Ham On A Bike

  I was first licensed in the early 60's and have been continuously been licensed since 1983.  Over those years I've sampled a lot from the menu of Amateur Radio. Some areas I've concentrated on more than others. Some I've dabbled in out of curiosity and others just to check off my Bucket List.  At present I have three items on my current Amateur Radio Bucket List and over the next few weeks, if Mother Nature cooperates; I'll be able to cross off one of those items from my lists.  Two of them will take a little more funding and coordination to complete.  I'll delve more into this bucket list item I'm working on in my next post.      I'm sure Guglielmo Marconi will be proud of my use of one of his apparatuses to cross off this Amateur Radio operational activity from my Bucket List. So, in words similar to Samuel L. Jackson ..... What's On Your Amateur Radio Bucket List?

  This series started out with a less than a couple of handful of "Hams on a Bike". Word got around the world and I've been pleasantly introduced to more and more Amateur Radio operators who in one form or another use bicycling for their Parks on the Air, Summits on the Air, World Wide Flora & Fauna and portable operations.   Here are links to the first two parts of this series. I Am Not Alone! There Are Many Of Us. Part 1 I Am Not Alone! There Are Many Of Us. Part 2   Our hobby is SO GREAT that it has so many sub hobbies. I've come to know ham radio operators who hike with their rigs, kayak with their gear, fish with their gear, fly with their gear, ride in balloons with their gear and even jump out of a perfectly good airplanes with their gear and make QSOs while doing these other hobbies. By now I'm sure you have come to understand that, I Am Not Alone!  There Are Many Of Us. H ere is one of my favorite SOTA operators.  The Ham Ninja - N1CLC ...

  This is the second of my series, "I Am Not Alone! There Are Many Of Us" about Ham on a Bike.  Here is the link to the first installment. Ham on a Bike - I Am Not Alone! - There Are Many Of Us, Part 1 In this post about "Hams on a Bike", I'll introduce you to those who not only push the bounds of portable Ham Radio operations but cycling as well. If you follow my Parks on the Air activations and think what I do is out of the ordinary or extreme, it does not hold a candle to these operators.  Some of them I call extreme "Hams on a Bike" operators. I consider this person to be an extreme Ham on a Bike operator.  Dugbo - KD7DUG, better known as  "Left Coast Ham Radio"; regularly takes his QRP Labs QMX rig, which he built; for his Summits on the Air activations. Dugbo shows what it takes to do a Mountain Bike SOTA activation this time while chasing Adam - K6ARK. QRZ - KD7DUG   There is only one word for this Amateur Radio Operator who takes his ...

If you look at the above photo, it may depict a lonely road. That is far from the truth.    BEHOLD!  I Am Not Alone. There Are Many Of Us. Its just another day in how I've done my portable ham radio activities for years. For various reasons I became Car-Free more than 10 years ago.  Bicycle transportation is widely more prevalent in countries outside of the U.S. However, that doesn't negate some of the U.S. Amateur Radio operators who participate in Parks on the Air, Summit of the Air,  World Wide Flora Fauna activities and others who provide VHf/UHF Public Service communications from using cycling to enjoy portable ham radio activities. For those Amateur Radio operators  outside of the U.S.  who use cycling in their portable operating, it seems to be second nature.  I get replies to social media posts and comments about my Ham on a Bike activities. All the comments have been positive. A lot of inquisitive questions about rigs, antennas, keys, bat...

With a few years of Parks on the Air (POTA) activations under my belt, I now look back to 2014 and realize I was totally oblivious what the future would hold for this first time bike tourist and the Ham Radio equipment I was carrying as it relates to the current Parks on the Air phenomenon. In 2011 after recovering from a 2008 pancreatic surgery and treatment, I started training for triathlons. I incorporated bike commuting to and from work as part of the my tri training with twice weekly before work swimming then biking 12 miles to work and treadmill running several times a week.  The triathlons were easy and fun; but the training was grueling.  In December 2013 I decided the tri training was not fun anymore and hang up my Tri Suits.  What Next? I wasn't ready to give up cycling as I found solace in bike commuting to and from work and weekend rides with a local bike club was equally fulfilling. I felt a need to fill the void of participating in triathlons. In early 2014 ...