CQ SOTA >>>>> Summits On The Air !!

N4 .... LIVE ACTION !!!!

From Buffalo Mountain, Virginia

Hello this is Todd (N4LA) in Denton, NC. 
Radio-wise, Saturday was a blast. 
At mid-morning, my buddy Jack, W4TJE and I drove up to Buffalo Mtn with our backpacks 
and portable radio gear, in Floyd County, VA. Jack and I are the same 
age (49), from the same town originally in NC (Siler City), grew up together, 
both learned radio together, and even have common relatives by marriage. After 
school, he joined the Marines, while I joined the Navy, so it did my heart 
proud today to show the Marine how a Navy guy humps to the top of a mountain 
peak (SINGING ANCHORS AWAY WHILE CARRYING BOTH BACKPACKS).
So a full hour after I (USN) had made it to the top carrying all of the gear, 
Jack (USMC) finally arrived, and we were ready to get on air. We set up at the 
summit at 3970 feet, with me (USN) doing all the work, while Jack (USMC) 
drinking coffee and telling Iraq war stories (LIES) about How he had trained Navy Seals
and physically beat the Taliban into submission !! (This guy can lie with the best of them )
It was then that I  introduced him to the world of the Summits On The 
Air (SOTA). IT WAS AWESOME.!! We operated both phone and cw and put that peak 
on the air for only the second time. We had stns calling us from Europe to the 
West Coast, and put over 70 of them in the log before shutting down and 
climbing down the mountain ( I had to carry Jack, he had ran out of both coffee 
and war stories ((LIES)) by then). Of course Jack will deny this day till the day he dies !!
I can't wait until the next summit ... but I hope jack lays off the doughnuts until then !!
By the way this was my very first SOTA activation .... it was also Jacks first activation.
So Thank you Jack for still hanging out with me, and the great friendship over all these years.
Also thanks to all the stations that showed up to work... without you guys it wouldn't have been possible!

Please Note: This story is not true !!  ( Hi Hi )  .... but I wish it was !!

73 de Todd / N4LA

Jack (W4TJE) at the trail head

W4TJE at the start of the climb

A view from the top into VA !!

Looking the opposite Direction

View into NC from operating position

Jack operating CW on 20 meters

Todd operation 40 meter SSB

W4TJE on the Summit ... CQ SOTA !!

Radio Equipment list

Rig:  Yaesu FT 857D @ 25W

Antenna::  LNR Precision EF-40/20

Battery:  Buddipole 4S3P A123 Battery Pack

Antenna Mast:  31ft Jackite Fiberglass Pole

CW Key:  Palm Mini Paddle

73 de N4LA

Get Radio-Active

LA7GNA Moose Pics

My buddy John (LA7GNA) sent me a couple of pictures he took of moose that 

he spotted from his drive going into his home.

John is located in Norway , and is a very good friend of mine.

We chat almost every weekend on 21.217

Thanks for the pics John !!

New "ManCave" for N4LA !!

N4LA ... My Last Project & Post for 2012

( Click on pics to enlarge)

In the beginning ..... There was lots of work to be done.

I purchased a new pre -fab 12ft X 12ft Building.

to make into my new Ham Radio Shack / ManCave !!

Sheet Rock and Painting ... Not alot of fun !!

.... will it be worth all the effort ?

I used 3 gallons of Cabot "Australian Timber Oil" 

on the exterior.

Coax / Cable and Station Ground Entry Points.

Here's the new look at N4LA !!

Looks like all the hard work paid off.

Here is my main operating position at N4LA

Happy New Year to all ...

"ManCave" Complete !!!!!

To view additional pics of my new shack

click here on QRZ.COM

73 de N4LA

RARSfest 2012 SOTA presentation

What is SOTA ?

by

W4MPS / Marc Sullivan

Thanks Marc !!

Check out more of Marc's excellent Videos
at
http://www.youtube.com/w4mps

Get

"RADIO-ACTIVE"

73 de N4LA

VP2M with new KX3's !!!!!

