Many thanks to Jonathan (KM4CFT), for sharing the following article about his portable field radio kit, which will be featured on our Field Kit Gallery page. If you would like to share your field kit with the QRPer community, read this post.
CFT1 Field Kit
by Jonathan (KM4CFT)
I thought I would supply my own field kit I recently put together for my CFT1.
This will also be the official announcement of my newest product, which is a CW Key leg strap. The leg strap is something I originally got my dad to fabricate for me out of some scrap metal a while back, and now that I have the version 2 iambic paddles, I thought it would be nice to mass-produce them. They are compatible with any magnetically mounted paddle.
This is my CFT1 Go Bag. It contains everything I need to activate my CFT1 except for a mast or throwline.
The kit consists of the following:
Note: All Amazon links are affiliate/partner links that support QRPer.com at no cost to you.
Labor Day weekend turned out to be full of labor here at QTH K4SWL. My wife and I had numerous projects to tackle, and my daughters had various activities scheduled as well. By Sunday, my wife looked at me and said, “You need a break. Why not spend tomorrow catching up on POTA?”
That was music to my ears.
I messaged my buddy, Vlado, to see if he might be interested in joining me, and he quickly replied, “Of course!”
So on Monday, September 2, 2024, Vlado packed his radio gear in my car, and we discussed where we should go. We had most of the day for radio, but we needed to decide if we’d head north, south, east, or west. In the end, we chose to travel east, as it offered the most options, including one site Vlado had never activated.
We decided to start at Lake James State Park. Since Vlado had only activated Lake James for the first time the previous day at the Paddy’s Creek Access, we opted for the Catawba River Access.
Lake James State Park (US-2739)
It was Labor Day, so we knew Lake James would get busy around lunchtime, which is why we hit it early. I also knew Paddy’s Creek Access would be much busier today because it has the beach, and I remembered how full the parking lot was during my Labor Day activation in 2023!
At 9:00 AM, when Vlado and I arrived at the Catawba River access, we were among the few people there, so we had our pick of spots to set up the POTA station.
For convenience—especially since there had been a deluge of rain the night before—we chose a spot close to the car, where I’ve activated a number of times in the past.
I also took this opportunity to show Vlado how to use an arborist throw line.
While I didn’t record the antenna deployment—frankly, I didn’t think about it at the time—I wish I had. Vlado was a natural!
On his second-ever throw, he snagged the perfect branch to deploy a 40-meter end-fed half-wave antenna.
CFT1 Time!
The CFT1 with Tufteln cover/stand, audio cable and pack with battery.
I knew exactly which radio I wanted to operate during this activation: the CFT1 by Jonathan (KM4CFT).
I had only recently swapped out my Beta unit for a production CFT1. As a thank-you to Beta testers, Jonathan let us keep the units we tested. I worked with Jonathan and Dan to return the Beta unit and compensate them for the difference.
In truth, there were only a few changes, mostly cosmetic, between the Beta and production units. The biggest improvement for me was that the Beta unit lacked a way to adjust the sidetone level independently from the AF gain. The production unit has this feature, which was my primary motivation for upgrading.
In addition, I prefer using radios that match what my readers and subscribers have. When I use a Beta unit, even if the changes are purely cosmetic, it generates more questions.
Interestingly, this wouldn’t be Vlado’s first time using the CFT1. He must have been one of the first people outside the Beta testing team to try it because we used it on Field Day alongside the TR-45L and X6200 (although you won’t see it in my report since it was still somewhat of a secret project at the time).
We paired my MW0SAW 40-meter EFHW and Bamakey TP-III with the CFT1. I also used my Anker Soundcore Mini speaker for audio.
Time to POTA!
Gear:
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Our friend Alan (W2AEW) has just posted a video showing the process of building, adjusting, and aligning the CFT1 5-band CW portable transceiver. If you’ve been thinking about building a CFT1 kit, this video will help guide you [update: see note from Alan below]:
My buddy Jonathan (KM4CFT) made a big announcement this morning.
He’s been working tirelessly since the start of the year, designing and testing a brand-new field-portable CW transceiver he’s dubbed the CFT1.
As of this morning, you can purchase the transceiver kit on HamGadgets.com.
A little backstory
Jonathan first mentioned his plans to design a CW transceiver back when we were doing a joint POTA activation at the end of December 2023. At the time, it was just an idea. When he said he planned to have it ready for sale in 2024, I was skeptical. I mean, he had a day job and had never designed a radio before. How could he pull that off in such a short timeframe?
Fast forward to Four Days in May/Hamvention in May 2024, and wouldn’t you know it, Jonathan had a working prototype on display! I was blown away. Within a couple of weeks, he was contacting us beta testers, eager to get revision one units into our hands.
I got my CFT1 in June and immediately put it through its paces in the shack. Even in beta, this little radio was rock solid – I was seriously impressed!
I thoroughly tested the CFT1 in the shack, both on a dummy load and with my QTH antenna. If you’re into SOTA or POTA and I worked you in June, chances are it was with the CFT1.
Vlado (N3CZ) making field day contacts.
I even took the CFT1 out for a spin on Field Day. Vlado (N3CZ) and I were both impressed with how well it performed in that crazy RF environment. Remember, this isn’t a contest radio, but it didn’t seem to overload at all. Impressive!
When I heard Jonathan was launching the CFT1 today, I figured I’d do a quick POTA activation to showcase this awesome little radio.
The Blue Ridge Parkway (US-3378)
Yesterday morning, I was heading to Mission Hospital in Asheville to visit a family member who had just been admitted. I realized I had enough time for a quick activation at the Folk Art Center on the way.
I arrived at the parking lot around 8:30 AM. It was pretty empty except for the grounds crew. I set up at my usual picnic table.
I paired the CFT1 with my KM4CFT End-Fed Half-Wave, trimmed for 30M with a 40M linked extension. I was hoping for some 40-meter action early in the morning. Setup was a breeze. My throw line cooperated beautifully – the 40M EFHW was practically vertical!
Naturally, I filmed the whole process: setup, activation, and pack-up. Before I started the activation, I spent a few minutes talking about the CFT1 – its design philosophy and what I like about it. Hopefully, this will help you decide if it’s the right radio for you.
Gear:
Note: All Amazon, CW Morse, ABR, Chelegance, eBay, and Radioddity links are affiliate links that support QRPer.com at no cost to you.
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This is my CFT1 Go Bag. It contains everything I need to activate my CFT1 except for a mast or throwline.
