Many thanks to Andrew (VK2ZRK) who writes:

Hello Thomas,

The area I live near Canberra in Australia has many SOTA summits that are easily activated on 2m with a HT. That said a good antenna always helps. The 2m oblong antenna is very popular in these parts. It is easy to make, light to carry and packs small. It is horizontally polarised.

This is the second oblong I have built. I gave my dad VK4FASR my first one and have finally built another. I mostly use the bottom of the band for SSB/morse, the middle for APRS on 145.175 and 145.500 for SOTA. The antenna is cut accordingly.

References:

Andrew VK1AD
https://vk1nam.wordpress.com/2019/09/29/antenna-project-2m-145-mhz-rectangular-loop/

Peter VK3YE
https://youtu.be/Nyttl277ehs?si=9M5mP-KlxTGln0Tm

PARTS LIST
(Sorry about the lack of Freedom units)

- 8mm fibreglass tube.
- 8mm ID kite nocks (both from a kite supply).
- Double walled glue lined heat shrink.
- 2200mm Antenna wire – DX Commander in this case.
- 2mm ‘ZingIt’ dyneema.
- A BNC to banana adapter.

Assembly

I cut the tube so the centre to centre distance between the holes in the kite nocks was 360mm as per Andrew VK1AD’s instructions.

With the wire I started with 2200mm and trimmed until I had the best SWR at 145.000 when I lost my nerve and stopped cutting. [See photos below.]

Everything is held together with the glue lined heat shrink.
The top tube includes a little loop made from the ZingIt to suspend the antenna. Total weight is 102g.

The 2mm ZingIt can hold about 200Kg. I hope the pics make sense

73
Andrew VK2ZRK

Photos with detail

As I mentioned in a previous post, I attended the W4G SOTA Fall Campout in October and it was nothing short of amazing.

It was so great to spend an extended weekend camping, hiking, and hopping on the air with other SOTA activators.

I especially enjoyed getting to know Joshua (KO4AWH)–the fellow behind Tufteln products— over that weekend. He needed a campsite and since my buddy Monty had to pull out of the trip due family activities, I was happy to share the tent site with him. It actually worked out quite well since we could then pair up and car pool to our SOTA and POTA activations.

What follows is a field report for two SOTA activations Joshua and I did back-to-back on Friday, October 14, 2022.

The trail head for both of these summits was only a few miles from our campsite at Lake Winfield Scott.

Gear:

Note that I used the same gear during both SOTA activations all packed in my Spec-Ops Brand SOTA backpack.

Elecraft KX2 and KXPD2 Paddles
tufteIn EFRW QRP Antenna Long Wire
Spec-Ops Brand T.H.E. Pack EDC (click here for a tour of this pack)
Elecraft KXBT2 Li-Ion Battery Pack
Mini Arborist throw line kit: Tom Bihn Small Travel Tray, Marlow KF1050 Excel 2mm Throwline, and Weaver 8 or 10oz weight
Tom Bihn Large Travel Tray
Rite In The Rain Weatherproof Cover/Pouch (affiliate link)
Moleskine Cahier Journal (affiliate link)
GraphGear 0.9mm 1000 Automatic Drafting Pencil (affiliate link)
HEROCLIP Carabiner Clip (attached to my backpack–affiliate link)
G7UHN FT-817 Buddy Board (v2 Prototype)
Camera: OSMO Action Camera (affiliate link)

Black Mountain and Big Cedar essentially share the same trailhead at the Woody Gap Recreational Area parking lot on Highway 60.

We were on site early enough to grab a parking space. Keep in mind that it was Friday during leaf season, so there were quite a few hikers on the trails that day! In fact, by midday, the parking lot was overflowing with cars.

Almost by flip of coin, we decided to hit Big Cedar Mountain first. Turns out, Joshua had actually hiked to this summit in the past and even met a SOTA activator en route (and I believe this might have been his inspiration to try Summits On The Air!).