My Postcard Field Reports are information-packed, just slightly more concise and distilled than my average field report so that I can publish them on a busy day.
T-T R4020
One of the least expensive radios I’ve ever purchased is my TEN-TEC R42020 two-band CW only radio. I believe I paid $120 for it (shipped!) a couple years ago and it sat on my shelf unnoticed for months until I took it on a POTA activation last year.
Here’s the admission: I really love this little radio!
It is not a feature-rich radio, and the sidetone sounds like a 1080s handheld arcade game, but it works a charm! The receiver and audio are fantastic and it sports two of my most useful POTA/SOTA bands: 40 and 20 meters.
What’s not to love?
POTA time!
I had an early morning doctor’s appointment on Thursday, February 23, 2023. As a little reward for doing my annual physical I decided to add a POTA activation to my morning. This was a last minute decision, so only a couple minutes before leaving the house that morning, I grabbed my TEN-TEC R4020, the Chelegance MC-750, and my Spec Ops Backpack (filled with all other field accessories), and I hit the road!
I chose the MC-750 that day because I needed an antenna that could be configured to be resonant on 40 meters since the R4020 has no internal ATU. That and I couldn’t remember if I’ve configured the MC-750 for 40 meters in the past. I know I’ve deployed the MC-750 with the 40M coil, but I think I may have used an ATU to match it.
Many thanks to Mike (KE8PTX) who shares the following:
The search for the best portable speaker for ham radio.
Welcome to the end of my exhausting search for what maybe the best speaker for portable ham radio.
My list of requirements was short: it had to be small, amplified, and have an internal battery.
But most importantly, it had to have a AUX input.
The last requirement shortened the list very quickly. Most speakers today that have any quality of build are lacking in the old fashion AUX connection.
I tried a minimum of six speaker and even tried making one of my own. Rich sound quality was not most important factor to me. Let’s face it: we are not listening to the Beatles.
Now we are going to focus in the two that made the cut. On the bigger side was the JBL Charge 4. Rugged? Yes. Battery life? Great. Size and weight? OK. Take it from the car to the picnic table ok? Yes. Throwing in the pack for a SOTA or a long hike? Not the best choice.
Case is made of aluminum all-around including the speaker grill.
External features are:
power switch,
USB charging port,
micro SD card slot,
and the must-have AUX port for connecting to my KX3.
It also has external rubberized volume control.
For those that may need bluetooth it has that also.
All in all, it is super rugged unit with great battery life and small for my QRP go kit. The only thing that comes in the box is the speaker and usb charging cord.
I hope my findings help others in search of a portable speaker.
Thank you for sharing this, Mike. I’m often asked about the portable speaker I use in the field. It’s a Sony SRS-XB12, but the only good source of them is eBay because they’ve been discontinued for so long.
This Anker speaker seems to be the same size and sport the same features of the Sony, at a slightly lower cost. I’ve also had very good luck with Anker products in the past (I’ve had some of their ear buds and several of their battery banks). In fact, I’ve just ordered this speaker because the battery life is also much better than that of my Sony speakers. I’ll plan to take this to the field and include it in my activation videos–I’ve give the Sony speakers to my daughters.
A completely under-prepped SOTA & WWFF activation which turned out to be perfect
In preparation for a tough conversation a good friend once told me: “You know what, just walk into the fire. If you have bad news to deliver, don’t sugar coat it and do it right away. You’ll be fine.”
“Just walk into the fire.” I believe this can be applied to many other situations in life. While I would consider myself to be well-prepared on most trips, hikes and activations and getting a lot of joy out of optimizing my kits I try to stay open-minded. Imagine the things you would miss out on if you wouldn’t be spontaneous or only do things while fully prepared and 100% safe – even if it means taking risks.
The QCX-Mini silently drying after a successful activation
Last Wednesday, I kind of walked into the fire. Not fire as in fire-fire but fire as in Latvian winter storm. In general this wouldn’t be such a big deal had I brought the right clothes, gear and shoes to my short business trip to Riga.
