All posts by Thomas Witherspoon

News

A Few 2023 Black Friday/Cyber Monday Deals

8 Comments

Each year, I attempt to post a few of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals readers send me and that I also discover online.

It seems, each year, the sales come earlier and earlier. This year, many of the promotions started nearly a full week before “Black Friday.”

The following are a few of the deals out there I felt worth noting and that readers have shared with me. If more tips roll in, I might post updates over the coming days (if time allows during the Thanksgiving holiday).

Here’s what I have so far…

Note: All Amazon and Radioddity links are affiliate links that support QRPer.com at no cost to you.

Anker Soundcore Mini Speaker, Renewed ($17.99)

I love this Soundcore Mini speaker and use it with my radios that either lack an internal speaker or have a small internal speakers. Mike was the first person to review it here on QRPer. Amazon has this “renewed” (in other words, refurbished) Soundcore Mini on sale for $17.99. Not a bad price and I’ve very tempted to buy a second.

Xiegu G106 QRP Transceiver ($239.79)

Check out my review of the G106 before considering this purchase. If you’re looking for a very basic field radio that covers 80-10 meters in multiple modes (CW, SSB, AM, FM), the G106 might fit the bill. Again, read my in-depth review before making a decision. The Black Friday price on Amazon is $239.79 and, at time of posting, there were five left in inventory at this price.

Xiegu X6100 ($549)

Check out my X6100 review here. At time of posting, Amazon has one Xiegu X6100 for $549. This isn’t technically a Black Friday sale price, but it’s the lowest I’ve seen the X6100. Again, it appears they only have one left in inventory, however. Click here to check it out.

Elecraft Black Friday

Elecraft is offering $200 off of the K4D and up to $200 off of their amplifiers. I doubt these appeal to QRPers, but I thought it worth mentioning. As QRP as I am, I’d love for Santa to bring me a K4D! He can leave the amplifiers at the North Pole, though.   🙂

Radioddity Black Friday Deals

Each year, Radioddity puts a lot of their product offerings in their Black Friday sale. This year is no exception.  Click here to check them out. 

OSMO Action 3 Camera Combos ($279-$369)

Yesterday, I purchased this OSMO Action 3 “Adventure” combo. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed using my original OSMO Action camera over the past three years, so I decided it was time to upgrade to one of the later models. OSMO has several package deals in the Black Friday sale. I look forward to using the new camera to film my activation videos!

Gear Aid HEROCLIP Carabiner Gear Clip and Hook, Large ($20.91)

A friend recommended the Heroclip a long time ago and, while I don’t use it a lot for radio work, it travels in all of my backpacks. I use it while camping to hang backpacks and lanterns. It’s just a handy, compact carabiner and hook. Amazon’s price is $20.92 for the large back clip. 

The Big US Ham Radio Retailers

Some of these retailers appear to have their Black Friday specials running already while others are doing pre-BF specials. If you’re in the market for a large ticket item, you might check in with these retailers over the next week:

Canadian Retailers

Update: Many thanks to Thomas Cort who writes:

For your Canadian shoppers…

Radio World has some Black Friday deals:
https://www.radioworld.ca/black-friday-amateur-radio

GPS Central Black Friday deals come out tomorrow:
https://www.gpscentral.ca/

Chameleon Antennas

Update: Chameleon Antennas is offering 25% off with coupon code BLACKFRIDAY25! Many thanks to John for the tip!

Any other good deals out there?

If you’ve spotted a good ham radio deal out there, please comment with specifics. I plan to do more of these posts over the next few days if more specials and deals pop up.

Field Radio Kits, Guest Posts, News, Portable, QRP, SOTA

Field Radio Kit Gallery: M0KVI’s Mountain Topper MTR-3B SOTA Kit

3 Comments

Many thanks to Owen (M0KVI) who shares the following article about his portable field radio kit which will be featured on our Field Kit Gallery page. If you would like to share your field kit with the QRPer community, read this post. 

M0KVI’s Mountain Topper MTR-3B SOTA Kit

by Owen (M0KVI)

A little about me:

My name is Owen, I live in Sussex in England. I’m a keen hiker and experienced general outdoor type and have dreams of becoming a SOTA Mountain Goat. Unfortunately, I don’t live near any mountains.

