Category Archives: Hacks and Hints

Guest Posts, Hacks and Hints, How To, News, Portable, QRP

W7UDT: “Velcro, ergo; ergonomics…”

5 Comments

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

Velcro, ergo; ergonomics…

by Rand (W7UDT)

Velcro is amazing. It’s so handy. There are so many uses, and creative solutions it provides us. It’ll stick this to that, and that to this. As field operators, it should be part of our kits.

Below are some examples of how I’ve used Velcro.

Question: How do you keep a Android tablet, a 3aH 12v DC pack, a QRP Labs QDX LoBander, all its cords & patches, plus an EmTech ZM2 tuner all nice and tidy? Velcro!

Here’s the old QDX kit…

Here’s the new (velcro’d) QDX kit, complete with EmTech ZM2 tuner, neatly attached on the back of the Tablet, with the QDX and DC Pack. It all fits in a zippered pouch, along with the EFλ/2 antenna, perfect for the QDX.

The new QDX kit even sits at a nice viewing angle, with all of the cords hidden from view. Ergo, ergonomics.

Question: Where & how do you safely place your transceiver on a rugged SOTA/POTA activation, so it won’t get damaged?

How? Velcro! What makes more sense? A precarious rock, or the Molle patch on your pack?

This is my QCX Mini ~ Forty, Velcro’d with two horizontally applied 1” strips, with short cords channeled between them. It secures the perfectly mated 3aH 12v TalentCell battery, to which I applied another velcro strip to hold fast the Palm Pico paddle. Also note the ‘D-shaped’ earpiece/speaker, on the BNC jack. It’s hung and velcro’d just above the paddle.

Since this photo, I’ve added three 2×4” (cut to fit) patches to the front, back and bottom of the QCX Mini & TalentCell, which neatly bundles this little QRP contraption and transforms it into a QRP wonder! Now it all fits in my hand, or attaches firmly to my pack. Dit dit dit daw! Velcro!

A view from Zion NP, in the backcountry… late last Spring. Where my little transceiver tried to commit suicide.

Just sayin’… Velcro may be just the answer you’re looking for.

72 de W7UDT ID (dit dit)

Hacks and Hints, Morse Code, News

CW POTA: Steve’s simple clipboard mod for super-stable field keying

8 Comments

Many thanks to Steve (W4JM) who writes:

Here is what I use for POTA activations to keep the key stable.

A clip board, carpet tape on the back to hold a carpet pad in place.

The Begali I put two slots in the clip board on either side of the traveler where then I could use a tie wrap to pull it secure to the board.

On the CW Morse I just used two screws with locking nuts to secure it to the board.

Your right hand holds the pencil while sending and your wrist weighs down on the clip board and I printed some POTA logs on excel to fit to the left of the key.

I hope this helps some of your readers with key movements. I now have my left hand to drink my coffee.

Steve W4JM

Clever and simple! I love it, Steve. Thanks for sharing!

Hacks and Hints, Morse Code, News

Fred’s simple hack to secure the Begali Traveler

7 Comments

Many thanks to Fred (KE8TBM) who writes:

Here is a solution I came up with for the slipping issue with the Begali Traveler.

It’s very easy to push a pin through the (front only) plastic/rubber feet on the key. This will stop it from sliding on everything including formica counter tops.

After you push the pin through the plastic/rubber feet using a needle nose pliers, simply snip the sharp end off to leave it blunt.

You can leave the little ball on the other end of the pin to retract it if you wish, however, I’ve found that not to be necessary. —-I find that the pins really don’t snag on anything as they just barely peak out the bottom of the foot, but the option is there.

This makes for a rock solid hold on your surface and is a game changer. It’s so nice to be able to push away and not worry about the key slipping around.

Mike, K8MRD just did a review on the Traveler Lite and mentioned the slippage issue.

Best 73 Thomas and thank you for being a great image for the ham community.

Fred, KE8TBM

What a simple and effective idea! Thanks for sharing this tip with us, Fred. Also, thank you for the kind words, OM. 

Accessories, Field Reports, Hacks and Hints, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, Videos

Field Report: Testing the bhi Dual In-Line with the (tr)uSDX, making a big blunder, and P2P with Teri!

10 Comments

On March 30, 2022, I took my factory-assembled (tr)uSDX transceiver on a POTA activation at South Mountains State Park.

It was a “test flight” of sorts since I’d only had the (tr)uSDX for a few days and had not taken it to the field.

I wrote up an assessment from that initial POTA activation mainly to give other potential (tr)uSDX owners an idea of how well one of these super-affordable radios might perform.

Difficult to critique

It’s difficult to critique a 5 band HF radio that you can purchase as a kit for less than $100 and fully-assembled and tested for less than $150…shipped!

