Category Archives: Guest Posts

Field Reports, FT8, Guest Posts, Hams, Morse Code, News, POTA, QRO, QRP, SSB

Guest Field Report: K3FAZ, K3STL, and K3ES POTA in the Cold with a Bonus Gear Report

7 Comments

Many thanks to Brian (K3ES) who shares the following field report:

K3FAZ, K3STL, and K3ES POTA in the Cold with a Bonus Gear Report

K3STL and K3ES at the entrance to K-0621.

by Brian (K3ES)

K3ES Perspective

Saturday November 19 dawned clear and cold in northwest Pennsylvania, but the truth is that I was up well before dawn.  The third Saturday of each month, I try to make the 2 hour drive south to help with Skyview Radio Society’s monthly Volunteer Examiner (VE) testing session for new or upgrading licensees.  Clear skies (which matched the forecast) meant that road conditions would not be a problem.  So, shortly after 5 am I pointed the truck south.

One of the creature comforts I appreciate about our VE session is meeting for breakfast before the test.  It was obvious on arrival at the restaurant that the VEs would greatly outnumber the test candidates, but many hands make light work.  Coffee and an omelet definitely helped fuel the effort.  Since the test sessions normally last less than 2 hours (and that held true this time), three of us VEs had made plans for post-test session POTA.

Before launching into the field report, let me acknowledge that K3STL’s photography was instrumental in providing a report with visual appeal.  Personally, I almost always forget to take the pictures.

POTA Plan

John “Tall Guy” K3STL, Steve K3FAZ, and Brian K3ES in the parking lot at K-0621.

The plan for the day was to attempt activation of two POTA sites, Beechwood Farms State Conservation Area (K-0620) in suburban Pittsburgh, and Todd Sanctuary State Conservation Area (K-0621) about 20 miles further to the northeast.  John “Tall Guy” – K3STL and Brian – K3ES would do a short activation of K-0620, then meet Steve – K3FAZ at K-0621 for the rest of the afternoon.

Knowing it would be a cold day for mid-November (temperatures peaked for the day just barely above freezing), each of us made plans to adjust for operating from our vehicles. That meant that we would be doing parking lot activations at both locations. While we each normally activate with slightly different operating styles that are suited to outdoor POTA operations, some tweaks made it possible to have wind and weather protection for this outing.  In hindsight, it was a perfect choice.

Operating Methods

K3FAZ works an SSB contact.

K3FAZ operated his treasured Kenwood TS-50 using SSB mode with an EFHW antenna in a tree.  Rather than setting up with a table and chair, Steve configured his station to fit in the front seat of his SUV. Continue reading Guest Field Report: K3FAZ, K3STL, and K3ES POTA in the Cold with a Bonus Gear Report →

Guest Posts, Hams, How To, Mobile, News, QRP

Rand’s “Shotgun!” Mobile QRP Station

15 Comments

Many thanks to Rand (W7UDT) who shares the following guest post:

 ‘Shotgun!’ My Mobile QRP Station…

by Rand (W7UDT)

I’ll confess, at our overly stylish home, sadly, I don’t have a shack… my XYL has “concerns.”  So, in an attempt to keep my operating license and man card active, I happily practice portable QRP field operations at my QTH and afield.

This time of year however, with winter bearing down on us, I choose to deploy via my ‘Shotgun!’ mobile QRP station.  Simply, a quarter inch sheet of birch plywood, cut and finished nicely to fit suspended from the grab bar and headrest of my Jeep Wrangler’s passenger seat.  Ergo, ‘Shotgun!’

Grab, hang, stow and go!

It’s not a new idea, but I must say, it has become a very good solution to the chilly problem of posterior frostbite and hypothermia.