There are a few local hills which I activate from time to time. I set out to learn CW around 1.5 years ago starting one December. I spent around one hour every day practicing. Around eight months later, I was activating summits at around 15wpm. I’m still not great at longer QSOs, so some way to go, but pushing on with trying to get head copy there.

My method:

Having a young family I need to be strategic about trips. My nearest mountainous region is Wales. As I drive for work, I’m not afraid of driving the distance. Many in this country rarely leave their county!

I converted my work vehicle into a micro-camper type affair. Think flat space to sleep rather than any camp comforts. A simple camp stove to cook on and that’s it.

I plan trips lasting 48hrs at a time; drive to the area on day one, activate 1 or 2 summits, sleep stealthily close to target summits by roadside or in car parks, then typically get up at around 4:00 am to hike in the dark to activate at sunrise. I typically activate 1 or 2 more summits before driving the 4-7 hours home. Logistically, it’s fairly intense and I’m not sure it’s the calmest method. I think is a fairly unique if not un-hinged method of getting my SOTA fix.

I use Winlink to check in with Family and keep them up to date with any changes to plans which are communicated before I leave.

Radio is an MTR-3B kindly offered for private sale from Colin, (M1BUU). I’ve had the rig for a year or so. Nothing ground-breaking here; all of the kit is largely mirroring what a lot of others are doing for years now.  I’m excellent at shortcutting by learning from others.

Having been licenced for a while, I already knew what an ultralight setup would look like. I could still slim this down by a few grams but really carrying water and food now is more of a burden. I’m not fully convinced the MTR-3B is the radio for all occasions as there are a number of connections, cables and fuss. (I think I have wanted the new Elecraft KH1 offering since before it was conceived).

As can be seen from one of my pics, I use a small micro sun-bathers tent for protecting gear in cloud/rain/wind. This allows me to use HAMRS to log even when its very cold.

List of contents:

  • Mountain Topper MTR-3B (early model lighter blue colour with x – screw not hex)
  • Homemade 3ah 18650 3s battery (BMS controlled with fused lead). Made from recovered cells.
  • Palm Mini key (with home made rugged braided cable).
  • Mini SWR from N6ARA
  • LowePro Viewpoint CS40 case

Antenna system pictured is my regular. I have tried other setups recently but this is the stalwart EFHW composed of a SOTABeams Wire winder 20m lightweight wire and a 64:1 matching unit.

The matching unit is a 64:1 obtained from Colin Summers (MM0OPX) following his youtube series on research into the optimum performing toroid material/core. He offered units for sale at cost. It is very small and light and I like to buy stuff off makers what can I say. Guilty of spending money rather than making.

I use a 3m feed line–never bother to ensure the ends of antenna are over 1m off ground. Do not use a counterpoise and only use a single guy rope on my fibreglass pole, (SOTAbeams Tactical Mini). This way I have minimum gear and maximum speed to set up. On my most recent trip, my antenna fell down twice and I didn’t notice but continued to make contacts. Bit of a train wreck.

Set up and pack down times in the AZ (Activation Zone) is typically 10-15 minutes depending on terrain and conditions. In a sunny field, I could pitch in 5 minutes.

73 Owen

M0KVI

Readers: Check out Owen’s social feeds on X: @M0KVI and Instagram: @M0KVI.

Books, News

Winner of the ARRL POTA Book Prize Package Giveaway!

8 Comments

Last week, we announced an ARRL POTA Book prize package that included:

We had over 240 entries in this giveaway and used a random number generator to pick our winner.

The winner is Ernie Antczak (W3ETE)!

Thank you all for participating!

Please join me in congratulating Ernie for being the lucky winner!

A have a few other giveaways scheduled for the next year, so if you didn’t win this one, stay tuned!

Field Reports, News, Pedestrian Mobile, Portable, POTA, QRP, Videos

Elecraft KH1: A Quickie Pedestrian Mobile POTA Activation!

18 Comments

Thursday, November 9, 2023 was a typical “dad taxi” day for me.

