Tag Archives: PackTenna EFHW

Field Reports, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, Videos

Major POTA fun with the TEN-TEC R4020 and PackTenna 20M EFHW!

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The other day, I was thinking…

If  2014 Thomas looked at 2024 Thomas’ QRP radio inventory, he wouldn’t believe the number of radios he’d accumulated in a mere decade.

It’s a little insane, really.

The thing is, over the years, I’ve picked up some great QRP bargains at local hamfests and via various online classifieds. While it’s not exactly “chump change,” you can often find good used QRP radios for less than $300.

Sometimes it’s hard (for me) to pass up those deals.

One such deal was a local fellow who wanted to sell his Ten-Tec R4020 a few years ago.  He listed it for $125, and there weren’t any takers for a few days. (Keep in mind, this was a wee bit before our current CW Renaissance.)

I contacted him and snapped it up. I thought the R4020 might be a fun little two-band radio for POTA and SOTA adventures.

I was right!

The R4020 is an incredibly fun radio to use in the field.

The audio is superb. It has a low noise floor, great sensitivity, and a well chosen filter width. What the R4020 lacks in features, it makes up for with audio fidelity, in my opinion.

I look forward to each and every activation with this QRP wonder.

Speaking of which…

Tuttle Educational State Forest (K-4861)

On Wednesday, January 3, 2024, I made some time in the afternoon to stop at Tuttle Educational State Forest.

I believe I was on the way back to the QTH that afternoon after an overnight with my folks in Hickory, NC.

I love Tuttle, but it had been a while since I completed an activation here. In the activation video (below) I said it had been a couple of months, but later I checked and realized it had been four months! Wow! Hard for me to believe it had been that long!

That day, the park was void of visitors. I was the only person in the parking lot. No surprise here: kids were just heading back to school after a long Christmas break, so there were no field trips on site.

Since there was no competition in the picnic area, I decided to grab a site I might not have actually used before in previous Tuttle activations. I’m evidently working on my WATPT (Worked All Tuttle Picnic Tables) award!

First, a quick inventory…

Before heading to Hickory the previous day, I grabbed the little Blue Ridge Outdoors pouch that held my R4020 and much of the supplies I’d need to get on the air.

I knew, though, that this wasn’t a fully self-contained field kit. Not yet, at least. I hoped that between my main radio gear pack and what I had in the car, I could piece together an entire station.

In my activation video, I speak to the mental checklist I use to make sure I have all of the necessary components to complete my field kit. I did this on site as I set up (typically, this is done prior to leaving the QTH).

Fortunately, I had everything I needed, including an external speaker.

Side note: Some of you might notice the (disproportionately) large Bioenno battery I used during this activation. Yes, it’s crazy overkill for this wee QRP radio. I’d normally use a 3Ah battery, but frankly, I need to exercise my 15Ah battery from time-to-time, too! It gets the least amount of field time because I normally save it for my QRO radios that I use so little in the field.

Gear:

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On The Air

I’d packed my PackTenna Mini 20 meter EFHW with the R4020.

My 40 meter PackTenna EFHW would have been a better choice–since it would have been resonant on both of the R4020’s bands (20 and 40M)–but at the time of day I was operating, I knew 20 meters would serve me well, so 20 meters it was! Continue reading Major POTA fun with the TEN-TEC R4020 and PackTenna 20M EFHW! →

Field Reports, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, Skills, Videos

Keying In The Rain: One rather soggy but incredibly fun POTA activation!

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I’m lucky enough to live in a part of the world where–by and large–the weather is pretty darn nice.

In fact, I recently received a comment from a reader who jokingly said that I should work for the tourism board of western North Carolina because the weather always seems so pleasant in my POTA/SOTA videos.

It’s true: most of the time I hit the field to play radio, the weather is very pleasant.

That said, you see more of these “fair weather” activations because I tend not to make videos of ones in poor conditions mainly because I don’t like managing the camera in high winds, heavy rains, or even super cold conditions–especially when I want to get in and out of the field quickly. The camera tends slows everything down.

