I watch your videos often and enjoy them thoroughly! Quick question : I really like CP Gear Pack Aircrew Bag that you reviewed on one of your recent videos. I was wondering if the Yeasu FT-891 would fit in the padded compartment where you are storing the 817. I know you now have a FT-891, but for reference, the 891 is about 2 inches deeper, 1/2 in taller and almost an inch wider. Thanks in advance!
Rick K3RTK
You’re not the only person to ask this question, Rick! Several people have contacted me to find out if the FT-891 will fit the CP Geat Tactical Aircrew/Pubs bag.
The answer is yes. See the photos below:
In fact, the Aircrew bag fits the ‘891 with a wee bit of room in the padded pocket to spare.
Keep in mind that the FT-817 or FT-818, when outfitted with the Armoloq TPA-817 Pack Frame (see photo below), is actually a bit bulkier than the FT-891 without a pack frame or side rails:
I think the Aircrew bag would make for a very handy FT-891 field pack! Thank you for your question!
Activating (sort of) Lake Thunderbird (K-2792) with a homebrew transmitter
Sam Duwe WN5C
When I dove into radio a couple years ago a few sub-hobbies caught my attention: QRP, portable ops, CW, and homebrew. Of course, these all fit nicely together, but in my mind there was a huge leap between soldering an unun and a building a radio. But why not try? What’s the worst that could happen by melting solder and then sitting at a picnic table? This is how I built a simple transmitter and kind of activated a park.
The Michigan Mighty Mite
Nearly everyone has heard about the Michigan Mighty Mite (MMM), a QRPp transmitter popularized by the Solder Smoke blog. There are countless YouTube videos and posts across the internet. It’s very simple: a single transistor, a variable cap, a coil, a crystal and some resistors and a cap. Supposedly one can get up to half a watt of output (I couldn’t). But with a small purchase from Mouser one can oscillate. That seemed pretty cool.
I hadn’t touched an iron until I started playing radio. But I’ve been drawn to homebrew projects. I built a regenerative receiver last year which was very rewarding. I’ve also put together kits (a QCX mini and a TR-35). But my dream has always been to construct a transmitter/receiver combo, or a transceiver. I thought a good place to start was the MMM.
I built the transmitter based on the common schematic for the 40-meter band. The MMM is crystal controlled but I opted to solder in a socket and buy a handful of crystals, so I have the luxury of operating on 7056, 7040, and 7030 kHz. I made a few other improvements, too. The first was to build a low pass filter to attenuate harmonics. Second, although I haven’t finished it yet, the switch on the right will be to choose between multiple crystals. And third, I added a BNC jack to connect a receiver, with a transmit switch. When not in use the transmitter will dump into a dummy load. This receiver switching idea was lifted from the design of the MMM that QRP Guys produces.
When I tested the transmitter at home the best I could get with my charged Bioenno 3 Ah battery was about 300 mW output. The filter is reducing things somewhat, but maybe I need to look into a different transistor or rewind the coil. But I was able to get a 339 signal report from Illinois (no sked) in the midst of distance lightning crashes, so I had a little confidence going forwards. School is out for me this summer, so I decided to head to the park. Continue reading Guest Post: Lake Thunderbird (K-2792) with a homebrew transmitter!→
(As is my usual, this article has a bunch of links – click on as many as you wish to receive the full experience)
by Vince (VE6LK)
In May of 2023 I embarked on a two week vacation to Hamilton Ontario that co-incidentally happened to include a side trip to Hamvention just outside of Dayton, Ohio.
For a guy living in Alberta, Canada, this would prove to be quite the trip and it created memories to last a lifetime. I also was told that I could play radio during the trip provided my wife would get to see some of the many waterfalls in the City of Hamilton, the area we’d call home for our two week trip.
And thus the planning began. I started overlaying POTA entities that overlapped on waterfalls so we both could visit and enjoy in our own way. It also meant I had to figure out what radio gear and, most importantly antennas, to bring along.
I landed up mostly running with low-slung antennas. By this I mean something between 4 and 10′ off the ground and horizontal in orientation. But it’s what I discovered about this simple approach that made it appear like pure magic to me – I made great contacts at what I would consider to be beyond NVIS distances including one from OH to UT!
On Friday, April 28, 2023, the clouds lifted and I was eager to fit in a brisk hike.
We’d had a few days of wet weather and, in fact, the previous day I performed a POTA activation with my entire station and antenna under the roof of a picnic shelter.
I was visiting my parents and didn’t want to venture too far afield, but still wanted to fit in a good summit activation. The goal was to stretch my legs and to test my Mystery Ranch Scree 32 backpack. Before taking this pack on a difficult summit hike, I thought it might make sense to check the pack’s suspension and fit with it loaded down a bit heavier than I normally would.
This would actually be my second SOTA activation with the Scree 32 pack (here’s the first) but on that first hike, the pack was so light, I barely noticed it was on my back.
Hibriten Mountain (W4C/EM-093)
Hibriten was an easy choice for the day. It’s only a 25 minute drive from my parents’ home and the trail has modest elevation change over the 5.6 mile round trip hike.
