifting on this one!
Rules:
That’s all there is to it. As of this writing there are at least two transceivers that can be used without modification on VLF frequencies: Kenwood TS590 and Elecraft K3s. The Elecraft K3 can be modified to use these bands. Transverter kits for VLF are available, here’s one for under $100.
These bands are more like our AM broadcast bands (think WHYN-AM 560) than traditional bands. Antenna size and power levels are limited so it shouldn’t cost a lot to be QRV on either of the bands. It will take some ingenuity and good ole’ ham ‘experimentation and modification’, which is exactly what amateur radio is all about.
There are many blogs on the web about VLF and the new bands. Here’s one from AE5X to get you started. These bands can be really interesting once you start digging a little deeper. Your efforts represent the start of a new ham radio frontier!
Good luck and may the longest QSO win!
’73…
HCRA and SOTA Jerks
This December’s ARRL 160 Meter and 10 Meter Contests complete the addition of new Single-Op Unlimited categories. All three power sub-categories: High Power, Low Power, and QRP are available. This means stations using spotting information will no longer be assigned to the Multioperator category. It also means there are quite a number of new records that will be set in December! Will your score be one of them?
(Snipped from the ARRL news letter)
Wifi inside a KX3
While browsing info on the ‘Piglet’ on Nick Garner’s Pignology web site the thought struck me, I wonder if I could install a version of the Piglet inside my KX3. I built my KX3 from a kit and never installed the battery holders or the internal charger. I’ve always operated the rig from an external supply; either Lipo batteries or from a 12 VDC supply in the shack. Looking at the size of the Piglet I thought there might be room enough to fit it inside the KX3.
A few emails back and forth with Nick/N3WG, (the guy behind the pig) confirmed the possibility. Nick suggested a through-hole version of the board, minus the DB9 and Power Poles connectors, for experimentation. A few days later the parts showed up and it was off to the races – another first for Muppet Labs. Actually It turned out to be an easy project and enables logging with Pignology’s Hamlog app without having to deal with wires.
The first ‘trial by fire’ was on top of Cascade Mountain in the Adirondacks. I brought along pencil and paper as backup but Nick’s Hamlog software and the built in Piglet worked perfectly. I logged 22 contacts without a hitch. I was using the Android version of the app which unfortunately does not export a SOTA compatible .csv file, hopefully Nick may add that in the future. I experienced intermittent cell service while on Cascade which let Hamlog look up callers in QRZ while I was logging. Very cool to be able to answer someone with a ‘Thanks Barry, you’re 599 72”, making a personable, but quick QSO. The photo shows the ‘shack’ on top of Cascade (3880’) but not the phone I was using for logging because??? You guessed it I was using the same phone to take the photo!
What you get is a really cool, KX3/W – not everyone has one of those, right?
This mod isn’t for everyone. You should be comfortable with soldering in tight places and not afraid to damage a $1000 radio. Battery drain is increased as the Piglet draws 70 ma, and you have to disconnect it if you want to use the ACC1 jack to update firmware or use a different logging program. For my use this is perfectly acceptable. The ease of logging and (hopefully) log upload to the SOTA database make it perfect. As always YMMV, follow along for a detailed, step by step, article.
Caveats
If you can live with the above then here’s how you do it, including pictures!
This mod isn’t for everyone. You need to be comfortable with soldering in tight places. If you damage your KX3 I’m sure it won’t be fixed under warranty and you lose your internal battery holder.
Installing a Piglet inside an Elecraft KX3
Parts List:
Other information
1. Elecraft KX3 Schematic KX3 Control Panel Connectors: http://www.elecraft.com/manual/KX3SchematicDiagramDec2012.pdf
2. KXSER Schematic the cable schematic is on the last page: http://www.elecraft.com/manual/KXPA100%20Owner’s%20Manual.pdf
Don’t forget to disconnect the battery when you’re not using the KX3 or the Piglet will deplete it. The Piglet shows approximately 70ma of current when running. Considering the KX3 can draw up to 3A on transmit it isn’t going to reduce your battery life significantly.
Remember! If you need to use the ACC1 jack with the KXUSB (or KXSER) cable you will have to turn off the Piglet. What I do is open up the rig and remove the (+) connection to the Piglet. I’m sure some craftier folks could find a way to add a switch but I’m OK with this simple approach. The KX3 is usually used portable and the frequency of firmware updates doesn’t make it a burden to stay with the simple approach.
There doesn’t appear to be any negative impact on the KX3’s performance, either RX or TX, since the modification. I don’t have access to sophisticated test equipment but A/B comparisons to an Icom IC756-2 with weak signals, before and after the mod, didn’t show any RX degradation from the mod.
Ideas, questions, suggestions, corrections? Feel free to drop me an email!
’73 and enjoy your KX3/W
Jim/KK1W
mailto:kk1w@arrl.net
Thanks to the efforts of Nick (K1MAZ), the SOTA Jerks (NE1SJ) and all those who participated, we were able to pull off the inaugural New England SOTA Day. We had about 10 activators from around New England and Canada activate SOTA peaks all around the same time on August 10th 2012.