By the time I got around to doing a POTA activation that afternoon (which was always on the docket) it was within 30 minutes of when I needed to pick up my daughters.

Fortunately, the Blue Ridge Parkway Folk Art Center was en route to town.

I had planned that day to pair up my Elecraft KH1 with a random wire antenna, but looking at the time, I realized that was being a little ambitious–the few minutes to deploy and pack up the antenna would cut into the activation.

Instead (since I had just received my KH1 logging tray/cover) I decided to put it to the test with a real pedestrian mobile activation using the KH1, its  whip antenna, the logging sheets I printed/cut, and the teeny space pen included with the logging tray. In theory, this all looked doable, but in practice I didn’t know if I would actually be able to log on a tray attached to the side of my radio!

I had planned to use my Zoom H1n recorder for the KH1 audio since I would be making an activation video (see below), but frankly, I simply didn’t have time to set it up. I had to make do with the KH1 wee speaker.

Speaking of the speaker…

After playing with the speaker for a few weeks now, I’ve found that it sounds much better when I run the KH1 with a wide CW filter.

I’d always assumed being a low-fidelity 1″ speaker that narrow audio would be best, but I was wrong about that. In the field, I tinker with the filter and attenuation settings for the best audio balance.

Still, it’s not perfect (the speaker is really a “bonus” feature) but it’s much improved over my initial POTA activation.

Of course, I would have been using earphones had I not been recording the activation on camera. Via earphones, the KH1 audio is excellent!

Gear:

Note: All Amazon links are affiliate links that support QRPer.com at no cost to you.

On The Air

I hopped on the air, started calling CQ POTA, and the stations started rolling in. Continue reading Elecraft KH1: A Quickie Pedestrian Mobile POTA Activation! →

Accessories, Field Radio Kits, Grab And Go, News, Portable, QRP

Seal the Deal: Exploring the Best Watertight Cases for the Elecraft KH1

7 Comments

Well before I actually had a KH1 in hand, I noted the dimensions of the radio from the preliminary spec sheet and started exploring the world of compact, watertight cases.

Why a watertight case?

This Pelican 1060 case houses a complete Mountain Topper MTR-3B field kit including a throw line and throw weight.

I like to have a watertight case option for pretty much any QRP radio I take on SOTA (Summits On The Air) activations.

It’s reassuring to know that if I stumble and fall on my pack, the case will prevent me from crushing the radio. In addition, a good case keeps my radio dry if I get caught in heavy rains or (even more likely) slip on a rock and fall in a river/creek. In fact, many of these watertight cases will float with the KH1 inside so if it goes overboard while kayak mobile, it’ll be easy to retrieve. (For the record: I don’t want to test this theory.)

With one exception, all of the cases I explore here cost somewhere between $25-$40. I consider this cheap insurance for a $500-1100 radio.

My requirements

I searched a few manufacturer’s websites and tried to find interior dimensions that would accommodate the KH1 and all protrusions: 1.4”H x 2.4”W x 5.6”L (3.5×6.1x14cm).

I primarily searched two watertight case manufactures: Pelican and Nanuk. I trust products from both of these companies and both offer compact watertight cases. There are more manufacturers out there, but but both of these companies offer quality products. Pelican cases are even made here in the USA. Many Nanuk models are made in Canada, but not their Nano series included here.

In the end, I was searching for two case sizes:

  1. A compact case to only hold the KH1 “Edgewood” package: the KH1 with paddle attached, Cover/Logging Tray, Whip Antenna, and 13′ Counterpoise. There also needed to be enough room for a pair of earphones.
  2. A slightly larger case that would accommodate the KH1 “Edgewood” package along with earphones, a throw line, throw weight (or rock sack), and a simple random wire antenna.

The idea with the second, slightly larger, case is that it would give me the option to use a wire antenna during an activation and would be fully self-contained (meaning, everything needed for the activation included).

The contenders

I took a total of eight cases to a local park and spread them out on a picnic table for this test. This made the process of comparing the cases quite easy. I actually made a video of this whole process–you’ll find the video further below in this post.

