Kit needed for SOTA
Everything on this page is my own opinion! Ingest at your own risk!
The bible for hillwalking in the UK is "Mountaincraft and Leadership", bu Eric Langmuir. This is available from Amazon. Another highly recommended book is "Mountaineering" by Alan Blackshaw. Not sure if this is still in print.
- You need an amateur transmitting licence - getting one of these is much easier than it used to be. Your local Amateur Radio Club, or Amateur Radio Society will be able to help. Try searching http://www.rsgb.org.uk and click on the "Clubs And Societies" link at the top of the page. This leads into a list of county clubs.
- You'll need some basic hillwalking skills. Many SOTA summits are fairly easy walks, though they are rarely well waymarked, especially in the Welsh Borders and Wales. Some are practically on main roads, but it is possible to get seriously lost for a variety of reasons. You need to know how to read a map and to use a compass for most tops. A GPS is not a substitute for navigational skills.
- You need hillwalking equipment. How much depends on when you want to walk. Winter on Crib Goch or Aonach Eagach is a very different proposition to a balmy July day on Aconbury Hill.
Hillwalking equipment
Big Hill and small hill are a bit misleading. The issue is how long it would take you to get back to "safety" - meaning civilisation or the car. If it's over an hour or so, it's a BIG hill.
Kit is a very personal issue, and no two hillwalkers carry exactly the same equipment.
My own list goes something like this:
Summer, big hill
- 40 litre or so day sac
- waterproof top
- Waterproof overtrousers
- Woolly hat and gloves
- Sunhat
- Sunglasses
- Loose, baggy trousers (not jeans) or, if it's hot, shorts.
- Long sleeved shirt and vest.
- Pile top
- Map of the area
- Compass
- Torch. I carry an LED torch with long battery life.
- Camera (normally. It goes if I can't be fagged to carry the weight, or if it's wet/cold)
- Walking poles
- GPS
- Cellphone
- Walking poles
- Drink (thermos or water, depending on weather)
- Radio kit (see below)
- First Aid Kit (because I regularly walk with inexperienced groups)
Winter, big hill
My Winter kit, in addition to clothing and radio equipment
Winter hillwalking on big hills (2500 foot plus) is for really experienced hillwalkers only. If the conditions on the tops are below zero, then you need experience and you ought not to go alone.
Realistically, in hills of about 2500 feet and above, you have about 30-40 minutes of operating time before you'll get too cold
In addition to the above:
- Thermal vest, thermal undershirt
- Possibly pile undertrousers
- Ice Axe
- goggles
- Mitts
- Duvet jacket, for wearing whilst operating.
Summer, small hill
Just the radio kit, and some waterproofs
Winter, small hill
- Thermal vest, undershirt,shirt
- Pile jumper
- Long trousers, possibly pile undertrousers
- Duvet jacket for operating
Other safety considerations
Even with all the equipment, you should still follow other, basic, safety procedures.
- Always leave your route with a responsible person - the wife, the girlfriend, the hostel warden. Give them an estimated time of return. Even on "busy" hills, such as Striding Edge/Helvellyn in summer it's possible to pass several hours on the tops without seeing anyone.
- Never rely on your cellphone. You need two things for a cellphone to be useful - a signal, and your position. If you've just fallen 50 feet, you're unlikely to have either, and you may have broken the phone.
- Try not to walk alone - ok, we all do it. But walking alone in serious hills is an issue. SOTA doesnt exactly encourage operating in teams and most of us go it alone. Go as a pair with someone else, activate a pair, and stay in radio contact on the way down. Or, better, take a friend to help. SOTA activations aren't really spectator sport, though!
Radio Equipment
I have several bits of kit which can be assembled into different packages for different types of walk.
Ultra Lightweight
Lightweight kit has restricted battery life, and does not use a brilliant antenna. This sort of kit is really useful for tops in populous areas at weekends (such as, for example Kinder Scout in the Peak District) where you aim to get 4 quick contacts (4 is the minimum required to acvitate a top). I use a Yaesu VX-7R for this sort of activation. The VX-7R is submersible, which is vital if the weather is poor. Most hand-held rigs are not waterproof, and are less than robust. The VX-7R has a 1.3AH battery, which will give you a few minutes of "talk time" on medium power. Using the inbuilt whip antenna doesn't get you out very effectively, but on good days 50 miles should be possible.
The picture shows a 2.1Ah GelCell, a fused 12V lead with spade clips at the battery end, and the standard Yaesu plug at the other (also fits the 817), and the VX-7R with the tri-band 50MHz/144MHz/430MHz whip fitted.
Lightweight
The next step up involves improving the talk time, and improving the antenna. Stick with the handie, but invest in a 12V power lead to connect the handie to a gelcell. These remarkable lead-acid batteries can be bought from Maplin or from Radio Rallies (see, for example, Practical Wireless, which lists up and coming rallies). A 2.1AH gelcell weighs less than a kilogramme. I use a 3AH version, and pack it in bubblewrap in the top of my rucsac. A (fused) lead from this runs down to the VX-7R, which clips onto the belt of the rucsac. This arrangement will last for most of a day, and will ive you "rag-chew" QSOs (contacts) without worrying about losing power. This works well when walking up to tops: many SOTA enthusiasts strive for SOTA-SOTA contacts - top to top - and leaving the rig (handie) on whilst walking keeps you in touch with other SOTA people in the vicinity.
The antenna can be imnproved without much increase in weight. Replacing the supplied "rubber duck" with something like a Watson WHXX-270, which is a whip, but more efficient than the supplied one, will give you some increase in range. You can now operate at full power (on the VX-7R this is 5 watts) for a respectable length of time.
Serious mode
The dedicated SOTA activator uses a transmission mode called "Single Sideband", or SSB for short.The VX-7R and other small handies can't do SSB, and they can't handle the lower frequencies which amateurs use to get national coverage. So, we need a different "rig" (radio). The Yaesu FX-817 is highly regarded by many portable radio fans as ideal. The only real problem with it is that it is not waterproof. About the size of a small car radio, it fits easily in a rucsac, runs off a 12V gelcell for as long as you will need, and operates SSB and, if you want, CW (morse).
So, the serious mode equipment list runs something like this:
- Yaesu fx-817
- portable vertical pole to mount antennas on - normally, this is an Angler's Roach Pole or landing pole
- 2m band beam antenna - both of these are available from http://www.sotabeams.co.uk. This can be mounted vertically polarised for FM use, or horizontally polarised for SSB.
- a wire dipole antenna for 7MHz use. SOTA activators tend to use 7.045MHz or 7.090MHz for SSB on this band. I got mine at a rally from http://freedompoles.mysite.freeserve.com. They're easy to make, but the freedompoles one is cut exactly to length, and comes with a reasonably sensible coaxial feed line. This arrangement does not require an antenna tuner. Other SOTA people use random wire antennas with portable antenna tuner units, such as the z100
- Key, if you want to use CW (Morse). CW has a lot going for it as a simple, efficient mode. Indeed, a very effective SOTA station could be built using a home made transmitter, such as the RockMite, available from http://www.werdau.net/qrpproject/rockmite.htm. This, coupled with a key such as the Palm Mini-Paddle (http://www.wsplc.co.uk - Waters and Stanton) which is magnetic and sticks on the top of any metal box housing the RockMite, would be effective. I think CW on hilltops is a summer activity!