The "Buddies in the Caribbean" mini-DXpedition group is off to VP2M (Montserrat) April 8-16th, 2012 with a new group of operators who have never experienced the "other side of a pileup"! We will have two of the new Elecraft KX3's (Ser#23 and #24) with us! We believe this will be the first DXpedition using the new KX3 radio!

Because of severe baggage limits on the Antigua to Monserrat flight (one bag under 50 lbs!), we will be limited to 100 watt or less low power radios and the Buddipole portable antenna systems. Yet our goal is to demonstrate "ultralite" dxpeditioning into magnificent "vista" locations, operating a field portable, battery-only KX3 radio with backpackable, lightweight antennas and most of all "having fun" on the "volcano isle".

The eight operators are: Budd/VP2MFF (W3FF), Guy/VP2MUN (N7UN), Paul/VP2MVO (KB9AVO), Larry/VP2MLR (W7DGP), Russ/VP2MQR (N7QR), Tom/VP2MTM (K2GSJ), and Chris/VP2MYZ (N2YYZ). There will be several Gingerbread Villa stations in operation on 160-10m using CW, SSB, and RTTY or PSK. At the same time, several teams will be battery-only, field portable either from Montserrat beaches or scenic mountain tops with the KX3 and signing callsign/p. 

QSL via LoTW, eQSL,or mail to the operator’s home callsign (SASE required).

73 de N4LA

My Favorite Radio Spot for Portable Ops is on FIRE!!

Coolers Knob is Burning !!

As many of you know ...

one of my favorite radio spots

to operate portable ... 

is only minutes from my home.

It's on the peak of "Coolers Knob"

which is located in the Birkhead Wilderness Area.

I turned on the news about 6:30 am on Sunday morning

And to my surprise ...

I found out that one of my favorte hiking spots

in the area was on fire !!

The picture above shows trucks from the

US Forestry Service

And a specialized group of fire fighters

called the " Asheville Hotshots"

were also called in from western North Carolina.

They also brought along Air support

with a helicopter and drop bucket.

The winds for the past couple of days have been gusty

and have caused problems with containment.

At the present time, just over 50 acres are burning

and the fire is expected to continue spread due to high winds.

As of the last report...

They say it may take a few days to put the fire out.

When they open the trail back up

I'll try and hike up and gets some photos for the blog.

For the latest info go to my local news link below.

WFMY News 2 ( Local News)



Topband Holiday Gift !!

Gifts from "TopBand"

To my surprise...

 160 meters gave many of us a nice holiday gift last night.

"GOOD PROPAGATION"

Late Wednesday afternoon I decided to turn on the K3 

and see if  I was hearing any signals on Topband.

(As many of you know Topband has been poor this season so far.)

At around 6 pm local time or (23:00Z)

I was hearing a few signals from Europe

but nothing to get excited about.

Signals were mainly weak but seemed workable.

I checked the DX cluster and found several spots.

Actually more spots than I had seen in a while.

During the next 45 minutes I managed to put 4 DX contacts in the log.

UR5 , HA8, ON4, DL7

Not great ... (yet) ... but a start.

Anyway .... It was time to get ready for church,

so I turned the rig off and planned to check the band again after church.

When I returned, I turned the rig back on around 9 pm or (2:00Z).

To my surprise, the band was wide open into Europe !!

I managed to put 22 contacts into the log from 9pm to 1am (02:00 to 06:00)

not bad for a band that seems to be just waking up.

I ended up working 18 countries in 4 zones.

Austria, England, Euro Russia, France, Hungary

Poland, Finland, Czech Rep, Bulgaria, Netherlands

Norway, Italy, Romania, Ukraine, Germany

Belgium, Lithuania, Sweden

Zones ... 14,15,16,20

The neat thing was ... 

As I watched my gray line map throughout the night,

 I could see the signals peak for each country

 as the gray line moved across Europe.

The odd thing I noticed ...

 was that most signals were 559 with qsb both ways 

most of the night.

Although they did peak higher at sunrise times.

The band was quiet as well

unlike the night before.

It was "Holiday Magic" for radio !!

What a great Holiday gift.

Thanks "TopBand" !!

73 de N4LA