Here are the cases I tested in the order you find them in the video (any Amazon links here are affiliate and support QRPer.com):

Hint: many of these cases are available in multiple colors–prices can vary greatly based on the color. A red case might cost as must as 30% less than a black case, for example.  Always check the pricing of color options, but make sure you don’t accidentally select a different size case in the process (this is easy to do).

Again, you’ll see a lot of detail in the video below, but let’s look at each of these cases with my notes: Continue reading Seal the Deal: Exploring the Best Watertight Cases for the Elecraft KH1 →

Field Radio Kits, News, Portable, QRP

Field Radio Kit Gallery: K8ZT’s Elecraft KX3 Rapid Deployment Kit

6 Comments

Many thanks to Anthony (K8ZT) who shares the following article about his portable field radio kit which will be featured on our Field Kit Gallery page. If you would like to share your field kit with the QRPer community, read this post. 

K8ZT Elecraft KX3 Rapid Deployment, Expedition Go-Box

I have been active in portable Field Operations, portable contest operations and POTA for many years. I also like always to have the option of both multiple modes (CW, SSB & DIGI) and multiple bands for my portable operations. I am not a SOTA operator, and although weight is still an issue, this is definitely not a minimalist setup. My preferred method for go-boxes is the rapid deployment model. In this model, almost all interconnections of elements in the kit are already made, and the opening of the case and attachment of the antenna get me on the air in seconds. This model is not designed for airplane baggage handling or other rough transportation but works well in a backpack or carry-on.

Here is a photo (above) of operating FD from Delaware

The design I have used can work with other radios with similar footprints, including Elecraft KX2, Icom 705, Xeigu 5105 or 6100, etc. You could also substitute other similar tackle or tool boxes. I like working with plastic cases because they are lightweight and easily modified. I have put together a slideshow on my go-box with instructions and suggestions at tiny.cc/rapidkx3.

I used the Plano 135402 4-BY™ 3500 Stowaway® Rack System tacklebox.

A very similar box is the Harbor Freight- STOREHOUSE Toolbox Organizer with 4 Drawers.

Securing the KX3 to the box was easily accomplished by substituting two longer nylon thumbscrews for the two shorter manufacturer-supplied ones. These screws extend through the case and screw into KX3. Nylon was chosen to allow easy customized lengths. The BNC antenna extends out of the case.

In addition to using the tackle box for my go-box, I also got the four insertable clear plastic containers. With the radio installed, I still have room for one container in its original position.

I can load a lot of extra supplies in these containers. You can even set up each of the four for different types of operations.

The top of the tackle box is storage space for my LiFEPO4 battery and other items. The contents can change depending on the planned operation. Here, you can see the Mic for phone operations and a DigiRig Mobile External Sound Card Interface for FT8. If doing a contest-type operation, I usually use a headset with a mic, and you can see the push-to-talk foot switch in the box ( a source of cheap light foot switches is eBay Tattooing foot switches).

I have also run cabling from the radio’s connections (Mic, Key, Headphone & Serial port) into the top area to make connections easier. To facilitate multiple connections, each uses a 3.5 mm plug 90° (connection to radio) and a splitter with two 3.5mm sockets to connect accessories. I used a label maker to label each connector’s socket ends.

Note the quick reference diagram of the KX3 mounted in the lid of the go-box. This is something I do with all of the go-boxes I build. I use tiny bungee cords on larger go boxes to securely store manuals in lid space.

I like computer logging, especially for more extended contests or Field Day operations. I use the computer to interface with the radio for this operation. This also provides me with a computer to do digital modes. I have found laptops that work with 12-volt DC to extend the usable time when AC is unavailable. I have also found PC Power Banks with 20 V DC output that can run most laptops for 24+ hours in conjunction with the laptop’s internal battery. One accessory I find essential is a simple USB storage drive with the following:

  • Installation file for any computer programs I will be using (Logging software, WSJT-X, JT-Alert, etc.)
  • Elecraft KX3 Control Utility (to program macros, make setting changes, etc.)
  • Rig computer software Drivers for all of my radios
  • Firmware for all of my radios (just in case)
  • PDFs of all user manuals for any equipment I am using. Although paper manuals do not require a computer, they are heavy, easily damaged and especially not computer-searchable for the exact item I need to diagnose my issue.