I’ll elaborate…

Continue reading Rand’s “Shotgun!” Mobile QRP Station →

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Morse Code, News, POTA

Vince’s chilly #POTAThon1111 run on Remembrance/Veterans Day 2022

12 Comments

Many thanks to Vince (VE6LK) who shares the following guest post and field report from Alberta, Canada:

#POTAThon1111 – report from the field

by Vince (VE6LK)

My goal is to activate all of the parks I can that have never been activated.

I’m blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world and see these parks up close. One wall in my shack has a map of all the un-activated parks and routes within a day’s drive of me, and most are already planned with routes. There will be more #POTAThons!

[Click all images to enlarge.]

#POTAThon is what I call it when I plan on getting to more than one park in a day. Usually these things aren’t thought of for weeks in advance, they are more like a “tomorrow morning” kind of thing. Opportunistic, if you will.

But first, a note about the day I chose…

November 11 is called different things in different countries, but what we share in common is we honour our Veterans and we give thanks for the freedoms they fought for. So today I paused to give thanks and think of the lives they gave so that I have the freedoms I do today. I would bundle up that giving of thanks into an urgently needed day away from the office.

And with that, #POTAThon1111 was born.

#POTAThon is what I tag these activities on my Twitter feed and the month and day denote when it happened. By definition a #POTAThon is more than one activation in a day; I’m simple like that. #POTAThon1111 is the third such event.

The first was #POTAThon0930, an ambitious day attempting 8 sites with two operators and most of them in backcountry outside of cellular range. You can see the video from that day when you click on this link. We didn’t get to all 8 but we had a hoot trying.

Just before I departed for #POTAThon0930, Thomas Witherspoon K4SWL (you know him, right?) said words to me I’ll never forget: “Vince, just work CW at a speed where you are comfortable, people will adjust. If you work the sacred language, I will find you.”

With those words of encouragement, I gave it a go. On that day I worked CW and a bit of SSB, but since then it’s been all CW for POTA. While the propagation wasn’t with Thomas and I on 0930, we did connect some weeks later – KX3 to KX3 no less.

You need to understand that I think I’m terrible at CW, but I also need to let you in on a secret: there’s no such thing as a Bad CW Contact. I explain that concept in more detail on YouTube, and the essence is: just do it and roll with it, warts and all. People adjust their ways and usually their speed. Go out and have fun trying. Continue reading Vince’s chilly #POTAThon1111 run on Remembrance/Veterans Day 2022 →

Antennas, Guest Posts, Morse Code, News, Portable, QRP

Rich re-activates Santa Fe Prairie State Park with QRM-busting in mind

4 Comments

Many thanks to Rich (KQ9L) for sharing the following field report:


Field Report: Testing a horizontally-polarized antenna at a high QRM POTA site

by Rich (KQ9L)

I wanted to give a quick follow up report from Santa Fe Prairie State Park (K-7839).

As you may recall I wrote up my POTA activation from this park on Oct 23, 2022. I made 15 Q’s that day but deep down felt I could do better. The setting of the park is quite industrial and consequently the man made noise is bad. Reflecting back on this activation, I feel that the limited the number of QSO’s I made that day was due to this QRM.

I resolved to try again but this time my objective was to figure out a solution to mitigate the effects of the QRM on my QSO count. Thinking about the problem, I recalled than manmade noise typically is vertically polarized and therefore for my second attempt, I decided to test this and use a horizontal antenna.

As luck may have it, here in Chicago we continue to experiencing unseasonably warm weather and my work schedule wasn’t too busy on Thursday, November 3, 2022, so it seemed like a great chance to put my theory to the test.

For the antenna, I decided to use one which I have owned for awhile, but have never used. I had purchased a RadioWaves Double bazooka from an online retailer some time back when they were on sale and planned to set up it a flattop dipole.

If you recall from my description of the Santa Fe Prairie State Park, there is a scenic overlook which has a tree mounted pulley system perfectly spaced to mount a 20m dipole. Although this would be the first time I used the system, it turned out to be a well designed and intuitive hoisting solution to use.