On the one hand, I think it’s one of the most amazing portable HF radio innovations of the past decade. It simply blows my mind that the developers (DL2MAN and PE1NNZ) could make this modest radio hardware do so very much. It’s truly a triumph of engineering and a fun little radio.

On the other hand, this isn’t a high-end radio, so we can’t expect performance like we’d see in an Elecraft, Icom, or Yaesu field radio, for example. I never expected this, in fact, but was very curious if the performance would be “good enough” for POTA or SOTA.  So many had asked me about buying a (tr)uSDX as their dedicated POTA radio.

I found using the (tr)uSDX for POTA was actually quite fun, and I certainly achieved my goal of activating a POTA park with it.

So yes, it’s good enough!

That said, I haven’t reached for the (tr)uSDX to do POTA or SOTA since last March because I prefer the performance characteristics of my other radios.

My biggest complaint, frankly, is that the audio fidelity is pretty poor. The noise floor of the (tr)uSDX is higher than most HF radios and audio amplification is very basic. I notice a lot of electronic noises (pulsing, etc.) in my unit. I find it a bit fatiguing to listen to for long sessions with my headphones. The internal speaker isn’t really a viable speaker for doing an activation–it’s more akin to an emergency speaker, if anything.

When plugged into an external amplified speaker, the audio is much improved. The pops and internal noises are still there, but it has better overall fidelity and the volume can be raised enough to hear weak signals (this can’t be easily done via the internal speaker).

It struck me that a DSP device might clean up the (tr)uSDX’s audio and noise floor a bit.

Enter the bhi Dual In-Line DSP filter

Sometime during the beginning of the pandemic, I reached out to bhi Noise Cancelling Products and asked if I could test one of their DSP units as a loaner. I’ve always felt that bhi manufactured the best DSP products in the amateur radio market.

At the time, I wanted one of my friends and contributors on the SWLing Post blog to test the bhi unit and see if it might help out a QRM situation that popped up at his QTH. I thought it would make for a great evaluation since I have little to no QRM at my home.

Graham, at bhi, kindly sent me a unit–the Dual In-Line Noise Eliminating Module–and as I prepared to forward it to my friend, his noise was no longer an issue. I can’t remember the details now, but there was no need to send it to him.

I notified Graham that I would like to test it myself, but that my plate was so full it would take time. What ended up happening, though, was I completely forgot about it due to a busy family life at the time.

I re-discovered the unit this year and spoke (apologized) to Graham at the 2023 Hamvention. Of course, he had no issue at all and was very forgiving. He’s a great fellow.

I thought pairing this bhi DSP unit to the (tr)uSDX would be a great way to, perhaps, cut down on the listening fatigue.

Fort Dobbs State Historic Site (K-6839)

On Wednesday, July 5, 2023, I had an opportunity to test the (tr)uSDX/bhi pairing at Fort Dobbs State Park. Continue reading Field Report: Testing the bhi Dual In-Line with the (tr)uSDX, making a big blunder, and P2P with Teri! →

Field Reports, Hacks and Hints, Kits, Portable, Skills

Are you prepared for Radio First Aid?

10 Comments

by Vince (VE6LK)

(As is Vince’s usual, this article has a bunch of links – click on as many as you wish for the full experience)

Before I go too far into this topic, I wish to first offer hearty congratulations to Thomas Witherspoon for having one thousand posts on QRPer.com! Woo-Hoo!

Do you pack a Radio Field First Aid kit?

On my recent trip to VE3-land I had a few opportunities to practice set-up with my gear–away from the safe place that is my truck–to ensure I’d brought everything for my trip to Hamvention and activations along the way. I did forget an audio cable, however a visit to a local dollar store solved that problem inexpensively.

So, unless you pack two of everything -because two is one and one is none– you should expect that something’s going to fail or break along the way. What you never know is when or how that’s going to happen. I wouldn’t be writing this story if it had not happened to me before.

This time it was on a Sunday outing to VE-1512, the McLaughlin Bay Reserve Wildlife Area in Oshawa Ontario and far away from the comforts of my shop at home. Tucked away not far off of the 401 Highway, this nature reserve is a calm and peaceful oasis just minutes from urban life. I saw kayakers, hikers and trail runners during my visit.

Setting up my Comet HFJ-350M, I added the jumper cable to set the antenna for 20m and then I started to push the antenna down into the ground onto the stake. And that’s when my hand slipped and I broke the jumper cable connector, busted off in the hole.

