Annual ham radio 14er event

[510rock]

Hey guys,
I thought I would reach out to any fellow ham radio operators that also climb mountains to inform you of the annual 14er event the weekend of Aug 6th. You can read more about this event here:

http://www.k0nr.com/wordpress/2016/05/2 ... 4er-event/

Perhaps some of you have seen us operating our radios from the high summits of Colorado. Many of us climb year round and enjoy the challenge of making radio contact with hams worldwide using small battery operated radios and wire antennas.

Cheers!

[adamjm]

This is a pretty neat event - I happened to be doing DeCaLiBron on this day in 08 or 09 and ran into 3 different sets of you folks - cool to hear people chatting with each other from atop every 14er in the state.

[510rock]

This is a pretty neat event - I happened to be doing DeCaLiBron on this day in 08 or 09 and ran into 3 different sets of you folks - cool to hear people chatting with each other from atop every 14er in the state.

Yeah, we have a lot of fun making contacts throughout the US, Canada -- South America and Europe when operating conditions are good! I operated from Longs Peak last year during this event. I only had about 30 minutes on the summit before the weather started to deteriorate. I use a telescoping carbon pole for my antenna mast and wouldn't want that up when lightning is near!

BTW, ham radio is a great tool for communications in the mountains where cell phones are not always reliable!!

[Scott P]

..

[d_baker]

Is a ham radio that disruptive over the ordinary Saturday summit crowd?

[emgordon]

Thanks for posting this. I think I'm actually going to participate this year.

Most of the hams are radio operators first and hikers second, so 14ers are an obvious choice. Also, the event is Saturday and Sunday this year so more people and peaks can activate.

[510rock]

Scott P...
Fun fact...this event has been going on for 25 years now. I suppose this event drives at least another 20 people to do a 14er spread out over many 14er peaks. And as emgordon said this year it's over two days instead one one. Also, we are operating our radios year round on peaks at all elevations -- Google "Summits on the air" for more info on that.

emgordon,
I hope you decide to participate! I'm a climber first and also a ham. Also, as you might know, ham radio operators have helped get injured climbers in contact with rescue groups when cell phones weren't usable.

[emgordon]

and provide communications during emergency: http://www.arrl.org/ares" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Scott P]

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[MountainHiker]

Scott, unless they set up on the actual summit rock, I don't see an issue. If someone hogs the actual highest spot, yes that can be an issue. I'm the guy who will tag them since they are on the rock I want to tag. But really, one more person on the summit area is like, what difference does it make? It's a fourteener on a summer weekend - you'll be up there with 29 people instead of 28! As for hogging by staying for an hour or two, I would bet more of us than not have spent and hour or two on a summit on a nice day. I spent almost an hour on the summit of Bierstadt last Saturday as did several others who were up there. There are several activities which I would frown upon on a summit, like if you're smoking please go down wind. But a ham radio among all the cell phones? I've got bigger worries!

[robtwitte]

The Summits On The Air ham radio program was written up in Outside magazine.
The author did a pretty decent job of describing the activity and why so many people pursue it.

Inside the Summit-Obsessed World of Ham Radio
It’s like biathlon, but for geeks

https://www.outsideonline.com/2421479/h ... bby-summit

[robtwitte]

Calling all ham radio operators...

W0C 10-10-10 Event

This year we will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Summits On The Air (SOTA) program in Colorado.
This is not just 14ers, it includes all of the SOTA summits above 10k feet.
The event will start with the usual Colorado 14er Event on Aug 7/8 (first full weekend in August) but extends for 10 days with the theme of 10-10-10 (10k summits, 10 days, 10 activations).

This is an early notice that we are doing something different this year. Details are still being worked out.
For more information and updates on this event see: http://www.w0c-sota.org/10-10-10/

You can participate in this event with very basic capability such as a VHF/UHF handheld radio (and Technician level license).
Or bring along an HF transceiver and work the world. It is your choice.

For information specific to the Colorado 14er (ham radio) Event, go here: http://www.ham14er.org/
For general Summits On The Air info, go here: https://www.sotadata.org.uk
If you are active in Colorado SOTA (or want to be), join us here: https://groups.io/g/w0c-sota

73 Bob K0NR
www.k0nr.com