From M6FCT... Portable
So I decided to bite the bullet and buy myself a Clansman PRC-351,
really I wanted the 320 for HF but baby steps, baby steps. The PRC-351 works on
the 4 and 6 meter bands in the VHF area of the spectrum. However the channel spacing’s
do not allow me to access the 6m specified channels. So I tend to stick to
4m's.
I chose one on E-bay as it had the charger with it. But when it arrived
it had a 28v one as a posed to a 12v one. So I had to buy a new charger.
When it arrived I spent a week or so charging it in the car as I drove
to and from work. Until the battery was full.
I decided the best way to do test my new kit was to go onto the Mendips;
I toyed with the idea of Glastonbury Tor or Street/Walton hill, but thought
where better than the Mendip Hills.
It then hit me that I could do my first SOTA (Summits on the Air)
Activation.
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| Beacon Batch - G/SC-003 |
Summits on the Air, is basically an award scheme where you reach a
summit and make a QSO (Contact) with someone to "Activate" the
summit. If four or more QSO's are made you can get points, Points are awarded
for the Activation of a particular summit, so the one I was doing was only
worth 1 point. You get awards when you reach a certain number of points.
So today, 19/1/16, I went to Beacon Batch on the Mendip hills, only
worth 1 point, but it was an experiment.
I took my nephew and we ascended at 945 and made it to the summit at
1015, I never realised just quite how unfit I was! I need to get out more.
I paths were EXTREMELY MUDDY!
When we reached the summit we set the kit up. The Clansman and the
Baofeng with the antenna on my camera tripod. I have also purchased a Ground
spike Antenna for the Clansman.
 |
| 'CQ CQ CQ M6FCT Portable calling CQ on 4 meters, M6FCT' |
I began to operate at 1025... Nothing, nothing for 2 hours. I was cold
-1 degree centigrade. I was fed up by 1130, I tuned into the repeater... not
allowed to do this for a qualifying SOTA activation, but I wanted to test the
radio. I heard people chatting and tried to join in.
No reply.
I kept trying with no luck, I tried other repeaters. I heard their
acknowledge tones but no-one heard me.
Eventually on GB3WR, M6USB
informed all listening that he heard someone keying up but no audio. I thought,
maybe it’s the microphone. So I plugged in my head set. Put out a call and got
a reply. Thanks to M6USB, I now know my Baofengs internal mic is shot! I will
attempt to fix it at some point. But I am happy to operate with my headset. |
| Log for 19/1/16 |
GW0WLQ
was great; he spent ages with me talking about the clansman and Ariel's and
such. He switched to 4 meters and I made contact using the Clansman! It was
very quiet, he told me how to look for MODS to make it louder and improve the
audio quality.
OK, so I
didn't make enough qualifying contacts to get any points. But the activation
was made and I will try again soon.
73's
M6FCT
