Many thanks to Frank (K4FMH) who shares the following video update from Yaesu USA:
https://youtu.be/STGpsrQnTOY
All posts by Thomas Witherspoon
POTA activation with WD8RIF at Beury Mountain WMA in West Virginia!
This year, instead of attending the 2022 Hamvention, my buddy Eric (WD8RIF) and I hatched another plan.
Eric and I–along with his son Miles (KD8KNC) and sometimes Mike (K8RAT)–attend Hamvention every year it’s held. We’d planned to do the same this year especially with it being the first in-person Hamvention since 2019.
As Hamvention approached though, we both had a lot going on in our lives and decided to save a little money, a lot of travel time, and meet in West Virginia for several days of POTA activations and just hanging out. I explain a bit more about the decision in this previous post.
We camped three nights and performed activations together for four days. It was an absolute blast!
Setting up camp
On the afternoon of Thursday, May 19, 2022, we (Eric, Miles, Theo the dog, and I) met at Babcock State Park and set up our tents at the adjoining campsites we’d reserved.
Babcock would serve as our home base for the entire WV POTA expedition.
As a bonus, Babcock State Park (K-1798) is also a POTA entity, so we activated it in the late shift after dinner each evening.
As soon as the tents were deployed that afternoon, we all jumped into Mile’s Subaru with our radio gear and hit our first park!
Beury Mountain Wildlife Management Area (K-7036)
Beury Mountain WMA is so close to Babcock State Park, I have to assume they share a common boundary.
The drive to the site was very brief but as with many WMAs and Game Lands, the entry road isn’t paved and there are rough patches you might need to avoid. Of course, Mile’s Subaru was way over-engineered for this task! Continue reading POTA activation with WD8RIF at Beury Mountain WMA in West Virginia!
The new Yaesu FT-710 AESS: More features and specifications emerge!
Yesterday, I posted a note about the new Yaesu FT-710, but we had no meaningful information about the radio’s specs and features.
Today, Yaesu dealers are publishing information and some are taking pre-sale orders.
It appears the FT-710 AESS will start shipping in late September 2022. Final price is still unknown.
Here’s what ML&S have published:
YAESU is excited to announce a new HF/50MHz 100W SDR Transceiver – FT-710 AESS.
The new FT-710 AESS is a compact design yet provides 100W output, utilizing the advanced digital RF technology introduced in the FTDX101 and FTDX10 series.
A few of the remarkable features of the new FT-710 AESS are:
- YAESU Unmatched SDR technology emphasizes the Receiving Performance
- Band Pass Filters dedicated for the amateur bands to eliminate out-of-band unwanted signals
- RF Front-End design with the 250MHz HRDDS (High Resolution Direct Digital Synthesizer) enables phenomenal Multi-Signal Receiving Characteristics
- QRM rejection by the dual core 32-bit high speed floating decimal point DSP for SHIFT/ WIDTH/ NOTCH/CONTOUR/ APF (Audio Peak Filter)/ DNR (Digital Noise Reduction)/ NB (Noise Blanker) and 3-Stage Parametric Equalizer
- High Resolution 4.3-inch TFT Color Touch Panel Display
- 3DSS (3-Dimensional Spectrum Stream)
- VMI LED (VFO Mode Indicator) placed around the VFO dial shows the current operating mode (VFO-A, VFOB, Memory Mode and Clarifier/Split Operation)
- “PRESET” Mode Function most suitable for FT8 Operation
- AESS: Acoustic Enhanced Speaker System with SP-40 creates the high-fidelity audio output#
- External Display Connection Terminal (DVI-D)
- Built-in High Speed Automatic Antenna Tuner with 100 channel memory
- Support the FC-40 Auto Antenna Tuner
- SD Memory Card can be used to save the communication record, transceiver setting, the memory contents, screen capture images, and to update the firmware
- Two (2) USB Ports (Type-A and Type-B)
- Other essential features such as CW ZIN and SPOT, IPO (Intercept Point Optimization), and Remote Operation with Network Remote Control System to name a few
Specifications:
TX Frequency Range:
- 1.8MHz band – 50MHz band (Amateur bands only)
- 70MHz – 70.5MHz (UK Amateur bands only)
RX Frequency Range:
- 30KHz – 75MHz (Operating)
- 1.8MHz – 29.699999MHz (Specified performance, Amateur bands only)
- 50MHz – 53.999999MHz (Specified performance, Amateur bands only)
- 70MHz – 70.499999MHz (Specified performance, UK Amateur bands only)
Emission Modes: A1A(CW), A3E(AM), J3E(LSB/USB), F3E(FM)
Supply Voltage: DC13.8V ±15%
Power Output: 5 – 100W (5 – 25W AM Carrier)
Dimensions (W x H x D): 9.4” x 3.1” x 9.7” (239 x 80 x 247mm)
Weight (Approx.): 9.92lbs (4.5kg)
Importance of Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) Protection
Many thanks to Paul (W0RW) who shares the following guest post:
Sherlock Investigates: Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) Protection; Is It Still Needed?
