2M SSB from SOTA summits.
The 2026 SOTA “challenge” has been to use SSB and CW on 2m and 7cm bands. Before the first of January 2026 I had never made a 2m SSB QSO: six months in I have made a few totalling 5042km.
Last year I tried building a folding Moxon/Yagi, but it was too delicate. Then I tried building a lightweight Yagi with some 3d printed parts and aluminium tig rod, but it also proved too delicate. Then I bought a 3 element Yagi built by a local Arizona HAM which has worked well, but as with all Arrow and clone antennas, it is a little tiring to use after a while. At the start of the year I also built a simple dipole, similar to the Packtenna.
This summer I have been carrying both with me, along with the FT-817ND. I have tried a few summits with a modified Quansheng, but found the chasers to often struggle with my audio, so when I can handle the weight and volume of the bigger radio, it seems worth the struggle.
Yesterday on GM/CS-016 (Carn Mairg) I managed my longest distance QSO at 207km with the dipole: the conditions were terrible, way too windy to use the Yagi, so I put the dipole on my mast, lifted it up about 3m with my short length of RG8X, the mast was bent over in the wind, and I was unable to rotate it.
This contact really made me wonder if it is worth me carrying the heavier Yagi, and I may leave it home more often now.
I admit that–at this stage–my understanding of 2m propagation is limited. With an HT it seemed pretty clear that line-of-sight + some ground hugging magic was the rule. With SSB the narrower bandwith, suppressed carrier and half the sine should make my 5w closer to an equivalent 20w FM, which does mean that I hear fluttering and drops in received signals, more similarly to long-distance HF communication.
In the future I will probably carry the weight that is appropriate, rather than trying to force something that is too dependant on the availability of other operators (I got no 2m QSOs on my first summit yesterday, even with the Yagi).
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Filed under: blog,Uncategorized - @ July 29, 2026 4:54 pm