Due to very strict luggage restrictions I could only bring one small backpack for three days. Inside I had enough room for a laptop, washbag, spare clothes and the compact QCX-Mini Kit I built for exactly these occasions. I was wearing sneakers and jeans. At this point I had not planned a specific activation but I wanted at least to be able to operate YL/ & /p maybe 30 minutes from a nearby park – not a problem if you can jump right back into the warm hotel afterwards.
My rental car rocking summer tires in Winter (yes, I was driving veeeeeeery slowly)
During our stay, my schedule for Wednesday morning freed up so I decided to try activating one out of only three SOTA summits in Latvia: YL/YL-003. It turns out this summit is also located within WWFF territory YLFF-0007 about a 1,5h drive from Riga. Big Thanks to Val (YL2SW), Latvia’s WWFF manager, for assisting me with local rules and processing my log. A quick look at the weather forecast showed freezing temperatures, 90% chance of snow, heavy winds and overcast. Many of you will understand why a SOTA&WWFF combo in a rare country could be a small reason not to use the hotel’s sauna on a day like that. Sometimes things just need to get done.
The majestic watchtower on YL/YL-003
I got up early the next morning and was very happy to be able to grab a Bolt rental car from the street and get going quickly. The drive went by without issues up to a point just about 3km away from the mountain (well, 1-pointer hill I should say). The roads were completely covered in snow so I could barely see where I was driving. Latvia is a rather flat country but here it started to get a bit hilly and the tires were certainly not cut out for that. Continue reading CQ From Latvia with Love→
As I mentioned in my recent AX1 vs AX2 video and blog post, I purchased an Elecraft AX2 antenna and bi-pod in late January (note: two days before Elecraft announced their February ’23 sale price! Doh!).
I received the AX2 package a few days later and I was certainly eager to take it to the field.
My first opportunity came on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, when a short activation window opened up in the afternoon.
Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace (K-6856)
One of the first things I noticed after taking the AX2 out of the package is just how solid and compact it is. The AX1 is short, but the AX2 is a few inches shorter because the base is more compact.
Unlike the AX1, the AX2 is a mono band antenna, thus the coil only needs to accommodate one band. When you receive a new AX2, it’s configured for 20 meters out of the box, but the user can modify the coil to work anything from 20 to 6 meters.
“Resonant-ish”
Even though I mentioned this in my AX1 v AX2 article and video, I’d like to reiterate that the AX2 is nearly-resonant on 20 meters. It is not reliably resonant.
I’ve still been receiving a lot of messages from readers stating that their AX2 and AX1 are resonant on 20 meters, so they don’t pack any sort of matching device in their field kit. They simply hook the AX2 up to their little QRP radio and hop on the air.
While it’s true that these antennas may provide an acceptable SWR most of the time, you really can’t rely on a solid, reliable match as you could with an end-fed half-wave.
I’ll repeat what I mention in a previous post:
Small verticals like the AX1 and AX2, that use coils to electrically “lengthen” the antenna, have a higher Q than, say, a large aperture quarter or half wave antenna. In practical terms, this means that the window of resonance is narrow and more fickle than, for example, an end-fed half-wave.
A lot of factors can affect the SWR on higher-Q antennas like the AX1/AX2 including:
the type of terrain,
height off the ground,
length of counterpoise,
configuration of counterpoise,
and, most notably, the operator’s own body capacitance.
You may find that the AX2, for example, is natively resonant on 20 meters at one location, but isn’t at another location. This is quite normal. It’s also the reason why Elecraft states that both antennas are designed to be used with an ATU.
So there you go! If I hook up my AX1 or AX2 to a radio, I’ll always have some means of matching the impedance–either an external ATU, or a capacity hat. You can also tinker with the length of the telescoping whip and counterpoise to tweak the match.
How I found the best antenna for my SOTA/POTA activations
by Thomas (DM1TBE)
Intro
Until January this year I had a German “Klasse E” / CEPT-novice amateur radio license (equivalent to the US General Class), which limits the use of HF to the 10-,15-, 80- and 160-meter bands. When I started with SOTA I used homemade single band end-fed antennas most of the time. However, that is only feasible for the 10- and 15-meter bands.