The trail is basically a wide, gravel access road for the crews who maintain the communication towers on Hibriten’s summit.
Last year, I read about Thomas K4SWL’s trip to Canada and plan to activate while there and thought to myself, “Wow! Wouldn’t it be cool to do that one day?” Well, it so happens that my family decided our 2023 summer trip will be to Nova Scotia and immediately I began thinking of how I could work POTA activations into the trip.
Due to time limitations, we are opting to fly which means my Yaesu FT-891 will not work. As much as I have come to enjoy using this radio, it is too bulky and heavy for airplane travel. So I started looking into QRP setups.
I chose the Elecraft KX2 and AX1. Whenever I mentioned to someone I had ordered the KX2, the immediate response was “You’ll love it!” I wasn’t sure it would arrive before the trip, though, given Elecraft’s order fulfillment estimation of 12 to 16 weeks. (Yikes!) Thankfully, the rig and antenna arrived early May giving me six weeks to familiarize myself with the rig and antenna before my summer trip.
So this past Wednesday May 17th, the KX2 and I headed to Wormsloe State Historic Site (K-3725) for my first POTA QRP activation. Quirky note: I’ve actually named the KX2 “Craig”. I figure it and I will be spending lots of time with each other so we might as well be on a first-name basis! Continue reading A YL + KX2 = QRP POTA Fun!→
On Thursday, April 27, 2023, it was pouring rain, so the perfect time for a little POTA, right–?
Right!
Actually, I had an idea: in the past, I’ve been known to play POTA under the roof of a picnic shelter on rainy days. I’ve even been known to use my AX1 antenna inside the shelter, under a metal roof. Quite a few times, actually.
Of course, it’s not optimal to operate with your antenna under a metal roof, but with POTA? Let’s just say that you can get away with a lot of less-than-optimal antenna deployments.
That’s the benefit of being the DX!
The MC-750 Tripod
An in-the-shelter activation was also the perfect opportunity to test the new Chelegance tripod that fits both the MC-750 and the JPC-12.
A number of readers have reached out asking about this tripod, so when Jesse at Chelegance asked if I’d like to test it, I agreed to do so.
To be clear, he sent this to me at no cost for evaluation. It’s actually quite affordable ($30 on the Chelegance website, $40 at DX Engineering, for example) so purchasing it would have been easy enough, but Jesse also wanted me to evaluate their new FT-818 ATU, so he sent both at the same time (you’ll see the ATU in a future field report).
The tripod feels very sturdy and is simple to deploy. It’s also a little heavy, so keep that in mind if you plan to pack it in for a long SOTA hike.
A number of you have purchased this tripod and have only had positive comments. I now see why.
I speak about this in more detail in the activation video below.
Lake Norman State Park (K-2740)
I decided that it had been too long since I had activated Lake Norman State Park, so I hopped in the car and headed to Troutman, NC! Lake Norman has a number of picnic shelters and covered areas thus a very safe bet.
It was a rainy day so, of course, I pulled into the Lake Norman picnic area only to find one other car there. In fact, by the time I had taken my backpack to the picnic shelter, that other park visitor appeared at a trailhead, hopped in her car, and left.
I got back from my 2023 Hamvention trip last night and am now trying to catch up after nearly a full week on the road.
A way too close-up of Eric and his son Miles in the background!
As in past years, I traveled to Hamvention with my buddies Eric (WD8RIF) and his son Miles (KD8KNC).
It was amazing to meet so many readers, subscribers, and POTA/SOTA friends in person!
When I wasn’t walking around the Hamvention grounds checking out the inside vendor tables and outdoor flea market, I was hanging out with friends at the Halibut Electronics/Ham Radio Workbench table.
It was great to finally meet Vince (VE6LK) and Mark (N6MTS) in person. Hopefully, next year, we can have the whole HRWB crew at the table!
The Unseen Bean table next to the Halibut table (you can *just* see Mark and Paul to the left).
Side note: It was a true surprise and joy to discover that the amazing crew of The Unseen Bean were next door to us. I’m a bit of a coffee snob, so it was wonderful having Gerry and his amazing team so close. I bought a lot of coffee!
Eric and I didn’t arrive in enough time to enjoy the Thursday presentations, but we did make it to Vendor’s night that evening. It was busier than I ever remember.
As we walked into the conference room, there was already a massive line to purchase Hans’ new QRP Labs QMX transceiver kit.
Of course, I bought one (serial number 28, evidently)! It will take me some time to build this as I have a crazy June schedule filled with travel and camping.
We also attended FDIM Club Night and the Homebrew contest on Friday. It was so much fun.
Receiving my award from the amazing David Cripe (NM0S). Photo by Charlie (NJ7V).
I was over the moon to have been inducted into the QRP Hall of Fame at the Saturday Evening FDIM banquet. I’m not sure what I’ve done to deserve this, but I’m incredibly grateful and humbled. Many of my QRP mentors are in the QRP Hall of Fame.
Thank you to those who nominated and selected me! What an incredible honor.
The “Vincester” (VE6LK) operating POTA from the back of his rental car!