On Friday, December 1, 2023, though, I decided to do a park activation in the rain and make a video! Here’s my field report:

Pisgah National Forest (K-4510)

That Friday morning, I dropped my daughters off at classes, then made my way to the Mills River library to put the finishing touches on a field report and publish it. It was rainy and I wasn’t complaining; it had been a very dry fall in WNC up to that point.

After I published my field report and attempted to catch up on the email backlog a bit, I hopped in the car and headed to the Sycamore Flats picnic area in Pisgah National Forest (K-4510) and Pisgah Game Lands (K-6937).

That day, knowing it would be soggy, I packed my Discovery TX-500 which is pretty much rain-proof. By this, I mean that it’s designed to cope with rain, but it’s not designed to be completely submerged in water.

Truth be told, I had no intention of making an activation video. Once I arrived on site, though, I thought, “Why the heck not?” After all, other than being rainy and chilly, conditions were pretty pleasant. That and my OSMO action camera is completely waterproof.

I grabbed the camera and started filming the activation while closing up the car.

Setting Up

When playing POTA in the rain, I tend to select picnic tables or sites that are under the canopy of trees if at all possible. Trees not only provide antenna supports, but they also help divert a bit of the rain.

I found an ideal site under the canopy of a few hemlocks.

I deployed my PackTenna end-fed half-wave (EFHW) oriented (nearly) vertically and with the feed point close to the tree trunk so that it would be better protected from the rain. I wasn’t worried about the antenna getting wet, but I also didn’t want the toroid and windings to get completely soaked either. It’s never a bad idea to use what bit of natural protection the trees can offer.

As you can see in the photo above, I had my TX-500 completely exposed, but the battery, in-line fuse, and (to some extent) the speaker mic were all protected in the TX-500’s Telesin Case.

As always, I used my Rite In The Rain notepad which is a champ at handling wet conditions. Continue reading Keying In The Rain: One rather soggy but incredibly fun POTA activation! →

Antennas

PackTenna linked 20/40 meter EFHW in stock (for the moment)

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Update (one hour after publishing this post): It appears they’ve already sold out again. Sorry! I’m sure more will be produced in the near future. 

Last night, during a recording of the Ham Radio Workbench podcast, George (KJ6VU) noted that he had just replenished stock of the Packtenna 20/40 End-Fed Half-Wave.

This particular antenna has a tuned 20 meter radiator and an additional 33′ of antenna wire finished off with strain loops and gold banana connectors. To operate on 40 meters, simply plug in the additional wire and connect the strain relief loops to the supplied S-Hook clip.

These antennas are made in batches and sell out very quickly (indeed, during the show recording George sold nearly half his stock).  This morning, there are still a few left.

I mention this since I know a number of readers have been waiting for this particular linked EFHW to be in stock again.

Click here to check the PackTenna linked 40/20 EFHW.

Field Reports, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP

Pairing the Penntek TR-45L and PackTenna 20M EFHW for a Quickie POTA Activation

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We need to do a little time-travel in this short field report…

In 2022, I accumulated so many activation videos that I have a small backlog and some that got lost in the shuffle. The following activation report is one that I meant to post in November, but it got lost in the shuffle.

So let’s time-travel…

On October 20, 2022, I pulled into Tuttle Educational State Forest to enjoy quick a POTA activation with my Penntek TR-45L.

I remember now that I wanted to hold off publishing this video until John (WA3RNC) at Penntek had time to ship the bulk of the radios from his first production run of fifty units. Demand has been very high for this sweet rig and for good reason: it performs brilliantly, is fun to use, sports amazing audio, and (with its Apolloesque design) strikes the right nostalgia chord for many of us.

Tuttle Educational State Forest (K-4861)

I had a very short window to do this activation–a maximum of 45 minutes or so.  You see, I still had a good 1.5 hour drive back to the QTH and needed to pop by the post office to pick up parcels before they closed at 17:00 local.

I had planned to pair the TR-45L with my PackTenna random wire antenna and use the 45L’s Z-Match tuner, but I discovered I’d packed the PackTenna 20M EFHW instead.