The “pulley” is actually an eyelet with paracord running through the eyelet. The paracord is in a continuous loop just like rope on a flag pole. By employing a simple overhand knot I secured the end of the antenna to the paracord and hoisted the antenna up into the tree about 20ft. It literally took a few minutes and I was ready to go.

Antenna was fed with my RG-316 feedline with built in common mode choke. Since a dipole is a balanced antenna system, it really doesn’t need the choke, but it was the coax that I had packed with me and I figured it wouldn’t cause any harm or negatively affect my test. I was QRV by 3:20pm, and anxious to get on the air. Continue reading Rich re-activates Santa Fe Prairie State Park with QRM-busting in mind →

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Hams, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP

Jay discovered that his first CW POTA activation wasn’t scary at all!

20 Comments

Many thanks to Jay (W1ASP) who, last week, sent me a note about his first POTA CW activation. I asked if he’d consider writing up a short field report about his experience to share with others and he was happy to do so. Thank you, Jay.

Halloween POTA

by Jay (W1ASP)

Halloween doesn’t have to be scary.

I set out to Bear Brook State Park (K-2643) for my first CW POTA activation.

Bear Brook is relatively close by, its the largest state park in New Hampshire with over 10,000 acres. There’s camping, hiking and biking trails along with an archery course and plenty of swimming and fishing areas.

I didn’t give it much thought about what day it was, just that I had the time to do an activation and it was nice out, what a perfect opportunity to break in the newly assembled kit.

I decided on a spot next to the water and as luck would have it there was a picnic table right there. I took out my gear, set up and proceeded to tune around and listen. The band seemed pretty quiet. I wasn’t sure if I’d get enough QSO’s in to make it an official activation. I decided on 14.038 MHz, I sent QRL? I then held down the memory button, took a deep breath and hit it again to transmit: CQ POTA DE W1ASP

I waited a second or two and used the memory keyer once more, again nothing. I went to the POTA website on my phone and added my activation.

The memory keyer was used for a third time, I noticed a message pop up on my logging app, the Reverse Beacon Network spotted me. It wasn’t too long after, the first call came back to me!

I was nervous and fumbled a bit here and there but once I took my time I was fine, sending their call back and TU UR 599 599 NH BK. I cheated a little and left the CW decoder enabled. I wanted to be sure I had the call correct as I logged my 13 QSO’s. (I swear the 13 wasn’t intentional.) for my first CW park activation! I only realized that it was Halloween while walking back to my truck.

I thought to myself, “that wasn’t scary at all.”

Once I decided that, as an activator I’m in charge of the QSO, I relaxed and it was a lot of fun. I may have made a few mistakes but everyone was patient with me. I later received an email from another Ham in Delaware. He was using the same radio, and referred to them as the perfect “picnic portable radio” we emailed back and forth a few times and I look forward to hearing him on the air again soon.

 

The week before, I finished building my second QCX Mini. The first kit I built was for the 30 meter band around this time last year, this second one is a 20 meter version. I love these little radios, there’s something about these little transceivers that I just can’t seem to put them down.

I took my time making sure it was working properly, I hooked it up in my shack and I had my first QSO with another POTO activator in Maryland just over 400 miles away.  To say I was excited is an understatement!

I planned on putting together a kit about a month ago for POTA and eventually SOTA with the QCX Mini as the radio. I decided on using a small pack, I wanted it to be a self contained kit that had everything I needed to do an activation and nothing extra.

I keep the wire and radios together,  and depending what band I choose to operate on is the one I pack. I’m considering a third kit; maybe a 10m version? I threw the EFHW matching transformer in the bag along with a notebook, mechanical pencil and a battery pack I put together using four 3.2v LifePo batteries. The paddle I’m currently using is a stainless paddle I found on online with a mini CW paddle for backup and set of folding headphones.

I’m looking forward to my next park, this was a great experience. I wanted to learn CW since I became a Ham in 2016, that’s another story of what got me into Ham Radio in the first place.