Broken pin that triggered my outward potty mouth

For the inquisitive among you, my inner potty mouth made a brief outward appearance, ahem. Continue reading Are you prepared for Radio First Aid? →

Hacks and Hints, News, QRP, QRP Radios, QRPer Notes

QRPer Notes: Phil’s Field Antenna Survey Results, Gripping the Palm Pico, and 70’s/80’s Vintage QRP Radios

6 Comments

Because I receive so many tips from readers here on QRPer, I wanted way to share them in a concise newsletter format.  To that end, welcome to QRPer Notes, a collection of links to interesting stories and tips making waves in the world of radio!

Field Antenna Survey

Many thanks to Phil (KA4KOE) who shares the results from an informal survey he conducted on the POTA Facebook group. Phil writes:

Tom

I’ve let the survey run for about 3 days on the POTA Facebook group. Sample size was 658 votes. I opted to do a “type” survey and not by manufacturer.

Results:

    1. End Fed Half-wave: 25%.
    2. Shortened vertical with loading coil: 20%.
    3. Full-size vertical antenna / Hamstick style vertical with helical coil:12% each.
    4. Full-size dipole/doublet, etc.: 10%.
    5. End Fed Random Wire: 9%.
    6. Screwdriver motorized coil antenna: 3%
    7. Something tossed in tree and just hoped it would work: 2%

Total: 93%.

Remaining obscure types cut-off below 2% accounted for 7%.

Again, like the poll I conducted previously on radio types, not surprised by the No. 1 spot.

What DID surprise me was #7: I put that selection in the poll types as a joke but 2% of hams throw a wire up in a tree or other support with no forethought and hope it works.

The Palm Pico: Getting a grip!

Many thanks to Terry (N7TB) who shares the following tip:

Hi Thomas,

I was looking at your post re: the Pico Paddle.

I have both the single and double Pico paddle and the KX3 mount. After watching you hand hold your paddles, I came up with a way to make small paddles easier to hold. I have attached a photo. It is a small piece of 3/8 ID pipe insulation to make holding the Pico paddle easier.

Have a great trip to Hamvention.

73,

Terry
N7TB

QRP Radios from the 70s and 80s

Many thanks to Ron (W6AZ) who shares the following video from Mikrowave1 on YouTube:

You asked for it! Here is the birth of QRP and a whack at revealing the top 10 QRP Homebrew Projects and Commercial Radios that started it all. What is all the fuss about low power?

Field Reports, Hacks and Hints, How To, Morse Code, Portable, POTA

How to optimize low solar activity days for your activations

13 Comments

by Vince (VE6LK)

(As is Vince’s usual, this article is full of educational and fun links – click on as many as you wish)

Picture this ..  you are getting a bit twitchy due to lack of POTA activation and you have run out of Potaxxia. Further, You publicly stated a New Year’s eve goal to make at least 200 POTA CW activation contacts per month for 2023 (there may have been beer involved), and now you must stay accountable to your goal and you are currently behind plan. It’s too early in the season to be lawn mowing while listening to podcasts such as QSO Today, Ham Radio Workbench, ICQ Podcast, AP/DZ or Soldersmoke. Thus, chasing contacts is [always] a good use of your time.

Lastly, if you are like me, the the solar indices are still an art form being learned and the numbers for today aren’t all in the green zone.

One of many charts that help decode the magic behind propagation values – click through for source webpage

So you begin to wonder just how much effort it’s worth to load up your gear and try to activate. You think to yourself that there won’t be much action on bands other than 20m which has been noisy lately, so why bother as it’s at least a 45 minute trip to the nearest POTA entity.

With this background, on Saturday I placed myself in the city at the nearest-to-home spot I could park in the south part of Calgary adjacent to VE-5082, the Trans-Canada Trail. I was trying to make the best of what I perceived to be a rough conditions day and had no real plan except a convenient location requiring minimal effort for a minimal return. My expectations were, sadly, met in this regard.

The author in a suburban and *very* RF noisy place that he won’t return to.

I was at the edge of suburbia with large homes on my left overlooking the ravine and pathway on my right. To say it was RF noisy would be a colossal understatement. I made 18 painful contacts in an hour and I’m sure people called me but I didn’t hear them given the S7 noise floor on 20m. At least I made one DX contact to Denmark along the way. Overall feeling frustrated, I went back home.

Sunday morning rolls around and again I wonder “is it worth it”?

Continue reading How to optimize low solar activity days for your activations →

Hacks and Hints, How To, Kits, News, Skills

Video: Alan’s method for winding toroids

10 Comments

After posting my article about the K9DP BCI filter kit build, Alan (W2AEW) commented:

If you dislike winding toroids, the method I show in this video makes it a lot easier!

This is an excellent way to handle the toroid while winding. Check out his video below:

Click here to view on YouTube. 

Alan has a massive library of instructional videos on YouTube. If you haven’t already, subscribe to his channel!

Guest Posts, Hacks and Hints, How To, Morse Code, News, QRP

Bob pairs his ATS-20 with the Zachtek “Flea” CW transmitter

5 Comments

Many thanks to Bob (K7ZB) who shares the following guest post:

ATS-20 configured with Zachtek “Flea” CW transmitter

The ATS-20 in HF CW Transceiver Mode

by Bob Houf (K7ZB)

I picked up an ATS-20 last summer and played with it on SWBC and the ham bands but found the telescoping whip antenna to be marginal.

The unit I purchased from Amazon turned out to be solid: no problems have surfaced after 9 months of intermittent listening. By default, I have enjoyed it primarily listening to FM in my office.

When I used my long wire antenna, the performance on shortwave greatly improved – easy copy of DX and the value of the receiver began to impress me.

Recently I came across a Swedish ham who co-developed a line of radios covering a broad range of WSPR and associated designs built to a very high standard.

Already having a WSPR setup I was intrigued by a very low power CW transmitter that Zach co-developed with KB9RLW which puts out 300mW on 40, 30 and 20 meters at a price point that is less than the ATS-20, and – most interestingly – the design of the radio allows it to work in transceive mode with the receiver by providing a T/R switch when used with the proper SMA-BNC cable arrangement.

I bought a “Flea” and configured it with my ATS-20 then used an external antenna tuner to make sure the transmitter had close to a 1:1 SWR.  The “Flea” advertises that it is robust to high SWR and looking over the schematic that is evident, but for the sake of a trial I went with the ATU. Continue reading Bob pairs his ATS-20 with the Zachtek “Flea” CW transmitter →

Articles, Guest Posts, Hacks and Hints, How To, News, Portable, POTA, QRP

Flying With Ham Gear and Navigating TSA

21 Comments

Many thanks to Michael (N7CCD) for sharing the following guest post:

Flying With Ham Gear

by Michael (N7CCD)

I often get asked “how hard is it to fly with ….”, or “what does TSA say about …” as my job has me flying a fair amount throughout the year. In fact, I’m writing this now while waiting to board my flight for a week in Georgia and Alabama, after having just gone through TSA.

In a recent QRPer post by Thomas, I posted a comment about my frequent travel with ham gear and Thomas gave me a gentle “hint hint” nudge to write up my experiences on the matter. I thought this trip would be a good time to share my experiences in traveling with ham gear in my check-on baggage, as well as my carry-on baggage and my process for each. I’m always interested in learning from other’s experiences, so if you have some ideas for the good of the community, please share them in the comments below!

Before starting this article, and out of curiosity, I checked my past calendar and figured out that I passed through TSA screening about 26 times in 2022. I would say that, since starting my current role four years ago, I have at a minimum hit that number each year.

To address the main question I get about ham gear (antennas, radios, batteries, etc.) and TSA, surprisingly TSA has very little interest in any of it.

In all of my trips through the x-ray machine, TSA has never once pulled my bag out to further investigate what was inside. They have asked about my thermal camera, but never my ham gear. Full disclosure, I am TSA Pre-Check which does exclude me from having to remove laptops, iPads, etc. However, on a recent non-business trip with my wife and kids to visit family in Mexico, I wasn’t pre-check and they still didn’t care about any of my radio gear.

Since I’m limited on the amount of stuff I can physically carry on the plane, and my work gear requires me to check a bag anyway, I have divided my radio gear between what I want with me on the plane, and what I’ll just pick up when I collect my bag at baggage claim.

I have settled on a hard sided suitcase after having to replace some of my work arc flash PPE (personal protective equipment) when baggage handlers cracked my arc flash face shield. After upgrading to a hard sided suitcase, I started adding more ham equipment I would otherwise worry about getting damaged. In the image below you can see what, at this point, I’ve included in my checked bag.

From top left to bottom right: Raspberry Pi kit (more photos on that below), CWMorse paddle in a dollar store container with cable, Buddipole PowerMini, charging cradle for HT, SignalStuff mag mount for HT in rental car, hand mic for HT for use in rental car, throw line and weight, AlexLoop w/ Amazon Basics tripod, US Road Atlas

The idea behind the Pi and AlexLoop antenna is I can work HF digital no matter where I am. This is more fun than watching TV in a hotel, but also gives me digital capabilities to send emails or texts over HF if I am stranded without service of any kind. The mag mount and HT hand mic allow me to use my HT in my rental car as a mobile radio. The same SignalStuff antenna on my HT can be transferred to the mag mount easily once I step into the car. Continue reading Flying With Ham Gear and Navigating TSA →