On Sunday, we skipped Hamvention altogether and joined Charlie (NJ7V) and Vince (VE6LK) for a few local park activations.
Charlie using my KX2 and PackTenna to hammer out POTA contacts while dealing with the QRM of a nearby rural highway! Impressive op, this Charlie!
Vince and Charlie joined us for two POTA activations (during horrible band conditions, I might add), then Eric, Miles and I capped off the short POTA run with one more activation after lunch.
Monday was all about taking it easy…
Eric and I took all day Monday to “decompress” at the US Air Force Museum. Although I’ve visited this museum a dozen times before, it never gets old and the displays and exhibits are ever-changing.
I think it’s one of the best aviation museums in the world.
Tuesday (yesterday) I drove back to the QTH and fit in one short activation at Yatesville Lake State Park in eastern Kentucky. I recorded this one, so there’ll eventually be a full field report and activation video!
All-in-all, I fit in five POTA activations over the Hamvention trip!
Now that I’m back at the QTH, I’m prepping for a family camping trip. This is going to be one busy summer indeed!
Again, so many thanks to all of you who introduced yourselves over Hamvention and FDIM. It was amazing to meet you all! And, again, a very special thanks to the QRP Hall of Fame committee–being inducted is the true highlight of my amateur radio journey!
Did you attend Hamvention? Or did you have other radio plans this past week? Feel free to comment!
I’m still in Dayton after Hamvention weekend, but didn’t want to skip my field report and activation video, so a hope you enjoy the slightly shorter report below:
Zebulon Vance Historic Birthplace (K-6856)
On Tuesday, April 25, 2023, I once again stopped by my weekly POTA spot, the Vance Birthplace. By mid-May, I will no longer be passing by this excellent little POTA site on a weekly basis, so my activations here will be much less frequent. A shame because I do love this site and its staff!
For this particular activation, I’d planned to test my almost perfectly trimmed QRPguys Tunable EFHW antenna, but I left it at home. Not a problem, actually, because after this activation, I discovered it’s not as resonant as I’d like on the 20, 15, and 10 meter bands, so I may tinker with the toroid windings a bit–perhaps removing one.
Instead, I deployed my MM0OPX EFHW which I thought was actually a great choice considering propagation had been incredibly unstable the previous few days.
Since I also had my Elecraft KX2, I knew I could use its built-in ATU to move to non-resonant bands like 17 and 30 meters.
This activation video is a long one because I had quite a lot of time to play radio and, frankly, it was nice taking things at a casual pace.
Last month, I recorded another “Hike and Talk” session before a POTA activation at K-4861. If you’re not familiar with my “Hike and Talk” series, these are long-format, unedited videos where I hike (camera in hand) and cover a topic that’s not easy to encompass in an email reply or even blog post.
This particular topic was even difficult for me to title–!
I receive a lot of questions and feedback from readers about my field deployments and choice of antennas, feedline, power output levels, etc. Most of the time, these are readers who are genuinely curious why I’m not using “best practices” in my POTA/SOTA activations; deploying the highest efficiency antennas, using more counterpoises, running 100 watts, etc. etc.
Truth is? It’s all about context!
My field radio station, for example, isn’t set up to the same standard as my home or QTH station…for good reason, actually! The “best practices” I use at my home station aren’t always the same as the ones I use during a POTA activation.
I hope you enjoy this video and would welcome your constructive comments.
This week, I’m heading to the Dayton Hamvention––and fitting in a POTA rove, as well. (Woo hoo!) In the following two weeks I’ll be doing quite a lot of traveling.
QRPer.com will be updated regularly, but I won’t have a lot of time to answer questions via email. I’ll mainly check email for news tips and guest posts. Any replies I send will likely be quite short.
Since I typically receive around 40 emails per day just from readers, I suspect I’ll have an insane back log over the next few weeks!
Because I tend to want to answer everyone’s email–indeed, I do my best to answer any emails that aren’t accidentally eaten by my SPAM filters–I acknowledge this will be a struggle.
While it’s a privilege that folks want to reach out to me for advice, questions, and the like––the truth is, I’m reaching a point where there simply isn’t enough free time in the day even when I’m home, let alone when I’m traveling. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do moving forward, but something will have to change soon.
I don’t want to reach a point where I have to choose between creating content…or responding to emails. So if I just can’t get to yours, thanks for understanding.
But what if you still need some advice? What can you do?
The QRPer Board to the rescue!
If you have a question, I would strongly encourage you to ask it in our amazing–completely free–forum at QRPer.net: https://qrper.net/
This discussion board is moderated and monitored by an amazing group of Elmers and volunteers who have a wide range of experience and expertise. It’s no secret that you’ll likely get a much better answer from these folks than you would from me!
Also, feel free to ask questions in the “comments” section of relevant posts here on QRPer.com. You’ll have the whole reader community to hear and help you.
Thank you!
Thank you all for being a part of the community here on QRPer.com. I appreciate your support and also your amazing field reports, guest posts, and feedback!
Have a wonderful week, everybody…and, again, I hope to meet you at Hamvention or Four Days In May!
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Many thanks to Rick (K3RTK) who writes:
