The Road to Mountain Goat: A Retrospective

I've been working on making Mountain Goat since 2013, having only accomplished that achievement last month.  Many things occurred in that time, including a combat deployment to Afghanistan (N0PCL QRT during that time), re-learning CW, many antennas used and broken, many miles hiked, summits gained, and hours on the radio.

So, this happened.

So, having harvested the data on the SOTAData web site, my own logbook, and my own recollections, here's a bit of a look back.

Total QSOs:  1396
Total Points:  1005
Total Unique Summits where a QSO was made:  99
Total Summits (Includes summits visited more than once): 154
Total Failed Activations without a single QSO:  2 (White Mountain Peak, W6/CD-001.  Great hike, though, and Half Dome, W6/SN-040.  Half Dome was also an amazing hike.)
Total Summits with 1-4 QSOs (enough to activate, but not enough for points):  4

Screen-capture of my SOTA Goat App on my iPhone, showing most of the peaks I've activated.  A couple of the peaks have been de-listed for various reasons, so it's not a complete list.

A view of most of the summits in the Southern California area, from SOTA Goat.

View of the string of activated peaks along the Eastern Seaboard.  From SOTA Goat.

QSOs By Mode:

CW QSOs:  903 (65%)
FM QSOs:  183 (13%)
SSB QSOs:  310 (22%)

Learning point:  I started SOTA with SSB and CW, but my radio skill exponentially improved once I gave CW a go.  After MG was achieved, it made up basically 2/3rd of my total QSOs.  It also tends to be much more efficient at QRP power levels, and is generally much more unobtrusive on busy summits (you can sit there with a notepad, a key, and earbuds quietly hamming away without making noise or drawing attention to yourself).  It's also lots of fun.

Incidentally my longest-distance contact while activating a summit was from Middle Peak (W6/SC-024) in Southern California.  I had a CW contact with OH9XX on 12 meters using CW.  OH9XX was in Finland, 5583 miles away.  My power output:  2.5 watts.  Miles per milliwatt of power: 2.2.

So, from Southern California, I made contact with a man in Finland, by burning long-wave photons off of a piece of metal, bouncing those photons off the a section of the atmosphere that was ionized by the sun's ultraviolet light.  Those photons excited electrons on another piece of metal in Finland, where those electrons were amplified and converted to sound waves sufficient for two-way communications--using as much power as required to power a flashlight.

Amazing.

My shortest QSO was probably with WA6NVL, on Dictionary Hill (W6/SC-366).  He heard me on his HT, climbed up the hill I was on, and met me.  It was probably a contact that was less than a quarter mile.  It was on 2 Meter FM.

QSOs By Band:

80 Meters:  2 (<1%)
40 Meters:  177 (13%)
30 Meters:  136 (10%)
20 Meters:  621 (44%)
17 Meters:  100 (7%)
15 Meters:  44 (3%)
12 Meters:  101 (7%)
10 Meters:  30 (2%)
6 Meters:  3 (<1%)
2 Meters:  165 (12%)
1.25 Meters (222 MHz):  5 (<1%)
70 centimeters:  12 (<1%)

I've had the fortune of making activation contacts on every band from 80 Meters through 70 centimeters, except 60 meters.  My SOTA transcievers, an FT-817ND and a VX-8DR, both from Yaesu, allow exceptional frequency agility, which I have found useful.  The only reasons I haven't made contacts on other bands is because I don't have a radio that will support that (on frequencies above 450 MHz), or I don't have an antenna that allows it (on 60 and 160 meters).  I'll see about rectifying that in the future.

I was surprised at the amount of time I gave to WARC bands (30, 17, and 12 meters).  I actually made more contacts on each of those bands than 80, 15, and 10 meters combined!  This was, in part, likely due to the 12 Meter Challenge, which was popular some time ago in the SOTA world.  I also really, really like 30 an 17 meters, too, since those bands have many similar characteristics to the neighboring 20 and 40 meter bands, but they're never plagued with contest activity.  The WARCs seem a bit more gentlemanly.

All of my SOTA activations on VHF and up were FM or SSB.  All QSOs on 2 meters and up were via FM.

I'm becoming more and more interested in VHF and UHF operation, particularly weak signal and satellite work.  In the future, don't be surprised to see me try to activate some summits on those higher frequencies.

QSOs by Countries/DXCC Entities:

96.7% of all QSOs were with other stations in the continental United States.  1.93% were with Canadian stations.  The remainder were countries spread out in 11 other DXCC entities.

From Southern California, I managed to reach Canadian, German, and Finnish stations.  The rest of the DXCC entities were contacted from mountains along East Coast of the US.

Activators:

Phil, NS7P, Gary, W0MNA, and his XYL, Martha, W0ERI, were my top chasers.

