Recently on Twitter, I created an informal poll and asked if anyone else named their radios.
Here are the results:
I quickly found out that I’m in the 6.7% minority who freely admit that they name their radios.
We can also assume, however, that a healthy percentage of the “Neither confirm nor deny” crowd do too. They just have a professional reputation to maintain!
Truth is, I don’t name all of my radios; only the ones with “personality” that I plan to keep permanently.
Tuppence
My gift to myself after completing my very first CW activation in 2020 was to purchase a Mountain Topper MTR-3B from LnR Precision. I’ve always admired these tiny hiker-friendly transceivers and have watched as Steve Weber (KD1JV) updated the design over the years.
I’ve had a lot of fun testing the Xiegu X6100 in the field. Each time I’ve taken this little shack-in-a-box radio outdoors, I’ve paired it with a different antenna.
On January 10, 2022, I decided to try one more antenna: the PackTenna 9:1 UNUN random wire.
The Packtenna random wire is a brilliant little antenna to pair with radios like the X6100 that have built-in, wide-range ATUs. It’s such a small antenna and can easily find matches on my favorite POTA/SOTA bands: 40 meters and up. It’s also very compact and super durable.
There’s no cure for my pack obsession. I’m constantly in a state of assembling and testing the most efficient kits I can conjure up.
Since I rotate a fair amount of radios in my activations, the majority of my kits are modular; meaning, components like antennas, ATU’s, batteries, log/pen, and cables are packed in their own small pouches/pack. Before embarking on an activation, I simply assemble the components in a backpack along with the radio/s I might use that day. Over the years, I’ve developed a certain workflow with this process that ensures I don’t forget components or pack the wrong ones.
But by far, my favorite type of kit are those that are fully self-contained–proper grab-and-go kits that have everything I need inside to, for example, activate a summit.
If you’ve been reading QRPer for long, you’ll note that I’ve become quite a fan of the uber-compact Elecraft AX1 antenna.
Not only has the AX1 never let me down, but it can even outperform my other antennas in terms of snagging contacts during an activation. Yes, it can even work some DX as well.
Normally, I pair the AX1 antenna with my Elecraft KX2 (above) or KX3 (below).
The AX1 needs a little help from an antenna tuner (ATU) to get a match across the 40, 20, and 17 meter bands. Of course, I could always mount the AX1 on a tripod and attach an in-line ATU, but I love the simplicity and speed of setup when paired directly to a transceiver that sports an internal ATU. To be clear, the Icom IC-705 has no internal ATU, but I was able to get away with using a capacity hat to match impedance on 20 meters.
The new Xiegu X6100 (above) has an internal ATU–a good one at that! As soon as I took delivery of this loaner unit from Radioddity, I plotted hooking it up to my AX1 to see how it might shake out in the field!
Many thanks to Vitor Morais who asked the following question in the comments section of my YouTube video:
Hi,
Greetings from UK. I recently learned that POTA [is now in the] UK so I am really looking forward to it.
I also recently put an order for [the Discovery TX-500] so I am really excited as well.
I would like to create a very compact setup pouch for field use to pair with this radio; one that I could take to summits or parks and also travel abroad.
What battery and antenna would recommend?
Would you recommend an ATU?
Or would you compromise to fewer bands or pack a secondary antenna?
I love to know your opinion. Thanks
Great questions, Vitor! In truth, these sorts of questions are easy to ask but quite complicated to answer due of the insane number of options and possibilities available. It’s impossible to cover them all so I’ll try to give you some suggestions based on what I tend to use in the field. Continue reading “What battery, antenna, and ATU should I pair with the Discovery TX-500?”→
I’ve had the Xiegu X6100 on loan from Radioddity since December 23rd, 2021. In that time, I’ve used it heavily in the shack and I’ve taken it on three field activations using a variety of antennas.
Overall, I think it’s a great little field radio.
I’ll be producing an in-depth review of the X6100 for The Spectrum Monitor magazine, but in the meantime I’m trying to bring up any points in advance that might help others make a purchase decision.
On that note?
Receiver overloading
Let’s face it: receiver strong signal handling and overload performance are important factors when you choose a radio.
No one buys a new radio and says, “I really hope it overloads easily!”
As the title of this post implies, the biggest negative with the Xiegu X6100–in my humble opinion–is that it is prone to overload when in the presence of a strong signal. It’s a shame the front end isn’t more robust.
I’ve noticed this from my QTH, especially when tuning the X6100 outside of the ham radio bands. Indeed, I recently made a post about this on the SWLing Post. In truth, though, all bets are off when we move into the broadcast portions of the HF spectrum. Transceiver manufacturers usually don’t guarantee performance outside the ham bands. It makes sense as the focus is placed on ham band filtering.