Field Reports, Guest Posts, News, Portable, POTA, QRP

Rich’s Triple Activation Day!

4 Comments

Many thanks to Rich (KQ9L) for sharing the following field report:

Triple Activation Day

by Rich (KQ9L)

I decided to build on the momentum and lessons learned from my last two POTA outings and yesterday [October 29, 2022] completed x3 Activations in one day— a first for me. I wrote a brief description of the day and I hope you enjoy reading about the activations.

Well the weather has been pretty good here in Chicago and Old Man Winter hasn’t made it around to these parts yet and being on a POTA kick lately, I decided see if I could complete several activations in one day. Previously I had completed x2 in one day, but felt that after all that I learned from my last couple activations, I should practice what I learned and go for three.

In my area, there are several POTA sites, but one area to the south of me seemed to be the best location to accomplish my goal. The area has a unique geographic feature and historically interesting landmark which added to the lure of the area. The region centers around the Illinois and Michigan Canal.

Here is a quick history lesson courtesy of Wikipedia:

The Illinois and Michigan canal was build in 1848 and served as a connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Running 96 miles, it connects Bridgeport in Chicago to LaSalle-Peru. Why was this important? This connect helped establish Chicago as the transportation hub of the US and linked by water the East coast to the Mississippi River and from there the Gulf of Mexico. Before the railroad era in the US, this water way dominated transportation.

Pretty cool!

Along the canal are numerous little hamlets and one in particular, Morris, Illinois had x3 State Parks all within about a 5 mile radius. Perfect!

First stop was Gebhard Woods State Part (K-0995). The park is only 30 acres, but affords activities for hikers, fisherman, campers and picnickers. There is even an eBike rental facility so the park has broad appeal to many people, including hams!

I arrived pretty much right after sunrise and was greeted by fog and a thin layer of frost on the grass and picnic tables. Though beautiful this frost and fog, did not make for a fun activation. Temps were in the upper 30’s F, but with the fog the air felt damp and overall much cooler.

I hurriedly set up my PackTenna 9:1 antenna on my collapsible mast and leaned it up against a nearby tree. I had a separate counterpoise and feed line with a choke built into it…more on this later.

Continue reading Rich’s Triple Activation Day! →

Guest Posts, News, QRO, QRP

Guest Post: “Why I Quit QRP (and maybe shouldn’t have)”

16 Comments

Many thanks to John (VA3KOT) who shares the following guest post which was originally published on his Ham Radio Outside the Box blog:

Why I Quit QRP (and maybe shouldn’t have)

by John (VA3KOT)

For many years I was a dedicated QRP operator. I even took my “Portable QRP Operation” show-and-tell out on the road for presentation at ham clubs in my area. Then along came the dark, gloomy depths of the solar cycle minimum. My forays out into the Big Blue Sky Shack became a series of disappointments. Maybe the odd QSO here and there, but most often I came home with nothing but a few RBN spots after multiple CQ calls. Something had to change.

“Why QRP?“

I began to ask myself “why QRP?”. It’s a valid enough question. Just what is so magical about an output power of 5 watts? Why not 1 watt, 3 watts, or 20 watts? It has often been said that 5 watts of CW is equivalent to 100 watts of SSB. There is a mathematical proof but I won’t repeat it here. So shouldn’t 100 watts of SSB be considered QRP?

QRP has a cult-like following. There are several online organizations dedicated to it. I am a member of some of them. QRP certainly has an appeal for those of us who like to operate in the great outdoors. Perhaps the greatest advantage is that an entire station can be stuffed into a couple of pockets – antenna and all. And a QRP rig sips battery power so slowly that some can be powered all day on a 9-volt alkaline battery.

I laid the blame for my lack of portable QRP QSOs on poor propagation. Maybe my signal just wasn’t making the trip. The propagation demons in the sky were swallowing my signals, burping and grinning down at me with a smug, malicious gleam in their eyes. QRP-’til-I-die operators shrug that off as “the fun of QRP”. Not getting any QSOs is fun?