No problem there as the PackTenna 20M EFHW is very efficient and (of course) resonant on 20 meters, so I needed to make sure the TR-45L’s ATU was bypassed before hopping on the air! Continue reading Pairing the Penntek TR-45L and PackTenna 20M EFHW for a Quickie POTA Activation →

Field Reports, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, QRP Radios

Cheap POTA thrills with my new-to-me TEN-TEC R4020 QRP CW transceiver!

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Last year, I made an impulse purchase.

You’re shocked, right–?

Right.

You see, I did something I’d never suggest others do: in a moment of boredom, I casually cruised the classifieds listings found on QTH.com.

One of the very first listings was for a TEN-TEC R4020 CW QRP transceiver. The price, if memory serves, was $120 (+/- $10) shipped.

Ten-Tec Model R4020 (Product Photo: Ten-Tec)

Without even thinking, I sent a message to the seller:

“I’ll buy it if it’s still available!“

He responded noting I was the first to reply to the ad, so it was mine if I wanted it.

I did, of course.

The R4020 arrived that same week, I opened the box, applied power to confirmed it powered up, then placed it on the top shelf in my shack.

At the time, I had a mountain of review and evaluations in process along with several articles in the pipeline for TSM and one for RadCom, and simply didn’t have time to properly explore the R4020. I thought it might be fun saving it as a little reward for meeting my deadlines.

Then, frankly, I just forgot about the R4020. This spring was a very busy time for me family-wise, then I spent the summer in Canada, and most of this fall has been all about catching up after having spent the summer in Canada. Funny how that works!

Fast-forward to November 11th, 2022 when I was packing a field radio kit to take on an overnight trip and I noticed the R4020 on the top shelf! My reward, finally–!

I quickly packed the R4020 in my Spec-Ops Order Pouch along with a 3Ah Bioenno LiFePo4 battery and a power cable.

South Mountains State Park (K-2753)

On Saturday, November 12, 2022, I jumped in the car and headed to South Mountains State Park with the R4020.

This past year, I’ve mostly set up at South Mountain’s Clear Creek Access on the west side of the park, but this time I decided to make my way to the equestrian picnic area near the main entrance and ranger station.

Continue reading Cheap POTA thrills with my new-to-me TEN-TEC R4020 QRP CW transceiver! →

Field Reports, Morse Code, News, People, Portable, POTA, QRP

3 Watts of Fun: Pairing the Elecraft KX1 and PackTenna 20M EFHW at South Mountains State Park!

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On Monday, September 12, 2022, I had one primary objective in mind: to test the Eton Elite Satellite portable shortwave radio.

Many of you know that besides being a QRPer, I’m also an SWL or shortwave listener. Over on my other blog, the SWLing Post, we post news, information, guest posts, and reviews covering the diverse world of shortwave radio and international broadcasting.

Occasionally, I evaluate new receivers and the Eton Elite Satellit is the latest shortwave portable from the Eton Corporation.  It was meant to be their flagship, benchmark portable but unfortunately early production units were plagued with a bit of internally-generated noise. On September 12, I was trying to sort out just how much this internal QRM affected the radio’s performance.

South Mountains State Park (K-2753)

I wanted to go to a known RF-quiet area to check the Elite Satellit and the South Mountains State Park Clear Creek Access was an easy detour during my errands that day.

The Elite Satellit

First thing I did after arriving on site was to put the Elite Satellit through some basic paces (AM/SSB, Mediumwave, Shortwave, FM, AIR, etc.). I also compared it with the Tecsun PL-990 portable.

I made a long list of notes and observations to send to Eton that afternoon.

After I finished the tests, I checked my watch and–woo hoo!–I had just enough time to squeeze in a short activation. I only had a 45 minute window, so this activation needed to be a very quick one.

I had two radio kits with me: The Mountain Topper MTR-3B kit, and the Elecraft KX1 kit.  I chose the Elecraft KX1 because I had such a blast using it the previous day at Lake James.

I had a number of antennas in my pack, but chose the excellent PackTenna Mini End-Fed Half Wave that I cut for 20 meters. This is one of my go-to SOTA antennas since it’s compact, rugged, efficient, and easy to deploy even if your only option is a short tree or telescoping mast as is often the case on a summit.