But I have noticed overloading on the ham radio bands as well.
Earlier today, I did a park activation in Pisgah National Forest with the X6100. Before my activation started, I could hear a local AM broadcaster punching through the X6100’s front end all over the 40M band. I think it was a station on 1010 kHz which is only about 4-5 miles away from the site as the crow flies.
This past weekend, my good friend Vlado (N3CZ) and his wife came over to the QTH for the afternoon. It’s been a while since our families got together, so it was fantastic to hang with them.
I’ve been trying to tempt Vlado to do more field activations–we’ve done a number together in the past and it has always been loads of fun. Thing is, both of us have pretty active family/work lives, so it’s challenging to make schedules work out.
Nonetheless, our 2022 goal is to do at least one activation per month as a team!
MK-911
If you recall, a couple months ago, I posted an activation report and video using my buddy Eric’s 40-10 meter doublet. I called it a “stolen” antenna because it had been on loan to me for so long, I think Eric forgot it even existed.
Exhibit A: The stolen antenna.
Eric’s doublet was build around a Hughes Aircraft MK-911 Dipole Fixture that was designed and manufactured for the US Military and appears to have been part of the PRC-74 manpack radio-set.
I had assumed Eric found this as a one-off at a military surplus sale. Turns out Eric (and a few readers) made me aware that it was available at Fair Radio Sales in Ohio for $10.
Image of the MK-911 from Fair Radio’s product catalog.
I decided to buy two of them: one for me, and one for Vlado. The temptation was strong to purchase a few more just for the 30 feet of 72-ohm military-surplus twinlead, however I understand that there’s a limited inventory and wanted others to be able to purchase this gem.
I was also thinking this antenna fixture would pair beautifully with Vlado’s Yugoslavian RUP-15/PD-8 manpack or even his IC-703 Plus.
Doublet time!
While our wives were catching up, Vlado and I made our way to the storage shed and opened my antenna parts boxes.
I did a little digging and found what I was looking for: some wire I purchased at a thrift store many years ago.
This wire has a black jacket that’s quite slick. Guessing it might be 20 gauge and might even be teflon coated. It was ideal for antennas and eyeing it, I thought there might be enough for two doublets.
For a Norcal-inspired doublet–which covers 40-10–we would need two 22′ legs. I decided (prior to cutting) that I wanted our doublets to go as low as 60 meters (5,332 kHz) and cover everything above. 60 meters is such a useful band. Thing is, I hadn’t done research into suggested leg lengths in advance.
We decided to pick a longer non-resonant length and just give it a go. If it worked, great–if not, we’d cut them down to 22 feet and be happy with 40M and up.
We cut the legs to 31 feet, so there’d be a total of 62 feet of wire in each doublet. Many thanks to my daughter Geneva (K4TLI) for helping stretch, measure, and cut the antenna wire with us!
Assembling the antennas was incredibly simple as there are built-in binding posts attached to the twin lead on the winding fixture.
Vlado and I both decided to use the winder as the center-insulator of the antenna. This is actually how this military fixture was designed to be used. The negative, of course, is that the center insulator is relatively heavy. This isn’t a problem for me at all since I use super strong arborists throw lines to deploy my antennas.
From WD8RIF’s website.
Eric (WD8RIF), by the way, actually detached the twin lead from the fixture and posts on his unit and built a new center-insulator from a discarded 35mm film canister (see photo above). He wanted to keep the weight down so he could support the center of the doublet on his fiberglass masts.
Testing QRV!
I had planned to hook up the doublets to my RigExpert antenna analyzer, then I realized it was essentially an unnecessary step.
The big question for me was, “Will my Elecraft KX2 find impedance matches on 60M and above?”
Vlado and I connected the doublet to the KX2 and tuned to 5,332 kHz. After confirming the frequency was clear, I pressed the ATU button. The KX2’s internal ATU churned for a couple of seconds and confirmed a 1.4:1 match.
Score!
We checked all of the bands above 60M and the matches were even better.
Standing in the middle of my driveway, I asked Vlado to load the POTA.app website and look for CW spots.
I couldn’t put the antenna away without chasing some parks!
We then proceeded to work about three stations on the air in CW with 5 watts. All of them gave us 599 reports!
Vlado chasing a POTA activator.
It was serious fun.
As I mentioned to Vlado, it might have been the first time I’ve ever used an HF “Handy Talky” with a doublet antenna!
In the end, we both walked away with two effective military-grade field doublets. A perfect antenna for our monthly “Team Baklava” activations.
2022 Activation Challenge
Last year, my personal challenge was to validate all of my park and summit activations with 5 watts or less.
Since I’m very much a QRPer and primarily a CW op these days, this turned out to be low-hanging fruit; lower than I would have guessed in this part of the solar cycle.
For 2022, I plan to continue the 2021 five watt challenge and add another layer…
This year, my challenge will be to build a new antenna each month and deploy it at least once during that month during a field activation.
The MK-911 doublet will count as January’s antenna.
I’m going to allow myself to build these antennas from anything and everything. I might even cannibalize a few of my broken/worn-out antennas.
I’ve been so busy these past few weeks, it only hit me yesterday afternoon (Dec 30, 2021) that if I wanted to activate another park or summit in 2021, I needed to do it that same afternoon. I knew that we had plans for today and would visit with friends.
Looking back at 2021
As I’ve mentioned before, I really don’t follow my park and summit statistics with any regularity. For me, each activation and opportunity to play radio is a reward in and of itself.
I’m not a competitive fellow but I’ll admit that I’m in awe of those activators who are! Some have truly mind-blowing activation numbers. I’d encourage you to check out the POTA and SOTA leaderboards!
For SOTA, I set a vague goal of activating 12 summits in 2021–roughly one summit per month.
Many thanks to Josh for sending me this X6100 so promptly and performing the first firmware update!
I took delivery of the X6100 last week after returning from vacation in the Outer Banks. It was bittersweet as I was soeager to check out this new radio but simply had too many projects on the table to complete before Christmas day.
That and in the morning light after our return, my daughter pointed out that one side of my horizontal delta loop antenna had fallen to the ground. Fortunately, I was able to fix the antenna in short order. It’s certainly time to push the schedule up for completely replacing this 10 year old wire antenna!
X6100: Known issues
I had gotten a few messages from X6100 early adopters like Scott (KN3A) and Rich (KQ9L) noting that the current firmware version (the December 7, 2021 release) had taken care of a few initial bugs, but there were still a few outstanding points that specifically affect CW operators. Most notably:
Noise reduction (or DNR) in CW mode severely distorts audio
CW message memories can be stored and saved but cannot yet be played back on the air (SSB message memories are fully functional, however)
Fine tuning is limited to 10 Hz steps at the moment
Someone had also noted possible CW keyer timing issues.
At the same time, I had read mostly positive comments about SSB operation from QRPer readers and subscribers.
Frankly, knowing Xiegu’s history of pushing the production and distribution timeline ahead of a radio being fully-functional and properly tested, I expected a few bugs and issues that would need to be sorted out in firmware updates.
To be very clear: I’m not a fan of the “early adopters are the Beta testers” philosophy. I wish Xiegu would thoroughly Beta test their products so that they were more polished and fully-functional right out the door much like we expect from the likes of Elecraft, Icom, Yaesu, and Kenwood. There are almost always minor post-production bugs to sort out even with these legacy manufacturers, but issues should be of the variety that somehow slips past a team of Beta testers who actually use the radio.
[…]A random note on the Chameleon MPAS lite that I purchased a month ago through DX Engineering; I was surprised to find that the matching unit I received was white – it’s always pictured as black on the Chameleon shop page.
Note the black matching unit to the right of the counterpoise winder.
I was a bit disappointed at first; the “stealthiness” of the black colour was something I was hoping for. It also had me wondering if perhaps I’d somehow gotten a test-unit.
[…]I was curious about the colour change and shot Chameleon a note.
Here’s what they came back with:
“Phillip, due to the black Delrin being much more in demand and causing supply chain issues, we opted to switch to the less commonly used white material. The two colors have the same specifications, and should perform identically, besides the color. The issue being more noticeable for some was anticipated, but could not be helped if we were to continue production. Hit it with some flat spray paint?”
I will add that I do like this antenna a lot and the build quality is excellent. I’ve also come around on the colour; I like to think of the white version as a Canadian-Winter Edition.
[A]ll the best,
-p
ve3omi
It does look like an antenna ready for deployment with the Arctic Forces! 🙂
Thank you for sharing this, Phillip. I had seen a few photos of the white matching unit but assumed it was a different size or configuration than the one I have. This explains it.
I’m not sure if I’d have a preference for one or the other, frankly. If it was being used in a semi-permanent stealthy installation and in an area without snow, I’m sure painting it flat black or wrapping it with a dark color fabric/tape would help.
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Recently on Twitter, I created an informal poll and asked if anyone else named their radios.
I quickly found out that I’m in the 6.7% minority who freely admit that they name their radios.
My gift to myself after completing my very first CW activation in 2020 was to purchase a Mountain Topper MTR-3B from LnR Precision. I’ve always admired these tiny hiker-friendly transceivers and have watched as Steve Weber (KD1JV) updated the design over the years.