The other thing the USB drive can facilitate is the emergency use of a loaner computer, which would have none of the software I would need installed.

I use a variety of antennas with my kit, but my default is a random-length Endfed connected directly to KX3’s antenna jack with a BNC splitter. My support is a 7-meter fiberglass collapsible fishing pole. Here is a table with alternative random antenna lengths to try- link#1 and  link #2

For additional information on this and other portable operations packing ideas, see my Portable Operations presentation slideshow tiny.cc/portop and video https://youtu.be/It3wlq7RoUo.

Equipment:

Field Reports, News, Portable, POTA, Stealth, Travel, Videos

KX2/AX1 Travel: Two Quick POTA Activations on the South Carolina coast!

6 Comments

SC Coast: A Postcard Field Report

When life gets busy (it is now) I don’t always have the time to produce a full field report. This is especially the case when I have, not one, but two field reports and two activation videos!

This “Postcard” field report covers two activations on the evening of October 2, 2023. At the time, I was staying on the coast of South Carolina for a night. (You might recall I activated Lee State Park with friends earlier that afternoon.)

Instead of producing two full-format field reports, this will be one report with two activations.

Note that I used the same gear for both of these activations.

Gear:

Note: All Amazon links are affiliate links that support QRPer.com at no cost to you.

Myrtle Beach State Park (K-2907)

I arrived at my hotel in South Myrtle Beach around 17:30 local. I checked in (thank you, Hampton Inn for the room upgrade!), dropped off my bag in the room, then immediately made my way to what turned out to be my first of two parks.

As I purchased my park ticket at the entrance gate, the park employee told me that my ticket would also allow me into Huntington State Park (just 20 minutes down the road) until end of day.

At that point, I had no intention of hitting a second park…but of course I just couldn’t resist the temptation of that free entry!

I know that some South Carolina parks are picky about antenna deployments, etc. so I stuck with my low-impact, low-profile combo of the Elecraft KX2 and AX1. It doesn’t disturb the trees, the ground, nor any park visitors.

I parked at the pier and set up at a picnic area under the trees nearby. Early October is very much off-season on the coast, so the park was relatively quiet.

There was no one else in the picnic area, so I had the place to myself. Continue reading KX2/AX1 Travel: Two Quick POTA Activations on the South Carolina coast! →

Antennas, How To, News, QRP

Jan’s Unun and Balun antenna PCBs

7 Comments

Over on Mastodon, Jan (DG1JAN) posted a few images of a PCB-based antenna project he made available on github. At my request, Jan kindly shared the following information so you can order your own PCBs with design files he has made available.

Jan writes:

Hello Thomas,

I mostly do portable operation (SOTA, COTA, WWFF,…) and I
like playing around with different antennas (EFHW, Linked Dipoles, OCFD…).

So I came up with a little PCB some time ago that you can use as an UnUn (1:49, 1:9) or BalUn (1:1, 1:4) in different configurations.

I’ve put this under CC License so everybody can reuse or modify the Design (PCB Files in Kicad-Format) or order PCB from any Manufacture (e.g. like JLCPCB) by using the Gerber-Zip-File in the repository.

Please have a look to the Project Page on github for details and source-files: https://github.com/DG1JAN/UniBalun

In addition I’ve done some variations of the PCB, e.g. as a
“UnUn only” variant:
https://github.com/DG1JAN/AntennaPlayground/tree/main/UnUn_BNC_1.2

Or a “micro” variant of a UnUn:
https://github.com/DG1JAN/AntennaPlayground/tree/main/microUnUn

There are some videos from (mostly) German OMs on YT about the build and usage.

vy 73 de Jan, DG1JAN

Thank you so much for sharing this, Jan! Readers, it’s pretty affordable to use a service like OshPark to order a few of these PCBs. Simply upload the provided Gerber files and they’ll make them for you.

