RE: [Philmont]: Ham Radio At Philmont

I've carried small, light weight HF QRP and VHF/UHF rigs on three trips to
Philmont. The VHF/UHF rig was only useful from the "high spots", and one
trip we made no contacts at all with it, but we could make CW contacts
almost every time we set up the HF radio. It generated enough interest for
one scout in our group that he earned the radio merit badge upon our return
home, then later studied and became licensed Radio Amateur.

You will have to consider and decide if you have the space in your pack for
the gear, and if you want to carry the extra weight around for 10 days. Even
though my entire station fits in a small zip lock bag and weighs less than 3
pounds, that's still three extra pounds to carry. I have a large pack and
enjoy radio enough that I didn't mind, but would like to point out I didn't
use either radio as much as I thought I would. Too many other things to do
and see at Philmont!

Many think I'm crazy, but I would not go without at least the HF radio. For
me (and at least one scout) it's part of the adventure. But then again, I
take backpacking trips with ham friends just to set up and operate the
radios from remote locations.

E-mail me off list if you want more information about the equipment I took.

YIS
Mike Heitmann, N0SO
Troop 975, St. Charles, Missouri

-----Original Message-----
stephenewhite@insightbb.com

Has anyone had experience operating handheld or small portable ham radios
during a trek at Philmont?

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Received on Sat Jun 11 22:51:27 2005