In hindsight, there could have been another explanation. The Reverse Beacon Network was constantly reaffirming that my puny emissions were making it up to the ionosphere and being refracted back down to the Earth. So why were so very few people responding to my CQs? I have a theory about that. Maybe, back then, random CQs only appealed to a small number of people. I asked myself how often I responded to random CQs. Hmmm, not too often!

Anyway, images of QRO rigs were dancing around my head whispering sweet messages of temptation in my ear. “Yes” I said to myself; “that’s the answer. Maybe I just need to blow more watts into the air and I will fill up my logbook!” But first a roadblock. I had to persuade “senior management” that I should invest in a new radio. Continue reading Guest Post: “Why I Quit QRP (and maybe shouldn’t have)” →

Guest Posts, How To, Radio Field Craft

Radio Field Craft: Rand explores the handy Prusik Knot

11 Comments

Many thanks to Rand (W7UDT) who shares the following guest post:

The Prusik Knot… strain relief for Wire Antennas and Coax.

By W7UDT, Randall ‘Rand’ Tom

The Prusik knot is a simple, yet effective means to provide needed strain relief to wire antennas and coax, while deployed. It’s comprised of a simple loop or length of suitable cordage (of smaller diameter than the shank, Coax or Wire, it secures).

The link below, is from our friends at Animated Knots…. It’s a brief video tutorial on how best to tie the Prusik knot. Having the Prusik in your ‘bag of tricks,’ will help make your next field deployment be a successful one.

https://www.animatedknots.com/Prusik-knot

As seen in the instructional video, the knot is comprised of a simple loop of cordage, sufficient in length for the task, which is fine, but, I would recommend NOT making a loop. Rather, keeping tag ends for easier anchoring. These tag ends should be at least 12” in length. This is called an open-ended Prusik. Either way, both have utility.

To do this, fold a 24” of cordage in half, to make a ‘bite.’ Lay the bite over the shank of the coax or wire, and feed the tag ends inside the bite loop. This forms a larks-head knot. Wrap two additional turns around and through, then dress and test the knot to form the Prusik. Simple. Anchor (tie) the tag ends at a point where strain relief is best positioned. Then adjust (slide) it to load.

After deployment, I would also recommend leaving the Prusik attached. It comes in handy, when coiling your feed lines or elements later for proper storage.

The Prusik allows it to slide along the wire or coax while free of tension, yet it holds fast under load. Much like a monkey’s fist hanging onto a vine. The tag ends, can then be affixed to suitable anchor where needed. The key here, is using a smaller diameter cordage, than the wire or coax itself.

The Prusik, along with similar ‘Friction Hitches’, can be used in any number of applications in Ham Radio. e.g. Anchoring coax, joining linked antenna elements, power cords, and adjustable guying. The list is long, wherever strain relief is needed.

I would encourage you to tie it, try it, test it, and judge for yourselves. As well, I would encourage you to check out other useful climbing friction hitches… YouTube is a great place to start. I hope you find this useful afield, and to hear you ‘On the Air!’

73! de W7UDT (dit dit)

W7UDT, ‘Rand’, lives and operates near Boise Idaho, with his lovely wife Stacy. Portable QRP operations, along with his Jeep and Harley are his ‘vices.’ Your comments and questions are welcomed. My email is [email protected].

Antennas, Guest Posts, Homebrew, How To, News, Portable, QRP

Sam builds a tiny tabletop HF antenna

18 Comments

Many thanks to Sam Duwe (WN5C) who shares the following guest post:

A (surprisingly good) tabletop HF antenna

by Sam Duwe, WN5C

I recently built a tabletop QRP HF antenna for 17 and 20 meters, in the spirit of the Elecraft AX-1, so I could operate at lunchtime on the campus where I teach. My wants were something small, that would fit in my work bag, that didn’t require a tuner, and could work on a couple of different bands. But on a lark I decided to attempt a POTA activation at Lake Thunderbird State Park (K-2792) pairing this antenna with my Penntek TR-35 QRP CW transceiver. I figured I’d maybe get one or two QSOs and then switch to a long wire in a tree. But what happened amazed me.