Associations:

Here's a list of the associations and regions I've activated in:

890 QSOs (64%) were from the W6 association.  421 QSOs (30%) were from W4V.  6% were spread among K0M, W0C, W1, W3, W7A, W7W, and W9.

543 (54%) of my points were from W6.  394 (39%) were from W4V.  The rest, 68 points (7%) were from the other associations.

Personal Notes:

• Favorite QSO:  Mentioned above, with OH9XX.
• Favorite Hikes:  There are many.  My favorites are, in no particular order:  Mt. Badon-Powell (W6/CT-004), Alabama Hills (W6/SS-442), Robertson Mountain (W4V/SH-011), Rocky Mount (W4V/HB-035), San Gorgonio (W6/CT-001 & W6/CT-243), San Antonio (W6/CT-003), Thomas Mountain (W6/CT-016), Cahuilla Mountain (W6/CT-103), Knob Mountain (W4V/SH-017), and Pilot Knob (W6/SD-435).
• Least Favorite Hike:  Pt. 6020 (W6/SD-017).  This peak was a bushwhack through thorns and scrub.  It was barely doable.
• Easiest Hike:  Probably La Cumbre Peak (W6/SC-086), but there are others that are incredibly easy.
• Most Challenging Hike:  Pallett Benchmark (W6/CT-058), or maybe San Gorgonio (mentioned above).
• Most points earned in a weekend:  48.  From 18-20 April 2014, I activated Onyx Peak (W6/CT-044), Keller Peak (W6/CT-013), Delamar Mountain (W6/CT-050), Bertha Peak (W6/CT-054), Mount Williamson (W6/CT-011), and Pallett Benchmark (W6/CT-058).

My wisdom learned from the whole thing:

• Persevere.  Don't Give Up.  Mountain Goat is one of the most challenging amateur radio activities in existence.  It's very physical, demands, high levels of operator skill, is technically challenging, and can be frustrating.  Just keep improving.
• Analyze your failures, and be objective about them.  Need to improve your hiking shape, or learn CW, or find alternative methods of spotting?  Do it.
• Have fun.  It's immensely satisfying.

N0PCL and the XYL, on the summit of Alabama Hills, with Mount Whitney, in the background.

November Shack Update

Greetings, all.

Things have been continuing in the N0PCL ham shack.

First, on the award front...

While I haven't submitted my official applications for the following awards, I have sufficient confirmations for the following:

• Worked All States (mixed band and mode, CW, phone, digital, Triple Play, and 40 meters.)  I'm three states away from WAS on 20, too, needing only Maryland, Delaware, and Connecticut.
• DXCC (mixed band and mode, CW, and 20 Meters.)  I've got 91 total countries on digital modes, and 86 on phone.  And I've got 84 countries on 15 meters and 79 on 40 meters.  So I'm getting there.

In addition to the above, I've got 96 Maidenhead locators on 6 meters, using only a dipole in the attic and 100 watts.

And, perhaps my biggest near-achievement is SOTA Goat status.  I'm currently sitting at 999 points out of a necessary 1000.  My conundrum there is that I've basically activated all the peaks in my local area this year, so I need to go further afield.  I should be visiting my parents over the upcomin holiday season, so I may attempt an activation of Holy Hill (W9/WI-031) or one of the other "mountains" in southern or western Wisconsin.  Holy Hill will put me at 1,001 activator points.

In other news, I've built an APRS fill-in digipeater and iGate at my home QTH.  It doesn't get a huge amount of traffic--I'm mostly filling in APRS packets along a 25 mile stretch of I-95 between Fredericksburg and Woodbridge.  I'll do a write-up on that in the near future.  I used a rarely-touched FT-2900R, a TinyTrak4 from Byonics, and some free software.  Pretty simple stuff.

73

SOTA Activation of Lamb's Knoll (W3/WE-007)

Last April 10th I activated my first SOTA Peak in Maryland.  This is a belated activation report from that day.

Why Lamb's Knoll?  Well, it wasn't too far from my home QTH (less than a few hours' drive), and it's outside of Shenandoah National Park.  I don't mind Shenandoah National Park, but, frankly, my wife and I greatly miss the peaks in California.  California had wide-open spaces, and numerous mountain ranges to choose from, and generally a different attitude in the inhabitants than is here in the D.C. area.  On the eastern seaboard, things are a bit different.  The peaks are much lower, and almost all of them are connected by the Appalachian Trail, which, when you hike in spring and summer, feels like a long, buggy, spider-webby green tube that you hike through.  There aren't the same vistas, nor is there the elevation gain.  The A.T. is well-traveled by humans, so you don't even get the solitude.  It's a bit of a downer, but it's what we have until we're able to move back out west.  I've already activated a good number of Shenandoah Peaks, but now I want to get out a bit further from home.  That basically means I head northwest to the Appalachians in Maryland or Pennsylvania, or head southwest to other Appalachian peaks in Virginia or North Carolina.

(Just so you know, I've gotten more than 50% of the way to Mountain Goat status by activating peaks in California, so I maintain my SOTA membership as part of the W6 association, not he W4V--the Virginia SOTA association.)

We set out early that Sunday morning to activate this summit, which is really a bump of South Mountain, a long ridgeline which forms the northernmost terminus of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Our plan was to pick up the Appalachian Train at Gathland State Park, and hike north a few miles to the peak.  Overall, it was an easy hike, although the trail is fairly rocky in places so be careful not to roll and ankle!  Only the first bit of the hike up the A.T. from Gathland State Park was particularly steep. 

We saw a few people out, but I think that many of the hikers stayed inside owing to the cool temperatures as measured by the Jeep, parked at Gathland State Park:

Chilly.  36 Degrees F.  But it was sunny and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

The A.T. was rocky on this hike.

Near the use trail from the A.T. to the Lamb's Knoll summit, there is a single rock outropping with a halfway decent view.  My lovely bride and I snapped a selfie.  (Yes.  I said it.  Selfie.)

The summit is not particularly scenic...there are many trees that obscure any possibility of a view, and the summit also has a few buildings on it that are surrounded by fences.

Nearby the summit where I activated there was a very closely guarded government facility.  The facility had literally dozens of security cameras covering virtually every possible angle, an oddly-large parking lot--far more expansive than necessary to provide parking for any of the visible buildings, and an absolutely massive log periodic array, likely used for HF.  Of note, in my short time at the site I saw the antenna rotate, so clearly there is some sort of government-operated radio activity occurring there (collecting SIGINT or MASINT, perhaps?)

Here's a Google Earth view of the summit.  My activation location is on the southern edge of the southern-most cluster of buildings.  The other access-restricted government facility is north of my location.  Notice the massive parking lot.

Here's a Google Earth image of the MASSIVE log periodic array.  I saw it change azimuth, so somebody was doing something with it.  The boom of the antenna was actually an aluminum truss--it was a very large antenna.

Back to the SOTA activation:  I recall that conditions weren't particularly good.  I was content to get the required four contacts and then move on.  AT&T cell coverage was plentiful, so I self-spotted.  Here's my log:

Note the gap in time between talking to W0MNA (Gary) and W9MRH.  Conditions weren't very good.  I also attempted CW but didn't make any CW contacts.  Got 'er dun, though!

My QTH on Lamb's Knoll.  By the way, I really like my Thermarest Z-Seat.  I know it's just foam, but it's very comfortable.

We hiked back the same way we came.  Here are view's of my APRS-laid breadcrumbs from APRS.fi:

The packets from the first portion of my hike apparently weren't picked up my an iGate.

Here's the view of the contour lines.

I'll speak a bit now about what's in the area around South Mountain.  During the Civil War the area was critical to the Battle of Antietam.  Gathland State Park was the location of a particularly bloody duel between Confederate Artillery batteries and infantry companies, which held the pass, and infantry regiments from New Jersey.  The New Jersey troops took the pass at great cost, earning a tactical victory, but the Confederates succeeded in their strategic aim of delaying the Union advance.  The State Park itself is the former estate of an American journalist, and it is also the site of the War Correspondent's Memorial.  If you're in the area, the park is worth visiting.

Here's the War Correspondent's Memorial.

Burkittsville is nearby, which has the dubious distinction of having the fictional Blair Witch fictionally inhabit the area around the actual town in an fictional documentary which was an actual movie.  The town is small but historic.  If you approach Gathland State Park from the east, you will travel through the town.

The area around South Mountain today is home to some cottage industries, including the production of apples, hard ciders, and meads.  (We sampled both the cider and the mead after hiking.  It was delicious!)  There is a also an excellent potter who lives just down the west side from the pass where Gathland State Park is.  After returning to the Jeep, my wife and I visited the potter and she bought a lovely coffee mug there.

It was a good day.  A nice brisk hike, some radio fun, pottery shopping, some mead and cider...it was all great.

73!

N0PCL using LOTW

I have been away from the blog of late but I have a few posts in the hopper, so expect some more interesting things to read soon.

I've been operating more or less daily, generally operating from 40-15 meters CW and SSB.  I've actually had some pretty good DX contacts of late:  Cyprus, Bahrain, American Samoa, Trinidad & Tobago, Sable Island, New Zealand.  Unsurprisingly, most of these contacts have been on CW, which does better than phone most of the time.

I also did a National Parks On The Air (NPOTA) activation in Prince William Forest Park, a forested piece of land north the Quantico Marine Base in northern Virginia.  I have an upcoming post on that.

I've also activated a couple of SOTA peaks, too.

My latest amateur radio project has been making my station Logbook Of The World-capable, by basically moving the QSO records from my various logbooks (paper logs, and an Excel spreadsheet I've been using for my home QTH log) to a logging program on my computer, and then uploading to LOTW.  I was going to delay this action until I could upgrade my computer so that it better complements my radio (a stunningly wonderful Elecraft K3S).  My plan was to get a computer that was capable of operating on all digital modes, doing rig control, and also being the engine of a panadaptor for the K3S.

I decided against waiting for the new computer, though.  So I did a quick Google Search of a LOTW-capable freeware logging program.  The top result was WinLog32.  It's pretty good--and you can't beat the price--basically free.  It is somewhat finicky in certain areas and isn't perfect, but once you figure out how the software acts, it does just fine.

So I uploaded my home QTH QSOs to WinLog32, and then subsequently uploaded to LOTW.  LOTW is pretty slick, too.  You get nearly instantaneous conformations of contacts, provided the station you contacted is using LOTW as well.  My LOTW results from home for Worked All States (WAS) and DX Century Club (DXCC) are below.

Worked All States results via LOTW thus far.

DX Century Club results.

I really like LOTW.  I like that it's free, because postage can be expensive these days.  I do have a nice stack of QSL cards from other stations, and I do like to collect them, but there is so much less hassle with LOTW confirmations than with other methods.

I also started a small thread on Facebook asking why more people don't use LOTW.  One response was that the many no-code licensees on the air these days don't like to use LOTW, basically because they're a bunch of good-for-nothings from 27 MHz.  I'm not sure that I agree--I don't see how not having a CW requirement for licensing has anything to do with using LOTW or other computerized methods in amateur radio.  Quite the opposite, actually--most the anti-LOTW Luddites are really old-timers that, like always, are reticent to get with the times.  And why is everything in amateur radio seemingly related to dropping CW requirements for licensing?  I just don't see the connection.

Right now I'm uploading my paper SOTA logbooks to LOTW, which is somewhat tedious.  I typically use the ARRL Minilogs for SOTA, and that's not about to change.  They're sturdy, durable, and neat.  But I still think it's the right thing to do to upload these QSOs--you never know if somebody wants needs a QSO for their WAS, DXCC, or VHF/UHF Century Club (VUCC) award.  But uploading these paper logs is tedious...It's not the number of QSOs, since most of my SOTA activations have perhaps 10-15 QSOs per activation.  Rather, the problem is establishing new operating QTHs on each summit registered in LOTW.  It's a bit tedious, but I think it's the right thing to do.  I'm slowly work through this.

73 for now.

2016 Ham Radio Goals and January Retrospective

I've been doing some thinking about the kinds of goals I want for 2016, including my ham radio goals.  I dislike using the term "resolution."  "Goal" is a bit more apt for the situation.

So, here they are:

• Get on the air with HF digital communications (especially PSK-31, WSJT, SSTV, Feld-Hell, etc.)
• Earn my WAS award from my home QTH in northern Virginia
• Integrate a rig control program and a panadaptor to my Elecraft K3S
• Get to 850 SOTA activation points (I'm currently sitting at 690).  So, earn 160 points.
• Generally, on days when I'm at home (not traveling), have at least one QSO per day.  I've been good with this thus far this year.

It has been a good January for ham radio.  I've installed a CC&R friendly antenna (A W1AB Killer Antenna installed into a tree--it's basically a 40 meter ground plane fed with 450-ohm ladder line and a balun near the transceiver and antenna tuner.)  I've had about 150 QSOs on both SSB and CW with 36 DXCC entities (to non-hams, read "countries") and 34 US states.  It's been great fun and a good challenge.  Getting those last 16 states should be pretty easy once I start doing digital modes.  Incidentally, I've really enjoyed working in the DX window of 80 meters (3.79-3.8 MHz.)  The W1AB Killer Antenna loads up just fine on that band and has given me some great results.  (Loading it on 160 meters has been a bridge too far so far.  I think I need to improve the counterpoise for that, and even if I did, it would be very inefficient, but still fun.)

I love this hobby.

NAQP Contesting Bleg

The CW portion of the North American QSO Party (NAQP) happened this past weekend.  I'm not really a contester, but I will be happy to generally jump into the contesting fray so I can work a few new stations or try my hand at some different modes.

The object of the NAQP, of course, is to work as many stations as possible using CW on a range of bands over a given time period.  There are multipliers for the states and provinces, etc.  Normal amateur radio contesting stuff.  But what constitutes a contact?  Well, two way communications between stations that manage to exchange some given information with each other.  For North American stations in the NAQP, that basically meant I had to send my name and state.  Easy enough.

But I guess that people have a tough time understanding my name in CW.

My name is Nate.  Or, Dah-dit---di-dah---dah---dit.

That sounds remarkably like "NAME" in CW.  Dah-dit---di-dah---dah-DAH---dit.

The extra DAH added for emphasis.  One little CW sound is enough to confuse the living $%#@ out of about 80% of the other operators.  It led to a lot of "Who's on First?" moments.

Ultimately I had to settle on sending, "name es nate," which was still enough to confuse people.

Maybe I should just pick another name.  Like Jebediah or something.  Di-dah-dah-dah---dit---dah-di-di-dit---dit---dah-di-dit---di-dit---di-dah---di-di-di-dit.

Ok.  Bleg is over.

The Phone portion should be easier.  November-Alpha-Tango-Echo.

Double Activation Report: Pt 5764 (W6/SD-026) and Middle Peak (W6/SC-024)

I'll be spending a large amount of November and December in Southern California doing work-related things.  I'd be a fool if I didn't use these work trips as an opportunity to activate a few mountains in SoCal!  So, on 7 November (last Saturday), I activated a couple peaks.

First on the list:  Point 5764 (W6/SD-026), an unnamed hill along Sunrise Highway in the Cleveland National Forest on the way to the Laguna Meadows.

I had never activated this peak before, but a few others have.  A Google Map study revealed that there was a nearby parking area (the Pioneer Mail parking area) which would be ideal.  Oleh, KD7WPJ's, report said that there was no trail to the summit, though.  Gary, ex-KK6GXD (now K6YOA)'s report indicated likewise.  But a very close look at the highest-resolution imagery seemed to indicate a slight trail along the spine of the ridge which forms 5764.

Sign by the parking area.

Cross the Sunrise Highway from the parking area to the Pine Mountain Trail.

Sign marking the Pine Mountain trail.  Watch out for mountain bikers!

My strategy to hike 5764 would therefore be to basically follow KD7WPJ's instructions, but instead of hiking directly to the top, I would hike to the spine of the ridge and then follow the crest of the ridge up.  That's precisely what I did.

Once I hit the spine of the ridge, I noticed a well-worn path leading to the summit, making access much easier.  Later, I would follow this path down.

The summit is marked by an engineer stake pounded into the ground.

The summit.  This view is looking generally East.  You can see Sunrise Highway snaking along in the background.

The views from the summit were actually much grander than I expected.  To the north you could easily make out Santa Rosa, the San Gabriel, the San Jacinto, and San Bernardino mountain ranges.  To the northwest you could see the Palomar Range with its astronomical optical telescopes.  To the immediate west you could see the Cuyamaca Range (North Peak, Middle Peak, Cuyamaca Peak, and Stonewall Peak).  You could also see the environs of San Diego and the Pacific Ocean.  To the south lies several lower peaks (Viejas among them).  And to the east you could see mountains of the Lagunas (Laguna Mountain, Sheephead, etc.)  To the northeast lies the Salton Sea, Whale Peak, and Granite Peak, and the town of Borrego Springs within radio line-of-sight.

View looking West.  The highest peak in the distance is Cuyamaca Peak (W6/CC-014).  The two summits to the right of Cuyamaca are Stonewall Peak (W6/SC-029) and Middle Peak (W6/SC-024).

View looking generally North.  Numerous mountains can be seen, especially the Santa Rosa range.

View looking South.

View looking East.  Notice Sunrise Highway and the Pioneer Mail parking area.  The Pacific Crest Trail can also be seen leading from the parking area to the left (north).

It was a bit windy on the summit, with temperatures in the 40s, so I hunkered down an an area a bit south of the actual summit that was sheltered from the wind.  I bungee-corded my crappie pole to the engineer stake and slung my EARCHI wire antenna as a sloping wire toward my operating position, and I proceeded to make contacts starting on 20 meters SSB, and then shifting to CW on 20 and 40 meters.  Later, I broke out my HT and made contacts on 2 meters FM.  I also tried to make contacts on 223.5 MHz and 446.0 FM, but not takes, as is usual in this area.  I had one summit-to-summit contact with Peter, WA7JTM, who was activating another unnamed peak in Arizona.

Bungee-corded fishing pole atop the engineer stake.  Antenna is an end-fed wire leading from the pole to my operating position.

The radio.  Somehow when I'm using it, there doesn't seem to be so many wires.

Overall, it was a good activation.  27 total QSOs in under an hour, pretty good for a SOTA activation.

My SOTA log from Pt. 5764 (W6/SD-026).

Ok...for the hike down:  I simply followed the trail along the spine of the ridge south.  This trail intersected the Pine Mountain trail, which is a charted, maintained, and groomed trail.  I built a cairn at the intersection to mark the intersection for follow-on SOTA activators.  I turned left at the intersection and followed the Pine Mountain trail back to Sunrise Highway and the parking area.

Use trail leading from the groomed Pine Mountain Trail up to Pt. 5764.  Notice the small cairn I built to mark the trail.

I highly recommend taking the route described here.  It's much less brushy and navigation is much easier.  The extra distance covered is negligible, too.

Beware of mountain bikers on the Pine Mountain trail.  Two of them came upon me at high speed from behind.  I was lucky to have stepped out of the way in time.  They apologized and continued on their way.  One things about people in California:  Everyone is always in a great mood and very friendly!


After having completed the hike, I did some additional research on Peak 5764.  A previous hiker had evidently summitted the peak while carrying a Garmin using the route I described.  The route is shown here.  Peakbagger.com profile for the peak is here.

Additional notes:  Peak 5764 has plentiful AT&T 3G access, SMS access, and APRS digipeater coverage.  Parking at Pioneer Mail parking area requires a National Forest Adventure Pass or Interagency Pass.  This peak has a summer seasonal bonus for being a desert peak, but given its elevation, I think it would be an easy bonus to get if you were to hike it in the summer.

After activating 5764 I decided to head to Middle Peak (W6/SC-024), the peak to the immediate north of Cuyamaca Peak.  It was perhaps a 15 minute drive to the Middle Peak trail head.  I won't belabor writing a description of Middle Peak or explain its navigation since it's basically a hike up a dirt fire road and is well-described here.  I will say that the peak's vegetation was destroyed in a fire back in 2003, and consequently it's dominated by burned-out timbers and very thick thorny bushes.  These bushes have grown a good deal in the last couple of years.  The final 200 vertical feet of the ascent requires bushwhacking through this nasty stuff.

Well, I bushwhacked.  And bushwhacked some more.  While there is a reforestation effort on Middle Peak, and some efforts to try to hold back the brush, the thorn bushes at the summit proved too thick to climb through.  I got to withing 45 vertical feet of the summit though, and that's in the activation cone.  Satisfied with my effort, and also satisfied that I had activated this peak from the summit in years past, I decided to set up my station on a rock on the western side of the mountain.

The road near the summit of Middle Peak.  That wall next to the road is thick thorny bushes, easily 7' tall.  Nasty stuff.

One of the trees planted as part of the reforestation effort.

My operating position.  What a mess.  But it worked!

This activation also went well.  I activated on 30, 20, 12, 10, and 2 meters, mostly CW.  I completed about 29 QSOs, with one summit-to-summit QSO.  I also attempted to make contacts on 223.5 and 446.0 FM, with no takers.  (You might think it's futile to make contacts on these bands, but believe it or not, I have made SOTA contacts on them.  This only happens very rarely.)  K6HPX chased me on 30 meter CW while mobile, which is notable too.

Middle Peak activation log.

After about 1.5 hours on the summit I came down.  The hike back was unremarkable save for the fact that I saw a small herd of deer on the way down.

Two deer, with Stonewall Peak in the background.

Additional notes:  AT&T 3G data, SMS, cell phone, and APRS coverage are all reliable.


It was a good activation day.  Two six-point peaks activated, with two summit-to-summit QSOs.  I was happy to work so many stations.  As always, thanks chasers!  73.

In the mail: Lithium Ion Batteries for the FT-817ND

I'm a reasonably happy owner of a Yaesu FT-817ND.  It's a solid, reasonably inexpensive all-band all-mode portable radio solution for the SOTA activator.  It's also very rugged, built like a tank.  But it does have its downsides.  Two related issues are the current consumption of the radio and the batteries which power it.

The radio does have a fairly high receive current consumption, around .3 amperes.  This might not seem like much, but mix that with a reasonably amount of transmitting, particularly on CW (or data modes), and you'll see that the supplied internal battery packs aren't the best.  The supplied battery is the FNB-72, rated at 9.6 volts and 1100 mAh.  Later, Yaesu did a slight upgrade with the FNB-85, which raises the capacity to 1400 mAh.  I used the -85 for about six months when I got frustrated with its capacity for multiple-peak activation days (around Big Bear Lake in California there are numerous easily-accessible high-value peaks.  The XYL and I would bag a few, camp out, and then head out for a second day of activations.  If I recall correctly, I once earned 56 SOTA points in a single weekend).

At any rate, the FNB series of batteries for the -817 use the Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd) chemistry, which is pretty ancient battery technology (We're talking the 1890s, people!).

I suppose this is understandable given that the FT-817 was first designed in the 1990s and first sold in the year 2000.

