Licensed Amateur Radio Operators?

I was wondering if anyone else here is licensed and carries a 2m radio with them while hiking? If so, I can hit the repeater on top of Mt. Washington from my house.

I honestly don't want to start a debate of cell phones/electronics/blah blah blah and their place in the wilderness. However, if you carry a 2m radio for safety purposes or for fun and want to make a test transmission or just say hello while you're hiking in the Whites, let me know. It'd be fun for me, at least.

My call sign is KB1RBM.

This is KB1 LEL, Listening!

I carry my triband with me all the time for hilltopping. I try to be inconspicuous for the benefit of others because I realize that a squakbox isn't everyone's cup of tea. I hit a peak, break out the 2m out of earshot, make a few calls. It's kind of like peak bagging; you try to get a QSO from each peak. I figure it's a little different than a phone because we had to earn the privilege and there is lot about etiquette and proper procedure on the test. (Anyone can be annoying with a cell phone, hams have to work at it!)

I had a great talks with commuters on Rt495 from the top of Chocorua via the Chester repeater. I also have a ridiculously large beam on my workplace roof in Epping and use my mobile to hit Mt. Washington and talk to other hikers and locals. (I can't help it. I'm a geek!) I also keep it as a backup safety item.

It's fun hobby and and actually has some very real uses, the communication for the Reach the Beach relay is almost all Amateur Radio volunteers.

Bob

Bob, that's great. Send a message to me prior to the next time you're hiking and want to make a contact (if I'm at home of course).

Just made contact with a hiker who was on top of Camel's Hump in Vermont. Pretty long contact for 2m! Great range for that repeater since it's so high up, obviously.

A reminder on "Wilderness Protocol" For Hams

If you bring a HH into the wilderness please, please, please bring a real Hand Held, not one of these mini, smaller then a credit card things that put out a max of 500 mW. Most of the time, with the small ones, you can open the repeater but can't make it in. It's frustrating to listen to someone constantly opening the squalch with no traffic.
I have an old Yaesu (2 mt, 440 dual band) with an extra long whip antenna I carry with me IF weight isn't that critical.
Now a commercial for the ARES Wilderness Protocol:


Amateur Radio Emergency Service / ARES Field Resources Manual / A Quick Trainer and Field Resource Guide for the Emergency Communicator

HikeSafe....Walker (AKA N1VDX)

Artex said:

Bob, that's great. Send a message to me prior to the next time you're hiking and want to make a contact (if I'm at home of course).

Just made contact with a hiker who was on top of Camel's Hump in Vermont. Pretty long contact for 2m! Great range for that repeater since it's so high up, obviously.

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KA1YTR here.

I always brought a hand-held along while hiking, just for kicks mostly, but you never know when it may come in handy. I made a lot of QSOs from Mondanock, but you can hit a dozen or more repeaters from there on 2.5 watts. I also used it to listen to the state park freq. when we were doing volunteer work there on the weekends.

For overnight trips I would bring a nice 5/8 wave J-pole made from some TV twin-lead that I can to tie to a tree 4 or 5 feet off the ground. It gives you a much better signal if you're not at a summit, and it rolls up easily and weighs but a few ounces.

Sadly my HT died a tragic death 5 or 6 years ago (she just wouldn't turn on one day, even with external power) so I've been silent on the air ever since.

N1XTK portable - listening.

I almost always carry my portable with a roll up J-pole. I have also carried my Yaesu ft-817 on camping trips with wire antennas and have talked with people in RI and NY and even back into CT on HF.

Keith

WB2QJE here.

I only bring the 2M HT occasionally.

Doug

Depending on how heavy the pack is, sometimes I'll throw in the HT (an antique ICOM 2M/440 dual-bander), though I'm usually covering ground too fast to stop and see which repeaters I can hit from a particular spot. I'd say more often I probably leave it at home, though I could certainly see where it would be useful in an emergency situation.

James
K2RE

Hey fellow hams... I carry my Yaesu VX-7R with me and also bring along a rolled up J-Pole.

73, Kevin AB2ZI

N9RUJ. I usually don't carry an HT with me; of course I have an old (heavy) IC-02AT.

BTW, did you hear about this hiker's rescue...

...thanks to amateur radio?

