Saturday 8 July 2017. Thee enthusiastic SOTA activators Andrew VK1MBE, Al VK1RX and myself have plans to activate three summits Bald Mountain, Big Badja Hill and Dampier in the Gourock and Deua National Parks, 2.5 hours south-east of Canberra. Our plan is to rotate two SOTA stations between Bald Mountain VK2/SM-052 and Big Badja Hill…
This week I received three SOTA 23 cm Microwave Certificate Awards from Barry GM4TOE, SOTA Awards Manager, UK. SOTA Microwave Awards – Simplex Operations on 23cm 17 June 2017 SOTA 100 km 23 cm Microwave Award – Operating on 23 cm SSB from Mt Taylor VK1/AC-037, I worked Rod VK2TWR in Nimmitabel, over a 131…
Sunday 18 June 2017. I recently purchased a new 2.5 watt 23 cm transverter from SG-Lab in Sofia Bulgaria. The package includes a 2el HB9VC PCB yagi which has turned out to be a great addition for portable work, particularly from a hilltop with a good uninterrupted view of the horizon. Today from the summit…
I recently purchased two 23cm WA5VJB PCB 3el yagi antennas without SMA connectors, that was a deliberate decision as I wasn’t sure how I would use or mount the PCB yagi. For a recent SOTA activation I quickly soldered a short length of RG174 to the PCB pads which served its purpose for two activations,…
Saturday 24 June 2017. I’m constructing a 1296 MHz 12el 23 Yagi, I got little distracted from the yagi when I decided to take a break and build a 23cm 1296 MHz 1/4 wave ground plane antenna. Here it is.. Materials: N Type flange socket 70 mm length of 2 mm diameter copper wire 300…
How do you get on 23 cm 1296.2 MHz USB for SOTA activations without forking out loads of dough for an ICOM IC-910 or IC-9100? Answer a lightweight all mode 2.5 watt 23 cm transverter from Hristiyan LZ5HP in Sofia Bulgaria. The current unit on offer is version 2.3. The 23cm transverter’s default configuration is…
Wednesday 11 January 2017 – 8:00 am (21:00 UTC) joining the VK VHF DX Net from Tuggeranong Hill 855 metres ASL for VHF Aircraft Enhancement propagation (AE). Purpose of today’s SOTA activation is to: experiment with low power 500 mW (QRP); qualify Tuggeranong Hill with the FT-817ND power output set to 500 mW for QSOs…
Thursday 12 January 2017, Andrew VK1MBE and Andrew VK1AD activating SOTA peak Mt Budawang VK2/ST-015, grid QF44XM. Surprising success at working ZL1 on 6m 50.120 MHz at 5 watts QRP SSB, that’s right not CW or digital modes, yep voice mode SSB from SOTA summit Mt Budawang VK2/ST-015 for two ZL1 QSOs over 2340 km…
