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K6ARK Portable Radio Youtube

Trips like this are why I bought the Elecraft KH1

With good snow conditions from a recent storm, I set out with a few friends from the Mountain Rescue Team to climb and ski Mt. Baden Powell in March 2024. I capped it off with a quickie Summits On the Air (SOTA) activation using the KH1 and a new prototype KH1 pressure paddle I’ve been designing (more to come on that). So check out the video and join us for the adventure.

www.k6ark.com

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K6ARK Portable Radio Youtube

CW Practice Edition – Mountain Topping with the Mountain Topper MTR5B

CW Learners’ Edition with mostly unedited QSOs and including captions. Great for listening/decoding practices. Operating speed is about 22 wpm.
At 4:48 CW operating begins if you’d like to skip ahead. Let me know how you like this.

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K6ARK Portable Radio Youtube

Mountain Topping with the Mountain Topper MTR-5B

@ThomasK4SWL tipped me off on a MTR5B for sale, and I couldn’t pass it up. After tuning up a 40m EFHW to operate on all 5 bands, I rounded up N1CLC and we headed out for a holiday Monday activation of a local summit. Here’s our adventure.

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K6ARK Portable Radio Youtube

SOTA Madness – 250+ mi 2m CW and ZL S2S

Every year, the SOTA geeks in Arizona coordinate a "10 point Madness" event where many of them summit high peaks in AZ and try to work lots of summit-to-summit contacts. Living in SoCal, that event is a fun opportunity for me to try working long distance 2m contacts. This year wasn’t the best for 2m propagation, but I brought another new antenna for HF which paid off well. Enjoy!

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K6ARK Portable Radio Youtube

HRWBOTA What? @HamRadioWorkbench On The Air!

The crew from the @HamRadioWorkbench podcast hosted a fun on-the-air event December 3rd called Ham Radio Workbenches On The Air (HRWBOTA). To me, it sounded like a great excuse to get out and operate from a SOTA/POTA and get as many of the guys in the log as possible. Here’s my adventure.

If you’re not familiar with the Ham Radio Workbench, check it out.
www.hamradioworkbench.com
Every couple of weeks, the hosts deep-dive a topic related to ham radio, and talk about what fun projects are on their workbenches.

Some of the individuals in the crew have their own channels as well which you should also explore:
KJ6VU – @georgekj6vu889
@VE6LK – HRWBOTA Live Stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgYER7MtQKI&t=6355s&pp=ygUFdmU2bGs%3D
@SmittyHalibut – HRWBOTA Live Stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV8vX-4oUG4
K4SWL – @ThomasK4SWL
VA3ON – https://twitter.com/va3on?lang=en
VA3MW – https://www.qrz.com/db/VA3MW

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K6ARK Portable Radio Youtube

Rooted in Nature: Instilling a Passion for the Outdoors in the Next Generation

This trip, I take Josh from @HamRadioCrashCourse and his son Ben out backpacking to an otherwise typical Eastern Sierra lake that holds a special place in my heart. Trips to this place were formative in my life, helping to instill a love for the mountains, particularly the Eastern Sierra.

This time, we merge Ben’s first backpacking trip, first time trout fishing and fly fishing, and his first POTA activation for a wonderful weekend in the mountains that will hopefully change his life forever.

Check out @KD2YDN and his channel here on YouTube.

And if you’re in ultralight fly rods or blanks, check out RDP Fly Rods. https://rdpflyrods.com/

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K6ARK Portable Radio Youtube

Gear Failure Cuts Our Trip Short

A 4 day trip turns into 2 when gear failure strikes us on an attempt at reaching two intimidating Sierra backcountry summits. Memorial Day weekend, 2023, I set out with a few of my SDMRT teammates to summit Mt. Darwin and Mendel. The epic snowpack made for great conditions despite road closures, and we had high hopes for some great summits. Unfortunately, fate had other plans. Still, we managed to bag a summit and got everyone out safely. Here’s the story…

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K6ARK Portable Radio Youtube

New POTA goodies!

Flight tags, screen wipes, and new stickers for you radio case… check them out at the POTA booth at #Hamvention or https://www.clubgearonline.com/.

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K6ARK Portable Radio Youtube

Ski-Tour SOTA in the Sierra – White Wing Mountain

With record snow in the Sierra, two previous attempts to get to the big mountains for some snow fun were thwarted by weather and road conditions. But this time, we made it.

With a blue-bird day and a deep snow-pack covering the sierra peaks, Erin, Brooks, Kevin, and I set out for a ski touring attempt up a fun little peak North of Mammoth Lakes, CA. Here’s the story.

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Sierra Solitude – Part 3: One More Summit, and the Return to (un)Civilization

I wrap up day 2, adding one more summit and SOTA activation attempt and then starting my hike back out to the Onion Valley trailhead. On the way, I encounter more hikers, including one who needed some help.

Hope you enjoy coming along for the adventure.