Valentines Day SOTA with the YL

[@jbblister]

Nicely produced.

[@RA9WJV]

Adam, thanks for the great video!

[@KevinW8BRY]

Wow Valentine’s Day SOTA. Told my wife about that she wasn’t in. Lol. Glad you were able to spend the day together doing what you love.

[@dxexplorer]

You have the best YL to join you there for Valentines Day. I've seen this one late hehe. I still have to catch up with many others. I haven't seen it yet in case you made one... did you built the Yagi ? If you did maybe you make a video about it. Loved it. Great contacts over there. Another nice video. 73 and happy DXing.

[@phildurall7466]

Heart warming and enjoyable. Thanks Adam and Johnnie!

[@steveh1130]

Hi Adam. A very pleasant video with nice bonus footage. Glad you both had fun together. 73

[@walshgeo]

Adam, Great scenery! Thanks for the video. 73 George KB3WAQ

[@amateursandairwaves]

Dude. Such a great video. The cinematography and editing here is amongst the best travel/nature vlog content and you do radio stuff. Keep at it man, your vids are always such a blast to watch.

[@K6ARK]

Damn, Evan, that's high praise. Thanks, man!

[@m0kov]

I like your style. Valentine's Day Let's make it a Radio Day Great channel tnx. 73 de Steve M0KOV

[@ChrisN8PEM]

Such great production on this on Adam. You obviously put a ton of work in on it. Love The YLs hat. Did my first SOTA over the weekend. Got 8 voice and 7 CW in about an hour at 20 degrees. It was great!

[@ChrisN8PEM]

Oh and my wife came with as well...

[@K6ARK]

Excellent, Chris! Nice work. I really enjoy the art of video and am constantly trying to up my game. This trip was the maiden voyage of a new gimbal and a super-wide lens. Some good lessons learned and some decent footage too. Appreciate the comment.

[@HamRadio2]

Great vid. Looking forward to getting up to a mountain soon.

[@joyhamradio]

Wow cool!

[@ReedAB8AS]

Enjoyed this one. Thanks Adam.

[@AI6XG]

Great video, glad to see the QCX mini making some contacts. Very special that Johnnie has the patience to let you play radio, a wonderful valentines gift!

[@CdnRockiesRadio]

Looked like a blast.

[@M0RSF]

Excellent video. Well done to you both. I’m awaiting delivery of a QCX mini 40M version and can’t wait to try it. All the best, 73 Chris M0RSF

[@randalltom9750]

Here ya go again... sporting a new cool digital transceiver. I want one. That thing with the mods is cool. Great video Adam! de W7UDT. Rand dit dit

[@KI4ASK]

What a great way to spend Valentines Day. The weekend prior me & my Mrs did a SOTA / POTA activation in the snow to celebrate an early Valentines. We post on Instagram & Twitter, but maybe we should post some KZbins also. Keep up the great work. 73, Joe KI4ASK & Mary Catherine KI4HHI.

[@K6ARK]

You definitely should do some videos! It's great fun. How do I find you on Twitter and IG?

[@michaelharriman6080]

Great video Adam! I hope to work you s2s on our QCXmini's 17m sometime!

[@forgetyourlife]

We spent Valentines Day on day 3 of 7 day power outage. very romantic and cold.

[@Dr-T]

Err why not walk round the boulder?!!! Your Young Lady is amazing putting up with being dragged off into the wilderness on Valentines day! I hope you cooked her something REALLY nice for dinner? enjoyable video as always Adam. 73 Bruce G4ABX

[@TheTechPrepper]

Fantastic video production as usual, Adam. Did your significant other help with the filming, or did you have to climb up and down a couple of times yourself to position the cameras?

[@K6ARK]

I just climbed up and down a few times. Fortunately it's not difficult - probably class 3 ish.

[@AA0Z]

Is wearing your t-shirt a type of "breaking the third wall" SOTA quantum black hole?

[@kodyeliason1389]

Please show the inside mods that you made to the QRPver! That would be a very interesting video! I really love hacking stuff like that and making it more effective and convenient.

[@K6ARK]

I'll have to do this. It's a very tight squeeze but it turned out really nice.

[@cwguy8960]

I was snowshoeing with my gf on Valentines Day while you were in the desert - or else I might have worked you! Looked like a good time. My gf accompanied me only once on a SOTA activation - I think I can get her to do it again (on a nice day 😁 ). Thanks for sharing - 73, NØDET . .

[@Davidjb37721]

Have fun

[@johnsinclair3067]

While waiting on my QRPver2 to arrive, my brain is trying to wrap around a Pixie Switch-style hat for it to allow switching between digital mode freqs (FT8-7.074, JS8-7.078, JT65 on 7.076). I like the simplicity of the concept toggling a switch to swap between digimode freqs, but is the practicality of design hurdles to overcome really worth it versus just getting the v3 to tune throughout the band.

[@K6ARK]

Honestly, the v3 is probably a smarter option. That said, it would certainly be doable on the v2. You will simply need to switch in or out a couple of capacitors. If you go the v2 route, I would recommend getting it tuned to the highest frequency you'd like to use. If my memory serves me correctly, I had to remove capacitance to increase the tuned frequency. It will be easier to add capacitance by switching in capacitors in parallel as opposed to coming up with a method to reduce a fixed capacitance.

[@K6ARK]

I actually thought about that while I was doing the mod, but decided to just go with the FT8 frequency for now. It would be great to be able to switch between PSK 31, FT8, and JS8 call frequencies.

[@wild-radio7373]

🤜🏻👍🤛🏻♡♡♡

[@ma3ek]

Hi Adam. What QSO logging app are you using on your android device?

[@jamesphillips2035]

Awesome vid, what is that 3 element red antenna you are using ?

