WELCOME

Welcome to my amateur radio BLOG. Here at N1CLC.com (aka HamNinja.com), I hope to cover my exploration of ham radio, summits on the air (SOTA) and general RF geek stuff.  My other BLOGS focus on technology (cloudrant.com), photography (cameraninja.com/blog), and life (thethroboflife.com). QSL via QRZ, LOTW, cards.

* Reference Links Page    * SOTA Specific Links  
* My Equipment Loadout    * DMR Tips    * My Youtube Channel

I monitor 146.520 and DMR SOTA (973), track me on the trail HERE or APRS.

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2019-10-13 Twin Peaks

Did a quick hike up to Twin Peaks to get some exercise and test out my deployment of the K6ARK Spider Thread Antenna.  The hike was an easy one up to the summit and included a hilarious roll off a rock due to a stupid overcommitment on a step.  It was fairly hot today, about 80.  I was enjoyable to be 9 lbs lighter in the equipment department.  If I can keep the gut weight off, that would be awesome.

After setup, I reached out to the DMR group here in San Diego and asked if anyone wanted to try a simplex call over DMR.  AI6CX is always ready to help and W6CRC in Poway jumped in as well. 

2019-10-06 Mt. Woodson

I wanted to get out and do a quick hike today and play radio.  I was thinking of going over to Twin Peaks and then heard a SOTA buddy, Jake (W6RWS), on the radio as he headed up to that very mountain.  If you remember, a couple of weeks ago, Jake, Adam & I went up to Morena Butte.  Adam jumped on the radio and answered Jake and then we talked about getting out there with Jake.  Adam and I decided to do a quick hike one up to Mt. Woodson, about 30 minutes from the house.

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I'm Presenting at the San Diego Hamfest

I'm looking forward to being one of the many presenters on Saturday, 10/5/201, at the San Diego Hamfest.  I will be presenting "Summit On The Air", SOTA where I'll explain what it is, why you might want to be an "activator" or "chaser" and how to do it, and why I enjoy it... and more.

2019-09-28 Black Mountain, Rain, and Mud

Today’s expedition takes me to Black Mountain, located near Ramona, California.  I’ve recently acquired an Elecraft KX2, a 10 watt very small high quality HF ham radio and I’m itching to test it out.  I picked it up used from a ham in northern California which saved me a bundle.  I really want to lighten my load and by my calculations, switching to the KX2 will save me 7 lbs of weight!!! 

Another incentive is the “ARIZONA S2S 10-POINT MADNESS” that is hapening this weekend.  That “madness” means that a lot of hams will be on summits in Arizona, giving me plenty of opportunity to get some more summit to summit points, something I enjoy doing.  I was going to join Adam on a summit today but I had already done the planned peak.  By choosing this drive up location, I get some points and figured I would haul some extra equipment and try some high power VHF.  My 3-element yagi 2m isn’t going to be nearly as good as Adams custom 6 element but I thought it would be fun to try since today’s mission didn’t require me to backpack it in. 

2019-09-22 Morena Butte

On Sunday, 22-Sep, I headed out to Morena Butte with some fellow hams to do some Summits On The Air (SOTA).  Adam (K6ARK), and Jake (W6RWS) met at my house and we were wheels up by 0600.  Morena Butte is east of my house near the Laguna Mountains, with a summit at 4,000 feet.  Because of the early start, it was a nice semi-cool hike up to the peak.  As we turned and headed up the final ascent we also caught a slight breeze, but it was starting to warm.  There were some pretty vistas on the way up and the crew was in high spirits.

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Here is a link to the slides I used for the presentation I will give on Summits On The Air (SOTA) at the the San Diego DX Club on September 25th, 2019 in San Diego, CA.

I'm looking forward to presenting to this hard core set of ham who are always working to push the limits of their rig system to maximize distance and have fun.