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  1. Activating Whiteface Mountain

    We stopped by Whiteface Mountain (SOTA W2/GA-003) on our last day in New York, on the way to Vermont. I was hoping this summit would have great views and would be a great place to activate the VHF+ bands for SOTA and POTA. I was not disappointed.

    The mountain …

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  2. VHF+ Weak Signal Plans

    Years ago I lived in a house that was forty feet above the Chesapeake Bay. Three yagi antennas, covering 2m, 70cm, and 23cm, pointed towards New England. At a height of ten to twenty feet above the ground, there were no obstructions for the first several miles. Stations in New …

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  3. 2020 Golden Packet Event on Apple Orchard Mountain

    SOTA Stats

    • When: 2020 from 1442Z to 1600Z

    • Where: Apple Orchard Mountain - W4V/RA-001

    • Who: Just me

    • Ascent: Hike Up

    • Equipment: Kenwood D-700, Opek HVU-500 antenna

    • APRS Coverage: Excellent

    • Contacts Made: 7

    Mistakes were made; success was had.

    As in years past, the goal of the Golden Packet Event is …

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  4. Activating Apple Orchard Mountain (W4V/RA-001)

    On Saturday, 16 July 2016, Dave KB3RAN, Steve N3IPN, and I hiked up Apple Orchard Mountain (SOTA W4V/RA-001) to activate it for the Appalachian Trail Golden Packet event.  While we were there we took advantage of the altitude and activated the summit for Summits on the Air (SOTA), National …

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  5. More tropo ducting today

    This morning around 9AM I got mixed up with a crowd on 144 MHz.  Since I'm the new guy I ended up with a pileup on my hands!  I picked up KA3QWO, KG4KWW, K1PXE, WB2SIH, K3GNC, WV2H, N2FKF, W1AN, and WB2QEG in very quick succession.  We then ventured up to …

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  6. The difference a few miles will make.

    Tonight I worked several station with two in particular being W1AN and WZ1V.  Both of those stations I worked on three bands: 144, 432, and 1296 MHz.  W1AN is a little further away than WZ1V but both are fairly close to each other in Connecticut with WZ1V being a bit …

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  7. Simplex C4FM QSOs

    Tonight some members of the Calvert Amateur Radio Association met on 146.580MHz to test out simplex range of narrow mode C4FM as seen in the new Yaesu radios.  Five stations got into a round table discussion, all within about ten miles of my station.  I haven't purchased anything other …

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  8. Antenna maintenance

    The weather was nice enough for me to get some of my antenna maintenance done that I couldn't do during the cold winter months.  First on the list was to completely remove the 23cm (1.2GHz) antenna from the top of the tower.  While I've had good luck working stations …

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