[@K6ARK]

It's a homebrew 3 element yagi... kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2W7epqPeZKXZ80. Works pretty good.

[@jamesphillips2035]

Thanks for the reply ! Avid backpacker and camper and now new ham so thanks for the info

[@chrisbroomell]

What a great day! I didn't know you climb. I haven't been to that area climbing in years... KN6MRG

[@K6ARK]

Yep! Used to climb a lot more, but would like to get back into climbing shape. Look back at some of my real old videos. There's a good bit of bouldering in there. Trad and alpine are my preferred forms of climbing. Ice is fun too, and I enjoy bouldering and ice too.

[@chrisbroomell]

@@K6ARK I often dream of being back in "climbing shape" 😂

[@aljazs55al40]

Can you tell what case did you use for the QCX mini?

[@K6ARK]

Yes, it is a small portable hard drive case from Amazon. amzn.to/3pv9cxy

[@mikemkx4598]

Great Video... Looks like you had a blast ! Curious, what kind of Iambic key were you using with the QCX ?? 73 Mike VE3MKX

[@K6ARK]

That's a tiny little homebrew paddle. Check out my "World's Smallest Go Kit" video for a bit of a closer view.

[@courtclimbs]

"my cuter, smarter, wiser, better half" 😂

[@K6ARK]

You forgot "younger"...

[@K6ARK]

And it's all true. She is quite a wonderful human being.

[@courtclimbs]

@@K6ARK haha you’re right, I knew I missed something!

[@climbingjohnnie]

I'd rather spend Valentine's day in the wild with him than in a crowd in the city any day. It was a beautiful day to play in the desert!

[@TheSpitfiregoggles]

Hi Adam, what is the protocol for using 146.520? From the video it appears to be both a calling and working frequency...in the UK we use 145.500 but for calling only with thr expectation that once contact is established you QSY to a working channel; even if .500 is dead quiet, hold a QSO on it and you'll invoke the wrath of all the silent listeners! I also have a 17m QCX Mini although mine is still in kit form in its packaging...really must get around to building it especially as the higher bands seem to be getting better. 73, Simon G0CIQ

[@K6ARK]

Simon, excellent question. 146.520 is indeed a "calling" frequency and extended conversations should be shifted away from the frequency. When operating for SOTA, I utilize the calling frequency for repeated calls and contacts. Sometimes if there are a large number of people interested in making a contact, that can go on for 30 minutes or more. If/when that happens, I leave gaps between transmissions and periodically ask if anyone else would like to use the frequency to make a call. If I hear none, I'll resume my calling. If there is desire to use it, I will make a brief announcement to QSY to 146.55 or 146.58 for any further contacts with me. In the event that I do get into a more extended conversation, I will switch to a nearby frequency to open up the calling frequency. The designation of a calling frequency is for convenience of all users, and I think using the frequency in this way meets the intent. The frequency is intended to be used and shared. As such, we must be courteous of other users interested in applying it for the intended purpose. That means leaving gaps between transmissions to allow others to break in if necessary, and to change frequencies for extended, ongoing conversations.

[@TheSpitfiregoggles]

Thanks Adam, that makes sense and seems rather less rigid than it does here although to be fair this little island is pretty densely populated so maybe things are different. Even on our 4 metre (70MHz) band which is way, way quieter than 2 metres, using the calling frequency for anything other than establishing a QSO will pretty quickly land you in trouble with the (self-appointed) "band police"! It's nice to hear a more tolerant, pragmatic approach...after all, you don't QSY off an analogue repeater to have a QSO, do you?! Many thanks for your videos, I greatly enjoy them and love your infectious enthusiasm, it's really inspiring. 73, Simon G0CIQ

[@K6ARK]

@@TheSpitfiregoggles it's amusing sometimes how many operators would rather hear hours of silence on the calling frequency rather than an occasional QSO. 😆

[@TheSpitfiregoggles]

Yeah, we have people over here with that mindset too. Seems a bit ironic, reacting adversely to someone using a radio when the hobby is about using the radio... On 4 Metres, I have sometimes had a reply to a CQ along the lines of "Wow, someone is actually transmitting on 4...I haven't heard anybody for several weeks!"

[@hcy0]

What is this nice little red beam antenna? 73 from DL

[@djsomers100]

I am wondering too. Arrow?

[@K6ARK]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2W7epqPeZKXZ80 Dual-band portable yagi for sat ops. It's got poor F/B ratio, but that was the trade off for a 50 ohm feed and dual band performance. 5.3 theoretical dBd forward gain on 2m and just under 5 dBd on 70cm.

[@sheldonsipes7859]

Afternoon Adam, What is the mast that you used in this video? I did follow the link to your Amazon store front and I didn't see this one I could be mistaken though. Thanks for all the videos you have inspired me to try out SOTA. Sheldon KG5QDR

[@K6ARK]

It's a 21 foot version of the Jackie Pole. They are a little heavy but very durable. Here's an Amazon link to the 16 and 31 foot models. I have two of the 31 footers and they're awesome... About 7 lbs each. www.amazon.com/dp/B00B6XWYQS?ref=exp_k6arkportableradio_dp_vv_mw&th=1&psc=1

[@johnsinclair3067]

Which freq are you running the QRPver on?

[@K6ARK]

7.074. I originally purchased it as a 7.070 PSK31 unit, but replaced a couple of capacitors and re-tuned a couple of the variable ones to get it onto the FT8 frequency. Works great.

[@johnsinclair3067]

@@K6ARK Awesome. Looking forward to the QRPver Mods video. 73 KO4HZH

[@command0z]

What antenna are you using at 5:33? Thanks

[@K6ARK]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2W7epqPeZKXZ80

[@cameronzotter3620]

@@K6ARK Thanks!

[@Davidjb37721]

Ke4hpq 73