[TenTec] SOTA rigs

[Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP]

Well that's sure a very rubber rule.

If I drive to or near the mountain top, carry my rig the final 10 feet to
its final destination, and don't attach anything to the car, then I have met
that rule.

I not sure how my Andorra operation would qualify, because although I walked
about 20 feet and put up a tent, I then removed the car battery and carried
it to the tent and attached my radio to it.  So I guess that disqualifies
me, because I was attached to part of the car.

I think I'll stick to IOTA.

In any case, I learned a lot about how to run forever on batteries during
those types of operations:

 <> RX must have absolutely as little current drain as possible (#1
Criteria!)
 <> Turn off all dial lamps in the RX
 <> Use headphones (requires less power than speaker)
 <> Keep TX power to the minimum required to work what you want to work
(improve the antenna rather than increasing the TX power)
 <> Use candles for light.  OK, now days we have LED lamps, so there is a
better solution which has its own power.

73
Rick, DJ0IP

-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Barry N1EU
Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2013 11:22 AM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] SOTA rigs

>From the SOTA rules:

The method of final access to the Summit must be non-motorised.
Operations must not be in, or in the vicinity of a motor vehicle. No part of
the station may be connected in any way to the motor vehicle.

All equipment must be carried to the site by the Activator team.

73, Barry N1EU

On Wed, Apr 17, 2013 at 9:10 AM, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP <Rick at dj0ip.de> wrote:
> If you   s t r e t c h   that first dit in the "h", it becomes a dah  and
> the "h" becomes a "b".  Biking.  Then the sport is much more appealing 
> to me!
>
> QUESTION:  is it mandatory to have to hike to the mountain top?  Or, 
> if you find a mountain top you can drive to, does that qualify as a
summit?
>
> I think at my age, I'll stick to IOTA, even if I have to hike a ways.
>
> 73
> Rick
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Barry 
> N1EU
> Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2013 11:03 AM
> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] SOTA rigs
>
> As currently defined, SOTA=human powered ascent, generally hiking.  If 
> you guys want to hike mountain summits with 10 pound rigs and 5 pound 
> batteries, more power to you.  I've been very active in SOTA and 
> personally, I prefer one pound radios and half pound batteries in my 
> pack when I'm hiking 5-10 miles and climbing 2000-3000ft.  Just saying . .
.
>
> 73, Barry N1EU
>
> On Wed, Apr 17, 2013 at 7:51 AM, PA5MW, Mark <pa5mw at home.nl> wrote:
>> Wow.
>> Great pictures and even greater setup!
>>
>> Thanks for sharing.
>> 73 Mark, PA5MW
>>
>>
>> On 17-4-2013 9:25, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP wrote:
>>>
>>> Well long before there was a sport called "SOTA", I was operating SOTA.
>>> But my operations weren't for a few hours, they were for days.
>>> Like these two, on top of La Rabassa in the Pyrenees mountains (over
>>> 2000 meters high):
>>>
>>> 1975:  C31IL (Andorra) / see:
>>> http://www.dj0ip.de/my-expeditions/andorra-1975/
>>> 1979:  C31SE (Andorra) / see:
>>> http://www.dj0ip.de/my-expeditions/andorra-1979/
>>>
>>> Read the story of how to run for 10 days off of batteries at 6,600 
>>> feet height.
>>>
>>> On the first trip we used a SWAN SS-100 (50w out).
>>> It was the first transistorized rig I had ever seen with this much
power.
>>> I only had an Argonaut 505 at the time.  The Triton was available 
>>> but we hadn't heard of it yet here in Germany.
>>> I was the one on the motorbike. Sigi, NV7E (now 5Z4EE) was the one 
>>> with the VW bus.
>>>
>>> On the second trip in 1979 I had the original OMNI (Analog), and my 
>>> Argonaut
>>> 509 with 405 amp as backup.
>>> I also had hair. Lots of it.
>>>
>>> Side Note: as you'll see in one of the pictures of the 1975 
>>> expedition, I was already a big fan of Wire Beam antennas, 30 years 
>>> before I joined Spiderbeam!
>>>
>>> 73
>>> Rick, DJ0IP
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>> TenTec at contesting.com
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>>>
>>
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