After a great start to the trip, I finish up the trek to camp in the Sixty Lakes Basin, get a good night’s rest, and make an attempt at one of the most remote and difficult Sierra summits – Mt. Clarence King. Towering over the center of the Rae Lakes Loop, Mt. King is a centerpiece of the region and a peak whose summit is sought by many a climber to bask in its beauty and its amazing history. Today it’s my turn to try.
If you missed Part 1, start here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHo0IK9Wc3Y
The first part of day 1 of this trip brings quickly into the remote wilderness, as I climb over a technical pass – a shortcut to a remote region of the Sierra Nevada. I decide to attempt a rarely climbed peak as a bonus, and to try to snag the first SOTA activation. Short on water, and struggling from the thin air, I encounter some awesome wildlife and have a blast wearing myself out on some tricky terrain.
With “High Band” and “Classic Band” RF boards individually available now, I wanted to make a new case that allows for easy swap of the RF board without having to disassemble the complete case. So, here it is!
STL files are available as a "remix" of DL2MAN’s design on the Prusa website:
https://www.printables.com/model/268115-trusdx-modular-case
Print up your own, give it a try, and let me know how it works for you.
Unfortunately Dragon Peak lacks the prominence to make it a SOTA summit, but it’s still a fantastic climb and I heard some interesting radio traffic from the top. Despite that, I did receive some cool 2m traffic from the summit. If you want to come along for a fun climb, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed even without any real ham radio activity. Enjoy!
Want to run FT-8 from an Android phone? How about using a tiny 5-band HF rig that costs less than $100 for the kit? Now you can.
On this SOTA activation, I show off a few new pieces of gear and a new bit of software:
– A (tr)uSDX transceiver | https://amzn.to/3nskT85 (Affiliate Link)
– Custom Audio Adapter | https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/LwO6AYPS
– The "FT8 Radio" app | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bunzee.ft8radio
– K6ARK SMA Antenna Matching Unit Kit | https://amzn.to/3nphvuK (Affiliate Link)
All of the K6ARK products currently available are linked from www.k6ark.com
All put together, it makes for a decently capable little piece of kit. The (tr)uSDX has been getting a lot of hype lately, and it’s an amazing little device for less than $100. But it’s simple hardware, and perhaps not a fully optimized design. Understand that it’s no high-performance radio. But it works. And in this activation, I demonstrate one cool way to put it to use.
I show off a new app developed by Dhiru Kholia. Although still a bit rough around the edges and quirky, it is fully capable of making FT8 contacts WITHOUT a separate linux or windows machine. For that, it’s pretty dang cool.
And finally, I extracted the CW contacts I made on the activation and will publish them as a separate video (link here… once posted)
There are many strategies for setting up wire antennas for portable HF operation. Heres mine.
Find my antenna matching units at https://www.k6ark.com.
If you’re looking for those little S-clips: https://amzn.to/3JQfh0Y
(affiliate link)
Most areas I operate lack trees, so the easiest way to get a wire in the air is to use a telescopic pole. I’ve developed a solid strategy for setup that I share in this video. if you’ve got a method you like better, tell us about it in the comments below.
Easier to build, versatile, and effective, the K6ARK QRP matching unit kits are now available. Here’s how to build it as an End Fed Halfwave.
First things first, if you’re building one of these kits, be sure to carefully read and follow the instructions at www.K6ARK.com. Kits can be purchased through Amazon. Here are some affiliate links:
Male BNC Kit: https://amzn.to/3G28lfD
Female BNC kit: https://amzn.to/3zhepOq
Build the kit into a matching unit of your choice, add wire, and get on the air.
If you have any questions or issues during your build, please contact me directly and I’ll do my best to help you succeed in your build. Thanks for watching, and have fun with the build!
The Arizona Summit-to-Summit 10 Point Madness event provides a great opportunity to push the limits of 2m simplex and see what’s possible over long distances. Although I didn’t set any new personal records on this trip, some great contacts were made and plenty of fun was had.
The yagi is a homebrew design made from U-channel aluminum, steel hardware, and arrow shaft elements. The matching network is made from parallel 1/4 wavelength sections of 75 ohm coax to transform the 28 ohm yagi impedance up to 50 ohms. Those coax sections are wound a few times through a toroid as a common mode choke.
The boom is about 8 ft in length when extended and folds down to 32 inches. total weight of the antenna is about 2 lbs, and the pool cleaning pole mast adds another 2 lb or so.