Activators Include
| Callsign | Name | Summit | Designation | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NE1SJ | Frandy (N1FJ) | Pocumtuck Rock | W1/MB-015 | Deerfield MA | |
| KK1W | Jim | Webb Hill | W1/CR-011 | Hardwick MA | |
| K1MAZ | Nick | Quabbin Hill | W1/CR-013 | Ware MA | |
| NT1K | Jeff | Mt. Tom | W1/MB-006 | Holyoke MA | |
| WN1E | Dave | Mt. Norwottuck | W1/CR-004 | Amherst MA | |
| KB1RMA | Chris | Fort Mountain | W1/MV-002 | Epson NH | |
| N1EU | Barry | Misery Mountain | W1/MB-021 | Williamstown MA | |
| N1AW | Al | Bald Mountain | W1/MB-014 | Bernardston MA | |
| W1PNS | Peter | Putney Mtn. | W1/GM-114 | Putney VT | |
| VA2SG | Jean | Mt Brassard | VE2/LR-052 | Quebec CA |
Soap Box
Jeff (NT1K) Mt. Tom
Climb was easier than I recall. It only took little over 1/2 hour to make the hike. Forgot some equipment which limited my G5RV Jr. height to about 12ft. I thought it was going to cause some issues but I managed to make a decent amount of contacts including a hand full of summit to summit contacts.
Jim (KK1W), Webb Hill
This was my second time on Webb Hill. If you read the trip log from our first activation you know the story of the huge ant hills on the trail. They are still there. I drove up Hill road until I didn’t want to scratch my truck any more, parked and walked to the trail head. Once there I followed the trail until the ant hills came into view, then I used the ‘go to’ function in Back Country Navigator to bushwhack from there to the summit. Too many ants for me! The hike is about .3 miles with maybe 200′ elevation gain.
During setup there was no breeze and the mosquitoes were unbelievable. I literally bathed myself in Deet, it helped but it was still miserable. I mentally decided I was ‘outa-there’ ASAP once I made a few contacts. Thankfully a breeze came up and it was fine from that point on. There’s no suitable rocks up there for setup but I kluged an operating desk out of my backpack and hung it off a tree. All in all I was QRV for about two hours and made lots of contacts on 40 and 20 meters, both CW and phone, and a few on 2 meter FM. By the time I broke down the station around 2:00 PM there were 41 QSO’s in the log including 10 S2S contacts. Very cool!
I used an EFHW wire antenna with one end suspended 25′ up in a nearby tree. the antenna tuned well on 40, 20, 17 and 15 but I didn’t see any skimmer spots on 15 so I’m not sure how well it was working on that band.
All in all a fun time on a beautiful day.
KK1W
AL (N1AW), Bald Mtn
My activation of Bald Mountain W1/MB-014 was frustrated by the SOTA database which said “object reference not set to an instance of an object” when I clicked Submit. I’m supposed to be a computer professional (retired) but that wasn’t helpful.
Other than that, and not getting on the air on 146.52 until 1705Z and on HF until 1759Z (poor planning and misplaced antenna parts). I had a good time, my first solo activation and a previously unactivated summit. Results: 11 QSOs (3 on 2m, 3 on 40m, 4 on 20m, and 1 on 15m), 3 S2Ss, VT and CA, (but the two in VT were two different ops on different bands on the same summit). Sorry I didn’t work any of you guys, I heard someone talking to NE1SJ once on 2m but did not hear Frandy and I was on 20 cw at the time anyway.
I sent a message to the SOTA database manager, I presume eventually my log will be accepted.
Chris (KB1RMA), Fort Mountain
Dave (WN1E), Mt. Norwottuck
Nick (K1MAZ), Quabbin Hill
Pete (W1PNS) w/ Charles (N1CAI), Putney Mountain:
Please read pete’s write up on his blog!
Any additional information please contact us!
Here is the presentation the SOTA Jerks present to local clubs (or anyone else willing to listen to us). Besides an introduction to SOTA the most important part could be the resource links at the end of the presentation.
Feel free to download and use at your club meeting or event. Modification is fine, please credit the original authors if at all possible 🙂 Most of all get out and activate!
SOTA Jerks Introduction to SOTA presentation. (left click to download).
(this is a large 23M file – just to warn you!)
OPERATING TIP
CQ WW RTTY Director, Ed WØYK, shares the log submission issues experienced by all contest sponsors. “It is apparent that many people do not read the robot email reply they receive. At the bottom of that email, the robot lists the format errors in the log. If you don’t understand what the robot is telling you, then simply compare that specific QSO line with the format specified on the Logs web page. The problem should be obvious.
“Major logging programs like Win-Test, N1MM Logger and WriteLog all create compliant Cabrillo files … IF you enter your data correctly. For example, if you enter your sent exchange as ‘CA 03’ in N1MM Logger (which is backwards from the required order for CQ WW RTTY), it will come out in that (incorrect) order in the Cabrillo file.
“You can easily edit your Cabrillo file with a text editor. Since is it common to add, change or move the same parameter field in every QSO line, a column editor is invaluable. I recommend the freeware Crimson Editor.”
So read that robot message! If it tells you there is something wrong with your log – do something about it and resubmit it. Double- and triple-check your operating category and all of the information for your station. Once you have a happy robot and you are a happy log submitter – save the confirming message in an easy-to-find location. My email software has a folder named “Contest Log Submissions” for all of my log submission confirmation messages. It’s easy and helps avoid the dreaded “forgot to send in my log” disease.
