Montana's Ham Radio Forum

Hi gang,

Rob AE7AP and his wife Barb AE7AQ will be hiking from Lincoln, Mt to the Glacer Waterton Hamfest. Rob posted their schedule with a few hams in Helena, Mt to will try to make contact and log their location by name or lat long. Rob will also try APRS via the ISS and Terrestrial on their two week adventure. Below is their information for scheduled route and communications times.

Enjoy !!!

Bill K7MT for AE7AP Rob Kingery Helena, Mt.

Dates

Departure: 7/3/2014 Early

Planned Arrival: 7/17/2014 Mid-Afternoon



Note that we may be as late as 7/19/2014 if things go slowly for some reason. If we run into other troubles, we may exit early & will contact Glacier Meadow RV Park to let them know.



I will suggest communicating with “Reply All” when appropriate. Karl (my son in Denver) will organize the running tally of our progress and send it back out. His e-mail is also on my www.qrz.com page (AE7AP).



Communication Plan Details

1. Schedule at 7:30 p.m. local time:

a. Freq: 7.060 CW

i. If 7.060 in use, then 7.061, 7.059, 7.062, 7.058, etc.

ii. Sequence:

1. K7SR de AE7AP

2. K7ZZX de AE7AP

3. K7MT de AE7AP

4. Repeat sequence (1x)

5. CQ CQ de AE7AP (3x)

6. If no success, then I may try CQ on 20-meters (14.060)

2. APRS - Check www.aprs.fi/AE7AP - I will try and beacon at high points. It is quite possible that I will never be able to hit a repeater. I may also try ISS passes (if I can get that to work before I leave).

3. Repeaters – I will try calling repeaters from High points. I may not be able to hit repeaters, but if I will ask the other station to send an e-mail to Karl rkingery@alumni.nd.edu .



Planned Path (may change)

Indian Meadows – North to Dearborn River

Dearborn River – Scapegoat Mountain & Halfmoon Park

Halfmoon Park – Benchmark

Benchmark – Chinese Wall

Chinese Wall – Gates Park

Gates Park – North Wall

North Wall – Trilobite Range

Trilobite Range – Schaefer Meadows

Schaefer Meadows – Moose Lake

Moose Lake – Devil Lake Trailhead

Devil Lake Trailhead – Hamfest (Glacier Meadow RV Park)



Contact Information

Karl Kingery (son) Denver 406-461-2757 rkingery@alumni.nd.edu

Clint Kingery (son) Bozeman 406-461-5382 mckingery@gmail.com

Hugh Kingery (son) Camp Marshall 406-461-8184 hugh8184@gmail.com

John Geach KS7R 406-442-7107 jcgeach@gmail.com

Bedford Horrell K7ZZX 406-442-2879 dc49nov@yahoo.com

Bill Erhardt K7MT 406-227-7219 k7mt@mt.net

Glacier Meadows RV Park 406-226-4479



Thank you –

I hope this isn’t too complicated, but thought it would be good for someone to know what our plans are & how well we are making progress.



Rob – AE7AP

Tonight, Bill K7MT and I made contact with Rob. He's at Half Moon Basin near the Scape Goat Mountain. He reported all is good and they saw a grizzly on their first day.
We'll be listening for Rob again tomorrow night on 7060 CW and provide you with a report.

John KS7R

John informed me that Rob is only using the 8 AA batteries in his qrp 4 watt cw rig so contacts will be short with location and wellness. Rob is hoping the batteries will last the entire trip !!!!!

Howdy Gang,

Rob and Bard are on schedule at near Elbow Pass. It was tough copy on CW last night but got their location. I will continue to monitor/report their progress until they reach the Glacier Waterton Ham Fest.

Thanks George AA7GS the Montana Section Manager for mentioning Rob and Barb in the bulletin to Montana Hams for the Glacier Waterton Ham Fest.

Cheers Bill K7MT

Hi Bill,
I think this needs to be forwarded to the news media, maybe with the right person writing the story it could make national news!

Howdy gang,

Boy copy on 7060 was tough tonight but KS7R John and I managed to combine our CW abilities and believe Rob and Barb are at Moose Creek not to far the China Wall. If that is correct, they may get a APRS position and a Short Winlink Message out using APRS Link. This is their 7th day on their hiking adventure to Glacier Waterton so about half way there.. Woo Hoo !!

Last time they were on China Wall last year they got out a good location and Winlink short message.

I anyone might have to time to listen up for Rob 1930 daily on 7060 (QRP Freq) maybe someone will hear them better than KS7R and I here in Helena. I will listen and if anyone has good copy, let me know and you can get qth and relay etc. Thanks

Bill K7MT

Howdy everyone,

Update on Rob and Barbs most excellent adventure. Nice cw signals tonight and they are on the North Fork of the Sun River not far from Sun River Pass. They will go over the pass tomorrow. Rob said they are having a great time and was glad for good signals tonight. They are pretty much on schedule on their two week hiking trip to Glacier Ham Fest. Woo Hoo !!

Bill K7MT

Howdy everyone,

Saturday night Rob did not call as there was a contest and 40 meters was full of contesters. Tonight I had a weak but copiable contact and Rob/Barb are safely at Schafer Meadows where there is a airstrip and a Ranger Station. They made good time the last two days and are only a couple three days from the Glacier Ham Fest. So far so good and on schedule. If you Google Schafer Meadows you will see some great pictures and history of the Air Strip etc. I for one have certainly learned a lot about this part of Montana by following along with Rob and Barb on Ham Radio using CW. Woo Hoo !!!!

Bill K7MT

Gm everyone,

Rob & Barb made it safely to the Glacier Ham Fest as per their e-mail to me yesterday and are back home in Helena. They said they had a great time over the two weeks of hiking through some beautiful country like the Scape Goat and the Bob Marshall Winderness areas. They will post pictures of their adventure when time permits.

I had the opportunity to chat with Rob most evenings over the two weeks on Ham Radio using CW on 40 meters. I reported their location and notes to their family and friends. Additionally, I learned a lot about area they hiked by looking up their location/route on 3d topographic maps. Some of the locations are on the internet with pictures and that was really cool.

Glad they both had a great time. Good Job Barb AE7AQ and Rob AE7AP...

Bill K7MT

Gm everyone - John Geach KS7R, his wife Paulla and I had a wonderful dinner with Barb AE7AQ and Rob AE7AP last night and viewed all the great pictures they took on their trip. I was great viewing the Scapegoat, Bob Marshall, and Big Bear winderness area from their perspective over 14 days on the trail. Spectacular is the only word that came to mind...

Barb, thanks for a great dinner and great company. I love both of your stories about the trip and look forward to the article your preparing for a ARRL article.

I found out that Rob's transmitter was only aboout 1 watt and not 4 watts and he showed me the antenna he used on the trip. John KS7R and I did cw contacts with Rob and Barb throughout the trip. Barb commented that I said hi to Rob and Barb on cw on the evenings we hooked up.

To finally top it all off, Barb explained that she has never won anything in her life and I got to see the Yaesu HF radio she won at the Glacier Ham Fest. I think is was most appropriate !!!!

Thank Barb and Rob for a very nice evening with some great folks...

Bill K7MT