Unfortunately, both bands are very moody and sometimes they have not worked at all. Unlike the UK for example, FM is uncommon for SOTA in my home association DM (i.e. Germany Low Mountains). You can be lucky and get your 4 QSOs, but I did not want to rely on pure luck.
Therefore, I bought an end-fed half-wave antenna for 10-, 15-, 20-, 40- and 80-meter bands, after some experiments with 10-80-meter end-fed half-wave antennas, from a small German company called ANjo.
Although I could not use the 20- and 40- meter bands at that time, the EFW80-10P (en: auto-translated) antenna gave me the possibility to use the 80-meter band. The antenna could also be tuned for 15. It has a mechanical length of 23.6 m / 77 ft and a coil for the 80-meter band. It is pretty lightweight with 0.4 kg / 14 oz and allows up to 30 watts PEP – more than enough for me. 80-meters is not the best band for daytime SOTA activations, but in 21 months doing SOTA activations, it worked 37 times and tipped the scales for an activation from time to time.
It was sometimes a bit tricky to raise the long wire into the air, but it always worked … better or worse …somehow … like here in the woods along a trail.
In January this year, I upgraded my license and a new world of HF-bands opened for me. Although I have learned a lot about propagation for the exam, I am in favour of a German saying: “The difference between theory and praxis is larger in the praxis than in the theory”. Continue reading How I found the best antenna for my SOTA/POTA activations→
On Friday, February 10, 2023, I had a hankering to fit in a POTA activation that morning. South Mountains State Park was an easy detour on my drive back to the QTH, so I scheduled an activation.
Brooks has been steadily working on his CW skills and is dangerously close to doing his first CW activation. We’ve managed to set up one late evening casual CW rag chew and I think his CW chops are very good. We plan to do more evening rag chews when our schedules align. He’s made amazing progress.
I contacted Brooks that Friday morning and he was game to meet up and do some POTA. He wasn’t quite ready to do a CW activation, so I suggested he log for me using the HAMRS app on my iPhone. I find that logging for CW ops during past Field Days really helped build my own confidence before I started using CW daily.
Brooks was 100% game to log for me.
And let me just say what a luxury it is to have someone log to HAMRS for me on my iPhone! It frees up my brain to simply log on paper (which I always do) and enjoy working stations without the extra busy work! Hat tip to good ole’ Brooks.
South Mountains State Park (K-2753)
I arrived at South Mountains State Park (the Clear Creek Access), put on my hiking boots, then Brooks pulled into the parking lot only a few minutes later.
We agreed in advance to fit in a quick hike up the Clear Creek Trail prior to the activation. I, for one, really needed to stretch my legs!
After the hike, I grabbed some gear from the car and we set up at the one picnic table at the Clear Creek Access.
Brooks and I both had commitments that day so could only play radio for 45-60 minutes max including set-up and take-down.
I deployed the same antenna I’d used the previous day: MW0SAW’s homebrew EFHW on a SOTAbeams winder.
Many thanks to Terry (N7TB) who sent the following question by email and has kindly agreed to allow me to share it here along with my response on QRPer:
Hi Thomas,
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your POTA videos and all the suggestions you have made that I have adopted. I look forward to every activation you put on video. […]
[…]I have a question for you about using your AX1, and would really like your advice. I marvel at how quickly you can activate a park even with an AX1 antenna on 5 watts. I also have an AX1 antenna, counterpoise and KX2[…].
Anyway, I was out today activating K-0213, Maude Williamson State Park, about 20 minutes from my QTH in West Salem, OR. I operated 12W into a 33ft. EFHW antenna suspended vertically from a 31 ft. Jackite mast. All my activations are CW; I usually activate 20 meters.[…]
I was able to finally work 22 stations in an hour and a half, mostly in CA, UT, MT, and one in AZ. I did get a contact in KY, AZ NM, and MB, but it was a tough go for them to hear me. Most of my activations take me a bit over an hour to get 20 contacts.
