Whew, what a weekend, I operated in the ARRL June VHF Contest from two locations as WG3K/R and it was a learning experience to be sure. My first operating location was from Cunningham Falls State Park (FM19GP20) and second was from home (FM18rp). I learned a lot and had …
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Plans for the ARRL June VHF Contest
read moreThe 2024 ARRL June VHF Contest is quickly approaching and I’ve been working hard to get my station ready to deploy. So far, it appears I’ll be on the air on 6m through 23cm (except 1.25m and 33cm) using a Kenwood TS-2000X. I’ll be trying out …
VHF+ Weak Signal Plans
read moreYears 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 …
2020 Golden Packet Event on Apple Orchard Mountain
read moreSOTA Stats
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When: 2020 from 1442Z to 1600Z
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Where: Apple Orchard Mountain - W4V/RA-001
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Who: Just me
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Ascent: Hike Up
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Equipment: Kenwood D-700, Opek HVU-500 antenna
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APRS Coverage: Excellent
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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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Apple Orchard Mountain for APRS Golden Packet and SOTA
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I must be a glutton for punishment.
This is my third time visiting Apple Orchard Mountain (AO) and its steep climb to the top with way too much stuff.
But I’m always rewarded in the end with awesome views, excellent VHF and UHF range, and interesting phenomena.
This trip …Apple Orchard Mountain in July 2017
Success! That’s the word I’m using to describe my latest battle up a summit. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t without some failure, but I’m willing to give this trip a grade of B. Luckily I had some help…
read moreStats
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When: 2017-07-15 from 14:00Z …
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Heading up to Apple Orchard Mountain this weekend.
Like last year, I'll be heading over to Apple Orchard Mountain to support the annual APRS Golden Packet Event. My friends Dave KB3RAN and Steve N3IPN are once again part of the team with the addition of Ed KC3EN joining us for the long slog up the mountain.
In addition …
read more2015 August UHF Contest Results
Opened the mailbox today and was
surprised to see an envelope from Newington waiting for me. Looks like
I placed third in the Atlantic Division (SOLP) and first (out of two) in
the MDC section!Missed all the VHF+ contest this year but I'm hoping to get my antennas back …
read moreActivating 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 …
read moreOperating Portable from Apple Orchard Mountain
During the weekend of July 16th I plan on being atop Apple Orchard Mountain, in Virginia, operating in the AT Golden Packet event as well as doing some VHF+ work while I'm there. I'll be accompanied by Dave, KB3RAN, and Steve, N3IPN, who are planning to operate QRP HF voice …
read moreMore 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 …
read moreThe 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 …
read more2015 ARRL August UHF Contest results
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Whew, it's been interesting last couple of days
around here. On Friday the only antenna I had in the sky was my OCF
dipole for HF. Saturday morning found myself, Bob N3PPH, and Dave W3PQS
erecting a pole with antennas for 2m, 70cm, and 23cm. With the ARRL
August UHF …Results of the W4OTN/R UHF repeater test
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I bought a UHF repeater and put it on the air at the Mt. Hope tower site here in Calvert County. This was a temporary test which allowed myself and other CARA club members (and anyone else) to see what UHF would do …
read moreW4OTN/R on the air
[caption id="attachment_601" align="alignleft" width="300"]
W4OTN/R Installed at Mt. Hope[/caption]Earlier today, Dave W3PQS and I installed my UHF repeater up at the CARA site in Sunderland. The repeater is on the air on the TMARC shared, non-protected pair which makes the system quite portable.
In …
read moreUHF Repeater and APRS
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 …
read moreNew antennas up in the air.
It was hot this afternoon but I was able to get two of the
three planned antennas up. Tomorrow is the ARRL UHF Contest so hopefully
I'll be ready (still have to trim a limb or two out of a tree).Top antenna is 23cm (1278MHz) and the lower one …
read moreVHF/UHF Update
Well, things took a slight turn for the worst last night. After receiving the UT-10 and the coax, N-connectors, and rotator control wire I realized that the pole I have stuck up in the air isn't wide enough to support the rotator. Apparently the pole is 1" in diameter and …
read moreNew toys...
I haven't posted anything lately but that doesn't mean that nothing has been happening.
First, a couple of weeks ago I found a Kenwood UT-10 1.2GHz module for my TS-790A. I've been looking for one of these for going on two years. Finally my eBay alert came through and …
read moreProposed Rover Operation for ARRL UHF Contest
I'm considering doing a rover operation for the ARRL UHF Contest this August. I'm still trying to figure out where I want to operate (Shenandoah comes to mind) but I should have my 1.2GHz (23cm) transceiver up and working in addition to the 432MHz (70cm) so it should be …
read moreQSL from YV4DYJ
Opened the mailbox this afternoon and found my QSL from Victor Cuesta YV4DYJ of whom I worked on AO-51 back in September. Very cool. Glad I was able to make this contact using 5 watts and my hand-held station in my front yard.
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