VE6AB Mobile Ops
The Road Trip and HF APRS
Wanting to visit the the OMB (Old Man On His Back Ranch) located south of the Cypress Hills in southwestern Saskatchewan near the Alberta border, and just a bit north of the Montana border, I packed up my mobile and headed out for a few days.
Now I have to tell you this ranch is about as far as you can get from civilization, so its good to be prepared if you decide to check it out, and be prepared for lots of dusty gravel roads that take you there!
Upon leaving home, it didn't take long that I had no conventional VHF APRS coverage.
Fortunately I was running HF RPR (Robust Packet Radio) APRS on 30 meters, and as you can see by expanding the photo for a closer look at the map, I was being heard by the various HF Gateways across the US and placed on aprs.fi.
Two of the RPR stations hearing and decoding my packets was KM7DES-6 located in Montana, and the other displayed is W3LUZ-7 located in Pennsylvania, a distance of 3200 kilometers done in 1 hop from my mobile.
If you haven't read elsewhere on my website or blog, I am running a Kenwood TS-480HX, a SCS Tracker, and a Garmin Montana, all pared together for HF RPR APRS .
If your wondering about the antenna mounted on the rear deck of my mobile, that is a fixed 30 meter monobander of my own design and build, that I run with when I don't plan on making any voice contacts, especially when I'm strictly involved with shooting photographs.
This antenna also is capable of taking a lot more abuse than my 10-80 meter gearmotor antenna (I did have it with me as well) especially when I came across the crest of the Cypress Hills connecting Alberta and Saskatchewan, and the truck trail that I came across on had a lot of places where the antenna was being smacked about by low hanging tree branches.
In fact it didn't miss a beat based on the track that I laid down while away from home for the time I was gone.
Looking close at the track, and in particular in the vicinity of Elkwater on the Alberta side, where I came cross-country over the crest of the Cypress Hills from Fort Walsh Saskatchewan, that accounts for the closely spaced waypoints, as the 50 kilometers across the top of the hills on what is little more than a truck trail, meant going slow and easy, and a good think to, as I did smack the ground effects on my Av a few times while traversing the rougher spots.
Also, just so you know, this truck trail crossing over the crest of the Cypress Hills is impassable when wet.
Here is a look at some of the photos that I shot on and around the OMB.....
http://www.jerryclement.ca/Outdoor-Pursuits/Old-Man-On-His-Back/