I talked to seemingly everyone. Beginning at 9:00 AM September 26th I worked both 17 and 20 meters for an hour and a half and made 37 contacts from across the country. I even had a Swiss guy call me back on 17 but he faded before we could finish. This antenna, at least as a CW POTA activator, works. Granted conditions were very good, but I’ve replicated this multiple times in the past few weeks, just recently at a picnic table in the parking lot of the Route 66 Museum (K-8644) in Clinton, OK (there is quite a thrill in urban activations).

It has also reasonably low profile and very quick to setup and take down. It is also quite a conversation piece when I set it up at school. I elevated the counterpoise by attaching it to a nearby oak and an interested undergrad sheepishly asked if I was listening to the tree!

The build is pretty simple. Physically the antenna consists of a small painters pole from Walmart and an old tabletop camera tripod. I found a nut that fit the screw portion of the tripod and hot glued it into the orange connecting section of the pole. That way the tripod can then be screwed onto the pole. The RF parts of the antenna consist of a 38” telescoping whip that I scavenged from the rabbit ears antenna that came with my RTL-SDR. It connects using the original connector which was hot-glued into a hole I drilled into the top of the painters pole. I found similar small 3 or 4-foot whips from AliExpress for cheap and these would probably work fine.

I then soldered a long length of speaker wire that was wound into two coils: the top for 17 meters (24 turns) and the bottom for 20 meters (25 turns plus the former 24-turn coil). The speaker wire was the soldered to the center of a BNC connector which I hot glued and taped to the pole. I soldered a short piece of wire from the shield of the BNC for the counterpoise and added an automotive spade connector to attach to a 17-foot length of wire. I also included a switch between the coils and the BNC connector to select either just the top coil (17 meters) or both coils (20 meters) using solder, hot glue, and tape.  I then covered my shame in silicone tape.

The most time-consuming aspect of the project was tuning the antenna. It required trial and error to first tune the number of turns on the 17-meter coil and then the 20-meters coil. I extended the counterpoise (for me it’s best when slightly elevated) and the telescoping whip. I performed the tuning with the whip not fully extended to give room to tune in the field. Using a nanoVNA was useful here, as was soldering a pin to the wire to poke through the wire at various parts of the coil to find the best SWR.

In use, the antenna can be affected by both body capacitance and how the counterpoise is situated, so I found that an in-line SWR meter was helpful in making sure all was well. Once set up it is easy to fine tune by just adjusting the whip length. 1.5:1 SWR is about how well I can tune on average. Obviously if you have a tuner you would just have to get it close.

There are a million variation on a small base-loaded vertical antenna, and you can definitely improve upon this design. And, besides the super well-built and elegant AX-1, QRP Guys sells an interesting looking kit, and there are some good 3D printed designs I might want to try out. But regardless how you go about it, it might be worth giving a tiny antenna a shot.

72, Sam WN5C

Articles, Field Reports, Guest Posts, News, Portable, POTA, QRP Radios

Mark’s first POTA activation with the Penntek TR-45L

14 Comments

Many thanks to Mark (W8EWH) who shares the following field report:

An Afternoon POTA Activation with the PENNTEK TL-45L

by Mark (W8EWH)

I have a hard time resisting new QRP radios, and I have an equally hard time resisting getting outdoors when late October brings 70F (21C) temps to Michigan.  Days like these are especially sweet given we saw the first snow here last week (no accumulation – but still…). For me there was no better way to enjoy this unexpected weather gift than with an early afternoon POTA activation with my newest QRP radio, the PENNTEK TL-45L.

