It wasn’t the longest contact ever but I did manage Washington state from San Diego last weekend. running 2 watts into a WRC antenna from the QRP-Labs QDX.
I think my longest distance is 17,000 km (10,500 miles) between QRA and FK8HM in New Caledonia.
It was in FT8 with 80 watts.
___Easter Island from Ireland, 100w CW on 20m.
Still haven’t gotten into VK or ZL yet though
Approximately 4,901 miles on 20m from Texas to Barbacena, Brazil, using the FT-891 and ATAS-120 antenna mobile in a Jeep Wrangler.
Last weekend I worked Japan, New Zealand and Indonesia from our club station in McDade, TX on FT4. I don’t recall the distance but it’s up there. Of course, the antenna was at 80ft and it was 100W.
I still need to get proficient with morse code. I was trending toward that goal last year, but deviated off the path.
I’m HOA locked in my house but during a SOTA activation I got both coasts (sorta) from the Rockies with 5watts
That’s cool, I am HOA locked as well. So every day is field day for me. :) Kind of neat how far one can get with FT8 and low power.
I really want a super small laptop or touchpad I can SOTA with to FT8 when I hike.
Check out the microsoft surface tab. With Linux they are wonderful, but if you are a windows user they are pretty awesome there too.
I’d be torn between windows and linux for radio purposes. For work, it’s linux all day, but most of my logging and digital needs are windows apps. I’d also be interested in a small android device for hikes. A cell phone would lighten the load quite a bit.
I managed 10,953 miles, Illinois to to Australia on ft8. An ocfd dipole.
I was with someone when he heard the echo of himself coming around the long path.
That’s super cool. Some day I hope to hear that.
I think mine is Japan from Denver. I’ve done it a couple times but only with FT8. Still want a CW contact there!