So I searched around the marketplace for a good replacement.  The one I settled on was the W4RT Electronics OPP-817 battery pack and OFC-817 charger combination.  This internal battery solution basically doubled the capacity of the batteries to 2500 mAh (although they now advertise that they increased this further to 2700 mAh).  These batteries mount in the same compartment in the FT-817ND as the stock batteries.  Rather, a new battery compartment door is supplied which has a charging jack for the OFC-817 charger.  The W4RT batteries use the Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) chemistry, which are have become lower-cost in recent years than the NiCd batteries.

These batteries have served me well for about 17 months, and have been through maybe 100 or 125 charge/discharge cycles.  I always followed the charging instructions scrupulously, and the batteries did a decent job of providing power for the longer activations without increasing weight, bulk, or otherwise ill effect.  But, on my activation of Old Rag (W4V/SH-012), I noticed that the voltage indicator in the 817 was rapidly declining.  Thinking it was an anomaly, I recharged the batteries and, on a different weekend, I planned on activating Hazeltop (W4V/SH-004) and Fork Mountain (W4V/SH-003).  Hazeltop went fine, but by the time I got to Fork Mountain, the radio would barely power up.  It was confirmed in my mind:  the W4RT batteries were finished.

So I looked around the marketplace and asked on the NA-SOTA forums.  I considered other solutions, including homebrewing an external Lithium-Iron (LiFe) battery pack and charger, and using a setup much like Matt, K0MOS uses.

I settled on the HamSource WLB-817 pack, mainly because it offers a 3000 mAh capacity with higher voltage (approximately 11 volts) in an FT-817-friendly package.  The chemistry is Lithium Ion Polymer (LiPo), which apparently is good for high-current applications (like the LiFe and NiMH batteries mentioned above).  The WLB-817 seems to use the same charging methodology as the W4RT system, utilizing a replacement battery hatch door to facilitate the connection to the external charger.  It is slightly more expensive than the W4RT batteries, too ($92 for the battery pack, charger, replacement battery hatch, and shipping & handling).

More on FT-817NDs and battery chemistry can be found on the KA7OEI FT-817 pages.  And here.  And here.

We'll see how this goes.

As for other "modifications" to the FT-817ND, I also use the W4RT 300 Hz CW filter and the Palm Peg Leg.  (I like Palm a lot.  I also use their Mini Paddles.  And I'm trying to justify spending the money for their miniature Straight Key, too.)

Update:  I've received some email as well as a reply on the NA-SOTA forums urging caution with the LiPo batteries, mainly because of the hazards associating with accidentally shorting them out, improper charging techniques, and the damage that they can do to equipment.  Those are definitely valid considerations.

In the past I've been utterly scrupulous with regard to charging techniques, and with the safety issues involved in with the LiPos, I'll definitely continue to do so.  Those batteries pack a lot of energy into a very small package.

Thanks for the emails and the replies elsewhere!  -73, Nate N0PCL 

Update 2:  Here is another LiPo solution for the FT-817. 

Lessons Learned: Spotting Techniques on Half Dome (W6/SN-040)

Climbing the cables.  It's a confidence-building experience.  XYL Photo.

Success results from experience.  Experience results from failure.  With that maxim in mind, I'm going to describe both successful and unsuccessful SOTA activations with the aim of reducing the "experience" needed to become a successful SOTA activator for the new-to-SOTA ham.

In summer 2013 my XYL and I (along with some family friends) took a summer camping vacation to Yosemite National Park, with a climbing of the famed Half Dome (W6/SN-040) as the pinnacle event of the trip.  For those that haven't climbed this peak, it's a bit of an experience.  Our hike took us up the Mist Trail, followed by the hike to the Sub Dome, the climbing of the cables, and then the summit.  We decided to return by following the John Muir Trail, not the Mist Trail.

Part of our party moving up the Mist Trail.  XYL photo.

One of the falls along the Mist Trail.  XYL photo.

At the time I was carrying my Yaesu FT-817ND, stock internal batteries, the hand mic, and the SuperAntenna MP-1D portable vertical antenna.  I didn't have an HT at the time.  I also had my 10 Essentials and my iPhone 4.  Take note that I didn't carry a CW key, as I wasn't proficient at CW at the time.  I didn't have an APRS capability.  I only had the '817 with hand mic.  The combination of equipment allowed me phone (SSB & FM) operation on 40 Meters through 2 Meters, plus 70 cm.

This was early in my SOTA career--I had a successful activation prior to this.  Notably, I completed an activation of Mt. Baldy (aka. Mt. San Antonio, W6/CT-003).  Still, this was my second attempted activation.  It was a rather ambitious peak to activate, too!

Baldy / Mt. San Antonio - My first activation!  Not too bad.

The hike up was memorable--indescribable, actually.  The Mist Trail is utterly beautiful, and climbing the cables to the top up 50-degree-steep slick granite is a surreal experience.  I was very excited to get to the top!

