Sunday, October 29, 2017

My First SOTA Expedition

This post is mini intro to SOTA and my first expedition.

As a new ham operator, the first problem that I came across is that if you want to do HF (high frequencies (stuff below 50 MHZ), you need long antennas.  The 20 meter band (~14mhz) requires an antenna half that, 10M or ~33 feet long.  Going to a lower frequency, a longer wavelength, you need to have a longer antenna.  For example, the next most popular band is 40 meters, and yup, you need 20 meter dipole or something else.  My lot is wide enough to hold  that and if I put it on the side, it’s blocked by my neighbor’s house.  Sure, there are way to use a shorter antenna, but if you want to get the most range from the radio you have, a long dipole is the best.