Fred, AB1OC and Curtis, N1CMD Operating

I got really excited when Jamey, KC1ENX set our Club’s first Summits On The Air (SOTA)/Parks On The Air (POTA) activation for the same day as the June VHF Contest! Jamey chose Pack Monadnock in Miller State Park here in New Hampshire as the site for our activation. With Jamey’s help, we prepared a portable 6m station for the activation.

Solar Panels

The idea was to use an IC-7300 to create a 100W station and a Solar/Battery combination to power the setup. Solar/Battery made us “legal” as a SOTA activation. We combined two 90W solar panels, which I had with an MPPT solar charging system and two LiPo batteries, to create the power system for the activation.

6M Antenna Going Up

The antenna system was built around an M2 Antenna Systems 6M3 Yagi and an 18 ft. push-up mast from Max-gain systems.

Portable 6M Antenna

All this gear was carried to the site and set up in about an hour. A 25 ft. section of LMR-400UF coax completed the station. The mast was guyed with rings, allowing us to turn the mast/antenna combination to point the Yagi in any direction.

Anita, AB1QB and Curtis, N1CMD Operating in the June VHF Contest

Between the SOTA/POTA activation and the June VHF contest, we made a little over 130 contacts on 6m. We did not have any real Es openings, so most of our contacts were regional. Having the elevation provided by being on Pack Monadnock made us quite loud for the stations that could hear us. Several of our club members got on 6M and joined the fun. We did have a brief Es opening and managed to work a station in Alabama and one in Florida.

Mike, AB1YK Portable 6M

Mike, AB1YK has a much more portable 6m setup and uses lower power to have some fun on 6M as well.

Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP Operating Portable

Al, KC1FOZ, and Tom, KC1GGP, put together a nice station and operated it using battery power. Several other club members came out with portable stations as well.

Our first SOTA/POTA activation was a lot of fun, and Anita and I are looking forward to the next one!

Fred, AB1OC