Field Radio Kits, News, Portable, Solar

Field Radio Kit Gallery: KA4KOE’s FX-4CR Field Kit

4 Comments

Many thanks to Philip (KA4KOE) who shares the following article about his portable field radio kit which will be featured on our Field Kit Gallery page. If you would like to share your field kit with the QRPer community, read this post. Philip writes:

FX-4CR Field Kit Load-Out

by Philip (KA4KOE)

I transitioned from a full power station, consisting of a 100W radio and 40 AH of batteries. These items fit into two (2) Apache 4800 boxes. Solar panels 400W and sundries (including a field computer – Pansonic CF-53 Toughbook) went into 4 duffle bags. The antenna pole is not included, either a 10 or 12M fiberglass telescoping type. After 29 activations, I decided to trim down the setup. Fully laden, the pack weights in at 26 lbs.

Inside the pack

  1. FX-4CR SDR transceiver in a protective Velcro wrap.
  2. 6 AH Bioenno and a Genasun GV-5 controller.
  3. 40-10M EFHW with the unun provided by N9SAB with approximately 65’ silicon jacket 22 AWG wire.
  4. 100W coaxial line choke by N9SAB.
  5. Plastic Jubliee Clips (hose clamps) to secure sections of the pole.
  6. Headset, Morse Key, and PTT switch. The key is a field CWMorse unit.
  7. RigExpert Stick 230 in an electric toothbrush case.
  8. AT-100M automatic QRP antenna tuner.
  9. Tent spikes to support antenna mast.
  10. Percussive tool.
  11. Global Solar 62W surplus military solar panel and cables. Cables not shown.
  12. 25’ Coaxial Cable
  13. Kelty Raven 2500 tactical radio pack.
  14. Short 7’ coax section installs between unun and EFHW (Item 3).
  15. Winder with mini-paracord.

Outside the pack:

16. 12M Spiderbeam pole.
17. Windows Tablet, Getac F110-G3, carried in a separate PC shoulder bag.

I can set up my station in about ½ hour. Putting stuff back in the pack takes about 5 minutes longer; mainly getting the pack re-stuffed correctly. With the solar panel I can essentially run all day if I have good sun.

Philip Neidlinger, KA4KOE

Field Radio Kits, News, Portable, QRP

Field Radio Kit Gallery: PP2PB’s Xiegu X6100 Field Kit

8 Comments

Many thanks to Pedro (PP2PB) who shares the following article about his portable field radio kit which will be featured on our Field Kit Gallery page. If you would like to share your field kit with the QRPer community, check out this post.

Main bag

  • Canvas bag
  • Xiegu X6100 (complete with hand mic, power and usb cable) with aluminium shield
  • Homemade 6Ah Lifepo4 battery
  • Earbuds (an old Zune HD pair, and yes, the Zune HD still works)
  • Aliexpress CW Paddle
  • Coax: 5m RG-316, 2m RG-316 with homemade inline choke, 30cm RG-316 jumper
  • Homemade 2m/60cm Signal Stick “clone” (The X6100 can tune it to 6m, 10m and even 12m bands!)
  • 2x homemade QRP 49:1 UNUN (one 2:14T and one 3:21T) made with FT82-43 toroids
  • 3x plastic S-Biners/Hooks for antennas, coax, etc.
  • SO239 to BNCm and BNCf to BNCf adapters
  • SD card with R1CBU alternative firmware (awesome project runs directly from SD Card without messing with original firmware) –
  • Antenna wire: 26 AWG 20m, 5m, a couple 2-3m counterpoises. And a couple 30cm alligator clip jumper cables.
  • BNC to banana adapter (for any type of improvised antenna)
  • Some generic paracord and velcro for general purpose

Support bag

I have a few generic fiberglass poles for antenna deployment that I fitted with a guying system made of paracord: simple, slim, lightweight and strong. And generic tent stakes. I only take them when needed.

This kit is my travel, POTA, SOTA kit. The main bag contains everything needed for operation, and the support bag has a few things to prolong the operating time (on multiple day trips) and for better antenna deployment.

I’m really into DIYing stuff and being from Brazil its hard and expensive to get stuff from USA, so DIY is the way to go.

The kit is about the size of a FT-857D (just the radio), and weighs less. And I have enough redundancy without getting too bulky or heavy.”