As I thought about how much easier it seems that you are able to activate, I started to think about geography and population density differences between the East and West coasts. I used Google Earth and measured almost all points east of the Mississippi from Asheville and most were within 1200 miles. I would guess 2/3 of the US population live in this area. I drew the same range from my QTH and I get about half way into MT, barely into WY, most but not all UT, just touch the NW corner of AZ, and all of CA. In all but CA, I would guess the population total in this vast area is less than Illinois. That is my dilemma. I would love to be able to go out, setup my AX1 with my KX2 on even 10 watts, and make quick activations, but I would be surprised if I would get many contacts because the distances are so vast in the West and population density so low. I will actually try using the AX1 when the WX gets better and I can sit at a picnic table. So far, I have had little success with it, even deployed with the correct counterpoise. Do you have any thoughts on how to be successful with the AX1 from the West coast for POTA, or should I just concentrate on other antennas?
[…]Thanks again, Thomas, for the emails you have sent me with suggestions about equipment, and for all your great videos.
Very 73,
Terry
N7TB
Hi, Terry,
First of all, thank you so much for the kind words. I really appreciate that!
Regarding your message:
Keep in mind that the day you were operating was a very strange day in terms of propagation. There were times when we were having radio blackouts (especially in the western half of the US) and there were times propagation was amazing, yet very unstable. We were hit by so many heavy CMEs this weekend–one seemingly on top of another.
I think you do have a valid point, though, about the geography–one I try to mention when talking about compromised antennas like the AX1.
QSO Map from my latest AX1 activation.
I realize that I enjoy a lot of success with the AX1 because of where I live. I guarantee that the bulk of the US ham radio population is within easy reach of my AX1 antenna, no matter what band.
For you? There are no hams to your west (within easy reach), extremely few to your north (save WA and BC), and the best ham density is to your south in California.
In your shoes, here’s how/when I’d try using the AX1 (keeping in mind I’ve never operated POTA in the western states):
First, I would focus on using 40 meters when the band is healthy and/or for early morning, late afternoon/evening sessions. That should snag contacts across WA, OR, and CA with the AX1. Might be a stretch for southern CA, but I think you could make that work. The only caveat is that flaring has been wiping out daytime 40 meters a lot lately. You might check band conditions in advance.
I would also consider spending time on 17 meters, and possibly 15 meters with your AX1. This might throw your signal across to the midwest, Ohio Valley, and beyond. 17 and 15 meters isn’t typically as productive as 20 meters (at least, for me) but I routinely log west coast stations on 17 meters with the AX1. 15 meters is also getting a lot of attention in the POTA spots!
A wire antenna is almost always a better option than the AX1 if you have the time and space to put it up, but the AX1 is just so darn convenient.
Cheers, Thomas K4SWL
More suggestions?
The reason I asked Terry for permission to post his question and my reply here on the blog is because I suspect there are west-coasters (and those in similar geographic situations) who may be able to share some helpful strategies.
There are so many factors involved beyond what I mentioned in my reply. In fact, I imagine if the goal is to work parts further east, then adjusting the activation schedule for Central and Eastern time zones might also help (for example, not activating during dinner hours when I always see a bit of a lull in hunter activity).
If you have some experience, please feel free to comment!
On Thursday, February 9, 2023, a rare opportunity opened up for me: a 3.5 hour activation window–!
I was visiting and helping my parents in Catawba County, NC, so considered the park options, almost all of which are within a 35-45 minute drive.
I thought about fitting in two shorter park activations that day, but it has been so long since I’ve had the opportunity to simply hang at one park and play radio for more than an hour, I chose the extended activation option.
Although the forecast was for clear skies that day, a front was moving through that afternoon and the skies were overcast with gusty winds. I could tell rain was a very real possibility, so I chose a site with a picnic shelter to make things a bit easier.
Fort Dobbs State Historic Site (K-6839)
Fort Dobbs was a no-brainer: not only was it the closest park (thus less travel time eating into my on-air time), but the staff there are very POTA-friendly, the site is quiet, and they have an excellent shelter that I suspected (due to the dodgy weather) would be unoccupied.
When I arrived on-site, I checked in at the visitor’s center to make sure the picnic shelter hadn’t been reserved. Fortunately, they said I could have the shelter all to myself!
I had a number of radios in my car and decided en route that I would use the Xiegu G106 once again.
I packed the G106 in a waterproof Husky radio gear box I keep in my car trunk/boot. I grabbed it and my Spec-Ops EDC pack and carried it to the picnic shelter.
My plan was to pair the G106 with MW0SAW’s 40 meter EFHW antenna.
POTA and I had a very one-side relationship so far.
Roughly a year ago I tried to activate a park, but although I spotted myself, I had not been able to make a single QSO. In April last year, I tried it again, with the same result. Luckily, I was on a SOTA summit and spotting me on SOTA brought me enough QSOs to make it a successful activation for both, POTA and SOTA. So I decided to disregard POTA and my only POTA activity was watching Thomas (K4SWL) nice videos on YouTube.
My bad experience with POTA was probably due to two factors:
I only had an intermediate license previously, which limited me on HF to the 10, 15 and 80 meter bands and
POTA was no as popular in Europe and Germany in particular as it was and is in the US. While SOTA and the Flora & Fauna program already had a very active community in Europe for years, POTA had a hen and egg problem.
However, with the increasing popularity of portable operations, POTA has also gained some traction in Europe. I have the feeling that every time I take a look at the spots on the POTA website, I see more European stations.
Things here in Germany have changed for the better, too. POTA got a German website (parksontheair.de) and a community called “Draussenfunker.de” (“Outdoor ham”) with website + Discord that became very active with those pursuing outdoor activities in general and POTA in particular. Lately, local POTA coordinators have been named, who started to add new parks to the program.
I thought suggesting a recreation area close to my home would be a good idea. A few days later I had the brand new POTA park DA-0410 30 minutes away. The park has a size of 6.3 km² / 1,567 acres and a peak elevation of 780 m / 2559 ft, which is also the SOTA summit Kaltes Feld (DM/BW-659).
My plan was to operate from the clearing on the top plateau, where there is also a mountain hut with restaurant. The 2 km / 1.25 mi trail was not very difficult with an incline of just 105 m / 344ft as the parking area is already at an elevated level.
Although the park extends to the proximity of the parking area at the Hornberg gliding airfield, I wanted to be in the SOTA activation zone due to my bad experiences with POTA activations. The gliding site was founded nearly 100 years ago. After the First World War, the Allies largely banned motor flight sports in Germany, so gliding airfields, such as this one, popped up across Germany. Continue reading Guest Field Report: Germany has a new POTA activator!→
As I mentioned in previous posts, I’ve been using the Elecraft AX1 in heavy rotation this year. I made a commitment to myself to do a string of activations with it in January and February and also pair it with a wide variety of radios beyond the Elecraft KX2 and KX3. So far, I’ve paired the AX1 with the:
In truth, the AX1 can be paired with any radio when you use a tripod mount.
It’s a bit trickier when connecting the AX1 directly to a radio and using the Bipod as a support because 1.) the antenna connector on the radio mustn’t be too high off of the surface, 2.) there needs to be enough clearance on the back of the radio to accommodate the bipod legs and 3.) ideally, it’s nice to have a ground point on the radio, else you’ll need to clamp the counterpoise to the shield of the BNC connector.
In addition, if your radio doesn’t have a built-in ATU of some sort, then you’ll also need a capacity hat or external ATU to finish off the impedance match. (For more notes about the AX1 and AX2, check out this previous post.)
Of course, you don’t have to use Elecraft’s bipod to support the AX1 when directly connected to a radio–you can build or 3D print your own support–but the bipod is really convenient when it does work.
Objective: Lunch Box Radio
One radio I’ve been eager to pair with the AX1 is the Penntek TR-45L.
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Welcome to another Postcard Field Report!
One of the least expensive radios I’ve ever purchased is my TEN-TEC R42020 two-band CW only radio. I believe I paid $120 for it (shipped!) a couple years ago and it sat on my shelf unnoticed for months until I took it on a POTA activation last year.