Improper handling of electronic assemblies with microcircuits during testing, production, and repair can still cause catastrophic and latent damage. Designers have developed protection methods that reduce ESD susceptibility after the product is completely packaged, so you might not see any damage to final products, but those who build or repair electronic assemblies still have to take precautions not to damage items.
If you are familiar with and employ standard ESD handling procedures you will be safe. The ESD Association has training on their web site https://www.esda.org/esd-overview/
This is the most important ESD fact:
“Static is generated by the contact and separation of unlike materials”.
That means ‘you’ probably are the biggest ESD hazard around your workbench. When you get up out of your chair many thousands of volts can be generated. Grounded wrist straps prevent damage from this.
Humidity is a big factor in reducing ESD damage. If you live near the ocean you won’t have as much ESD susceptibility as someone working in Colorado.
It’s not only electronics that are affected by ESD. Perhaps you have seen the ESD warning signs on gas station pumps. People sliding out of a car that is being fueled has caused fires. Filling metal gas cans in pickup trucks with bed liners can be hazardous; The only safe way to fill a gas can is to place it on the ground.
The pictures shown here are from Sherlock’s Failure Analysis Laboratory. They show the physical damage to microcircuits that was caused by static electricity.
Sherlock (a.k.a. W0RW) is a NARTE* ‘Electrostatic Discharge Control, Certified Engineer’ (ESD-00020-NE).
*National Association of Radio and Telecommunications
Engineers, Inc.
Yaesu FT-710 series on the horizon?
If you’re on any of the social media platforms and follow ham radio news, no doubt you’ve seen the photo above of a supposedly new Yaesu product: the FT-710.
The Yaesu FT-710 will cover 160-6 meters with 100 watts output.
There are two other variants: the FT-710M and FT-710S which are the Japanese market 50 and 10 watt versions respectively.
In terms of availability, DX-World reports that it’s scheduled to be released in late August 2022 and the price is still unknown. Click here for the source information (in Japanese).
I have no inside information from Yaesu about the FT-710, so I take this news with a grain of salt. That said, the information being shared here doesn’t look unreasonable and the prototype illustration looks legit.
The “late August” availability would conveniently coincide with the 2022 JARL Ham Fair.
I suppose the FT-710 would be a direct competitor to the venerable Icom IC-7300. I’m guessing this model’s price point will be somewhere between the FT-891 and the FT-DX10. It certainly appears to be more compact (weight is 4.5kg/9.2lbs).
If you’re like me, though, you’d love to see Yaesu release is a new QRP field radio! One to replace the insanely successful FT-817/818 series.
One can dream, right!?
Fitting in some QRP SOTA & POTA on Mount Jefferson!
Looking back at last year (2021), if I had to pick out one of the easiest SOTA activations I made, Mount Jefferson would be near the top of the list. It’s a very accessible summit although not technically a “drive-up” summit because you will need to walk a short distance up a service road to the activation zone (AZ).
Mount Jefferson (W4C/EM-021) is located on and protected by the Mount Jefferson State Natural Area (K-3846), so when you activate Mount Jefferson for Summits On The Air, you can also claim the activation for Parks On The Air and World-Wide Flora and Fauna as long as you work at least 10 contacts.
What I love about POTA and SOTA “2-fer” sites like this is that you can set things up to be spotted in both systems (and often the WWFF system, too!) which increases your audience of hunters and chasers, thus increasing your odds of achieving a valid activation in all programs. It’s especially desirable if you’re a CW op and know you may potentially be in a spot with no mobile phone service for self-spotting; if, for some reason, RBN auto-spotting functionality is down with one program, the other serves as a backup.
Mount Jefferson is at least a two hour drive from my QTH, but it was easy pickings on April 29, 2022 because it happened to be within spitting distance of New River State Park where I was camping with my family.
Mount Jefferson (W4C/EM-021)
The drive to Mount Jefferson took all of 20 minutes which was a good thing because our family had other activities in store that day including some extended hikes!
Hazel (above) was so excited to to check out the sights and smells at this new-to-her park! Continue reading Fitting in some QRP SOTA & POTA on Mount Jefferson!
The arborist throw line is an invaluable field radio kit tool
Two days ago, I activated Parc national des Grands-Jardins (VE-0499)–a stunning national park here in the Charlevoix region of Québec, Canada.
As soon as we drove up to the activation site I had researched in advance, I surveyed the picnic area and mentally noted the best spot to deploy an end-fed half-wave using my trusty arborist throw line.
With the throw line’s assistance, I had an antenna deployed within a couple of minutes max.
It hit me then just how invaluable a tool the arborist throw line has become for the types of park and summit activations I do.
Pre-Throw Line Activations
During NPOTA (National Parks On The Air) in 2016, I wasn’t aware of arborist throw lines and had been using some high test monofilament fishing line attached to a weight.
The fishing line was strong enough to support my QRP antennas and I could typically reuse the same length of line for 2-3 activations. Eventually, the line stretches and weakens thus it must be cut off and discarded.
Never again
I’m a big Leave No Trace kind of guy, so am embarrassed to admit that during one activation, my fishing line snagged high up in a tree and left a bundle of broken monofilament in a spot where I could not retrieve it. This was deep in a forest and although I doubt anyone will ever see it, I know it’s there. It bugs me to this day and if I ever sort out a way to remove it, I certainly will.
This occurrence was one of the catalysts for purchasing my first arborist throw line kit.
That throw line kit absolutely revolutionized my antenna deployments by:
- increasing the speed deployment,
- increasing accuracy,
- allowing me to re-use the same line hundreds of times,
- and being orders of magnitude more reliable and stronger than fishing line.
It changed everything and I’ve never looked back.
Since that first throw line kit (which I’ve lent to a newly-minted active ham), I’ve built four more throw line kits.
Compact Weaver Throw Bag
In early 2021, I purchased a second throw line and 12oz weight (identical to my first) for backpacking along with this compact Weaver Leather throw line storage bag (affiliate links).
I was searching for a more SOTA-friendly/backpack-able solution than the arborist throw line cube.
I was very skeptical about how easily this bag would work in the field. One of the reasons my throw line storage cube works so well is because the opening is large allowing the line to deploy without tangling. Packing up is fast because the line can be flaked back into the cube in a matter of seconds. Continue reading The arborist throw line is an invaluable field radio kit tool
Scott runs some QRO v QRP numbers!
Many thanks to Scott (KK4Z) who shares the following post from his blog KK4Z.com:
QRO SCHMURO
There is always a lot of talk about QRP vs QRO, 5 watts vs 10, ad nauseam. So today I thought I would run the numbers and see what the real deal is. First we need a few definitions. An S-unit in general terms is the minimum change in signal strength to be just noticeable (k3wwp.com). In more technical terms it equates to approximately 6 db in change. The decibel (dB) is a logarithmic number. Each 10 dB represents a factor of 10 difference. This may be a little out there for some so we will cut right to the shortcut. There are two types of logarithms. For calculating dB, use the common logarithm which is base 10. To see if your calculator uses the right one. Punch in 100 and then log. The answer should be 2 which equates to 10 to the second power which equals 100. This is not a technical paper but an entry way to see how changing the power levels affect the signal level of your transmitting signal. As you guessed, it is not linear.
Let me introduce an equation:
Where Power P1 is the power you wish to evaluate and reference power P2 is your starting power. Let’s take going from 5 watts to 10 watts. The equation would look like this:
We take 10 and divide it by 5 which give us 2. Then we hit the log function on our calculator which gives us 0.301. Multiply that by 10 and you have about 3 dB in gain or about one half of an S-unit (remember 1 S-unit is equal to 6 dB). Let’s do one more by hand and tackle the QRP/QRO debate. How many S-units will increasing power from 5 watts to 100 watts give you? The equation looks like this:
Take the 100 and divide by 5 to give you 20 and then hit the log function to give you 1.301. Multiply by 10 for 13.01 dB. Divide 13.01 by 6 dB and you have 2.17 S-units. Going back to our definition that one S-unit is the minimum change in signal strength to be just noticeable shows that going from 5 watts to 100 watts is not that great of a change.
Let’s let the other shoe drop. What about going from 5 watts to 1500 watt? That will give you 4.13 S-units of gain vs 1.96 S-units going from 100 watts to 1500 watts?
This gives you a fairly easy equation to help you evaluate your needs based upon empirical data. Running 20 watts over 5 gives you 1 S-Unit. Using less power means less drain on the battery for longer operation. This is only part of the equation. Propagation, antenna, mode used, and station efficiency all play a part. Have fun and maybe don’t toss the QRP radio yet. 🙂
Starting today, you’ll be able to upload your own POTA logs!
The Parks On The Air website has the following message displayed on their home page:
After 12:00 Zulu (9AM Eastern Time USA) Friday, July 1 [2022], and once you have logged into the http://pota.app site, you will notice “My Log Uploads” as an option in our menu. Immense thanks WR5B and N0AW!
Those of us who have been POTA’ing for a few years will find this a very welcome feature!
Up to this point, POTA has been using regional volunteer coordinators to upload logs and they’ve done an amazing job. As POTA has grown–by orders of magnitude over the past few years–the amount of time needed to do uploads is truly significant for those coordinators. In at least one case I know a coordinator’s work load actually cut into their own POTA activating and hunting time.
I’ve always been so appreciative of our coordinators, but always felt hesitant to bug them when I’d discover an error in my logs that required deleting a log entry and re-uploading. I’ve never had a coordinator complain, but I hated to get them involved over a transcription error on my part.
I’m so happy to see that the beta testing has gone so well and the system will be online within an hour (at time of posting Friday morning).
I understand Mike (K8MRD) will soon publish a video here explaining how the new self uploads work.
Many thanks to all of those involved with making POTA what it is today and I’m so pleased to see self uploads being brought online. I would suggest we all be patient if we experience any problems as I suspect the new functionality is going to get a proper workout starting today!
Server hiccups…
Quick announcement:
Those of you checking QRPer.com between about 6:00-11:30 UTC the past couple of days may have noted that the site has been down and displaying the message: “Error establishing a database connection.”
Our host, QTH.com, is trying to identify the cause of this and I’m sure they’ll sort it out soon.
Thanks for your patience!
Thomas