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/09/23/10348/

73, Kevin AB2ZI

kmorgan said:

...thanks to amateur radio?

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/09/23/10348/

73, Kevin AB2ZI

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Great story. I could be wrong, but I heard the hiker used an Elecraft K-1 or KX-1 to call out. Would love to get one of those.

kmorgan said:

...thanks to amateur radio?

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/09/23/10348/

73, Kevin AB2ZI

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Sadly there are less hams proficient in morse code. I passed the 13 WMP test many moos ago, but that skill has left me due to lack of use.

smitty77 said:

Sadly there are less hams proficient in morse code. I passed the 13 WMP test many moos ago, but that skill has left me due to lack of use.

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I passed 5 WPM many years ago. I made a contact with a Canadian years ago who had the patience of a saint. I really wish I kept up with it. It is an excellant mode that can be used with very minimal, very small, very light, very inexpensive equipment. Very useful for backcountry communications. People use transmitter/reciever combinations in altoids containers and flea power and make contacts on CW.

It is no longer required to learn any CW for amateur operators. You can still use it but it will probably go the way of the dinosaur. Marine and military radio ops are no longer required to know it either.

And the Elecraft KX1 is an excellant little CW transceiver.



Keith

Forgot to mention HF Pack!

Great website. HF Pack

73, Kevin

Taking classes now...

I am currently taking classes through work for the Technician class license. They are doing it for Emergency communication in case there is ever a disaster that gets rid of communication as we know it today (especially with our New York, Orlando, Los Angeles, London offices).

In our class the other day, a guy that belongs to the CCSAR group (CT Canine SAR group) was saying that they are teaming up with Ham groups across the state for SAR. They are training the Ham operators to do the communications and navigation with base while they handle the dogs. I think that is a great idea considering the lack of reception with cells and walkie talkies in the mountains. Is this common in other SAR groups?

ESPNHiker said:

I am currently taking classes through work for the Technician class license. They are doing it for Emergency communication in case there is ever a disaster that gets rid of communication as we know it today (especially with our New York, Orlando, Los Angeles, London offices).

In our class the other day, a guy that belongs to the CCSAR group (CT Canine SAR group) was saying that they are teaming up with Ham groups across the state for SAR. They are training the Ham operators to do the communications and navigation with base while they handle the dogs. I think that is a great idea considering the lack of reception with cells and walkie talkies in the mountains. Is this common in other SAR groups?

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Good for you. I'm involved with teaching the Technician class at our club right now and am also involved with the local ARES/RACES group. You can do a lot (or a little) in ham radio. As much as you're inclined to.

73, Kevin AB2ZI

ESPNHiker said:

I think that is a great idea considering the lack of reception with cells and walkie talkies in the mountains. Is this common in other SAR groups?

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I don't know if it is common, but that's exactly how I got into emergency medicine. I was a ham first and took a basic SAR course geared toward hams through our local rescue squad. They offered first aid and CPR training as part of the course and I was hooked after that.

The rescue squad figured that by training hams to be competent searchers, they could tap into a huge network of people with mobile communication gear that is ready use use at a moments notice.

SAR-EMT40 said:

I passed 5 WPM many years ago. [EDIT] It is no longer required to learn any CW for amateur operators. You can still use it but it will probably go the way of the dinosaur. Marine and military radio ops are no longer required to know it either.
Keith

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Having had to pass the 20WPM copy test to get my Extra class ticket "back in the day," I was dismayed to learn that the Morse Code requirement had been eliminated for *ALL* levels of Amateur licensing. That's "progress" for ya! <sigh>

While it's true that CW has become something of an anachronism here in the day of mobile phones, satellite TV/radio and the Interweb, I'm surprised to hear that marine/military radio ops don't need to know it?? What happens if there are any myriad of problems with VOX communications? Wouldn't it be prudent to have a very bandwidth-efficient, easy-to-understand-even-with-radio-interference backup system?

I guess ship-to-ship signal lamps are straight out, then...

N1ESE for ID

Haven't carried a rig while hiking in a long time but plan on doing so probably this spring. I haven't been interested in repeater activity much since I was a novice back in 1989. Currently, I'm interested in ultra-light portable QRP HF operations, digital and CW. My goals for this winter is to build a very light weight PSK station and activate some peaks with it this spring.