The TL-45L is the latest radio from WA3RNC, joining the TR-35 and TR-25 in his online store.  It’s a 5-band, 5-watt CW transceiver covering the 80, 40-, 30-, 20- and 17-meter bands.  That in and of itself is not particularly noteworthy.  But when you look at this radio, you’ll immediately see what makes it different.

The retro look for me is unlike anything I have seen in a modern QRP radio.  It frankly looks like it was removed from an Apollo Command Module.  From the front meter to every knob and switch, this radio just begs to be fiddled with.  And each knob and switch serve a function that means no longer needing to dig through menu after menu to find where the narrow filter is switched in because of nearby QRM, or so I can slow down when my CQ POTA is responded to by a slower CW call.

The speaker is located on the (left) side of the radio, a feature many smaller QRP radios don’t have, though headphones can be used via a front mounted jack.  The radio sounds great – I think the radio’s case provides a nice sound chamber.

The TR-45L comes with a couple of options, neither of which I chose to add to my order.  One is a built-in rechargeable battery (5200 mAh), and the other an antenna tuner.  I have plenty of batteries, and normally use resonant antennas.

With the Monday late morning temperature approaching 70 I packed the car with radio gear, and my wife, and we headed out to Island Lake State Recreation Area (POTA K-3315) to activate this park with the TR-45L for the first time.  My wife is not a ham but often comes with me to POTA activations.  While I set up, activate, and then pack up, she enjoys the outdoors with a magazine and crossword puzzle, and sometimes, like today, a light lunch.  Usually, once the activation is complete, we’ll go for a hike on park trails.

Island Lake is about a 20-minute drive from my house.  Its 4000 acres is a mix of open fields and hardwood forests surrounding Kent Lake and the Huron River.  Today it was warm enough that someone was using a paddle board on the lake.

I have found a set of picnic shelters on elevated ground overlooking Kent Lake as a great place from which to activate.  I worked North Pole Alaska from this location on 20M CW using my IC-705 with 10W into an EFHW last May.

Once at the shelter I set up my EFHW (KM4ACK kit) in a sloped configuration using a conveniently located mature tree and my throw line.  It was roughly in an East/West orientation. Over the preceding weekend, I added PowerPole connectors to the provided power cord, and programed both internal CW keyer memory slots.  These are activated using either dit or dah paddle when I toggle Play using the provided switch.   Of course, I did a little POTA hunting using the home antenna to familiarize myself with the TR-45L’s operation.  The learning curve is short with nothing hidden deep behind any menus.

With the radio and antenna ready to go, I set up HAMRS on my iPad, spotted myself on the POTA website, and started calling CQ POTA on 14.0615.  Over the course of the next 35 minutes, I worked a total of 30 stations on 20M and 40M (most on 20M) at which point I basically ran out of hunters.  Not bad for a weekday afternoon.  I packed up and went on a couple mile hike with my wife.

The TR-45L is an absolute joy to use.

I forgot to put it in CW Narrow mode at first, and when nearby QRM popped up, I was able to add this in with the throw if one switch. QRM gone.  (Note, this setting – wide vs. narrow filtering – must not be retained after the power is shut off or the battery is disconnected.)

It sounds wonderful.  I used the side speaker the whole time as my wife doesn’t seem to mind, although the random guy who wandered in with a laptop to get some work done on a warm fall day decided to find somewhere else to work.  There are front mounted jacks for headphones, paddles and a straight key.  Even a rear mounted jack for an external speaker.  The built-in speaker can be turned off and on via a toggle switch.  The two CW memory slots are easy to fill using your paddle.  The front meter can show power output or SWR based on toggle switch position, and you are alerted to high SWR via a front mounted red LED.

I waited a while to get this radio.  Recent supply chain issues caused unexpected delays, but it’s available for order now in factory-built form and most definitely worth the wait.  Kits will eventually be available.  Check out all the TR-45L details here.

Mark Yergin

W8EWH