A permit is required to climb Half Dome.  XYL photo.

N0PCL and XYL in a photo at the bottom of the cables.  XYL photo.

XYL used a climbing harness and carabiners for safety.  Me?  I don't need safety.  I just carefully climbed.   XYL Photo.

N0PCL pulling himself up the cables.  My gloves are just gardening gloves.  XYL photo.

It's steep.  XYL photo.

After getting there, I set up my station and started calling "CQ SOTA" on 14.3425 MHz--one of the more common phone frequencies used by SOTA activators.  No one returned my call.  I pulled out my cell, and though I had several "bars" of signal strength, I had no cell phone data connectivity.  I didn't know about the SMS-to-SOTA gateway, either.  So I returned to the radio, hoping--praying that somebody would hear me.  I put out an Alert on SOTAWatch with my expected frequencies.  And I was on the summit at the Alerted time.  But still...

N0PCL calling CQ on Half Dome.  XYL was being understanding.  XYL photo.

Static.

I tuned up and down the bands.  I heard pileups.  I heard a Boy Scouts special event station.  I tried calling them.  No joy.  Nobody heard me.

N0PCL trying VHF.  No joy.  XYL photo.

I tried 40 Meters.  15 Meters.  10 Meters.  Even 6 Meters, 2 Meters, and 70 cm.  FM and SSB.  Calling frequencies.  Other frequencies.  Scanning.  Everything.

Nothing but static.

My family and friends were kindly waiting for me to complete my quest.  My XYL came up to me after some time (she had gone out searching for USGS survey markers), and she asked "How many do you have?"  She was asking about the number of QSOs completed.

Zero.  Zilch.  Nil.  Nada.  Nichts.  Nothing.

After spending perhaps an 75 or 90 minutes trying, I gave up.

A failed activation.  Completely failed.  Not a single QSO.  Not even a partial QSO.  Nothing.

Looking back, I don't think the failure was of my equipment.  It was a failure of operator skill and poor planning.  Perhaps propagation played a part of it, but I doubt that--I was hearing many stations out there.

I was a new SOTA activator--very new, actually.  I didn't realize how important a self-spot was to a new SOTA activator.

The deck is already stacked against the SOTA Activator.  He or she is almost always running QRP power, using a portable makeshift antenna, carrying his own equipment, and very subject to other considerations (weather, other people, critters, daylight, leaving enough time for hiking off the summit, etc.)  I know that self-spotting is forbidden in most contests--and that's fine and good.  But SOTA isn't a contest--it's an award's scheme.  The SOTA Activator needs every advantage he or she can get.  Self spotting therefore helps a great deal.

There are numerous self-spotting methods available:

1. A cell phone with data connectivity can spot using either the SOTA Goat app, or another app. 
2. Alternatively, you can load the SOTAWatch website and self-spot that way.
3. A phone with SMS (texting) capability can assist with self-spotting provided you've registered to access the SMS-to-SOTA Gateway.
4. A 2 Meter APRS-capable radio can also assist with self-spotting using the APRS2SOTA Gateway, provided you've registered.  The FT-817ND, by itself, does not have this capability.  But it could work using the WolphiLink interface and an Android smartphone.  Or you can just get an APRS-capable HT.  (I now carry a Yaesu VX-8DR.  But the Kenwood TH-D72A performs great.  Or you can pair up the WolphiLink with an inexpensive Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood, Alinco, or one of the new Chinese HTs, like a Baofeng or Wouxun).
5. A proficient CW operator can self-spot using the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN), provided a SOTAWatch Alert has been posted for approximately the correct time.
6. Lastly, you can completely negate the requirement for a self-spot if somebody can provide a spot for you.

From this list, it's clear to me that option 3 above, possibly option 4, and almost certainly option 5 could have worked on Half Dome.  Options 1 & 2 would not have worked there because of the lack of cell data access on Half Dome.

To be sure, some prior planning would have been required.

You need to register for SMS-to-SOTA and APRS2SOTA for those gateways to work.  Proficiency in APRS operation can be tricky at first, too.

To make RBNGate work, you also need to register for the SOTAWatch site and post an Alert there, and be proficient enough for CW operation.

I did several training hikes to get ready for the Half Dome trek.  But I neglected to appropriately prepare myself for the radio portion of the activation.

Lesson learned.  I've used all of the above listed self-spotting methods.  It's best to ensure you always have an option.  Then the SOTA chase can begin...

Still, hiking Half Dome was a tremendous experience.  I highly recommend it, and I hope to get the chance to reattempt an activation of that peak.

N0PCL enjoying a beer after the hike.  XYL photo.

Let me know if you have any questions, experience, or advice in the Comments Section below.

73.