I felt like 20 meters would be a worthy band for the time of day and recent propagation trends as well. Hopefully, it would be productive enough to provide the 10 needed contacts to validate the activation.  If I needed, I could use it on 30 meters with either its internal ATU or (more likely) the Elecraft T1 that was also along for the ride.

I deployed the PackTenna within three minutes. Very easy and straight-forward setup.
Continue reading 3 Watts of Fun: Pairing the Elecraft KX1 and PackTenna 20M EFHW at South Mountains State Park! →

Field Reports, News, POTA, QRP

Moody weather and a trailside activation with the amazing Discovery TX-500 and PackTenna EFHW

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As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m starting to sort out the gear I’ll take on a long road trip this summer. I still haven’t quite decided which radio will accompany my Elecraft KX2, but the lab599 Discovery TX-500 is on my very short list.

I pulled the TX-500 yesterday to do a firmware update and found my logbook for an activation I made on February 16, 2022. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember writing the field report for that activation.

I checked my YouTube channel and, sure enough, buried at the bottom of my video list was the activation video marked as “unlisted.”

That bit of time between mid-February and mid-March was crazy for me. I was in isolation for a week (thanks Covid) and had a very hectic family schedule. I accumulated a small backlog of videos then and this one was lost simply lost in the shuffle.

Here’s the report and video from that activation:

Clear Creek Trail

It was Wednesday, February 16, 2022, and I was driving to my parents’ house to help them with a few projects. I had enough time to make a little detour to the Clear Creek Access of South Mountains State Park (K02753) and had two things in mind: a good hike and trailside activation.

The weather? Man oh man was it was fickle.

On the interstate, I got caught in a proper downpour and traffic slowed to a crawl.

I thought about throwing in the towel then, but I made a promise to myself that I would continue driving to the park if it wasn’t raining when I approached the park exit on the interstate.

You know what? The rain stopped maybe 3 miles before the exit. So I continued my drive. Continue reading Moody weather and a trailside activation with the amazing Discovery TX-500 and PackTenna EFHW →

Field Radio Kits, Field Reports, Morse Code, News, POTA, QRP, SOTA

SOTA: Breaking in the Venus SW-3B on Dogback Mountain & taking in Wisemans’ View!

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When I take a new radio to the field, I often don’t know what to expect until I arrive at the site and put it on the air. It’s one thing to use a radio in the shack, and quite another to use it in the field.

Earlier this year, I purchased a Venus SW-3B, three band QRP transceiver after much poking and prodding from readers and subscribers.  I actually contacted Dale (BA4TB) at Venus and asked for a loaner to do a review, but he had no units set aside for loans, so instead offered me a coupon code. I was hesitant to purchase yet another QRP radio–which is why I asked for a loaner–but his coupon discounted the radio enough I could even afford to splurge for expedited shipping.  He made money and I didn’t have to worry about loan periods, etc. It turned out to be a win/win.

I knew I wanted the SW-3B’s maiden voyage to be a SOTA summit, but I had to wait for a good weather window.

On Thursday, February 10, 2022, I got that opportunity!

Dogback Mountain (W4C/EM-066)

I learned about Dogback Mountain from my buddy Dave (W4JL) who activated it earlier this year. He told me it was a drive-up summit and was high enough to even rack up winter bonus points.

Back on January 26, 2022–during my POTA RaDAR run–I tried to activate Dogback Mountain, but the forest service road was too icy in all of the wrong places. I made it to within three miles of the summit but stopped and performed an activation of Pisgah Game Land and Pisgah Forest instead.

The road had no ice on it February 10, although it was very muddy and slippery in spots. Made for a very enjoyable drive in the Subaru, although post-activation you would have never guessed I’d washed the car the day before!

I arrived on site and parked the car at a pull-off that was well within the activation zone of the summit.  Dave was right: this summit was very accessible (well, as long as your vehicle has a bit of clearance–this isn’t a road for sports cars or low sedans).

I walked up the short path to the true summit and was absolutely gobsmacked by the views of Linville Gorge, Table Rock, and Hawksbill Mountain. Continue reading SOTA: Breaking in the Venus SW-3B on Dogback Mountain & taking in Wisemans’ View! →

Field Radio Kits, Field Reports, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP

POTA RaDAR Run Final Activation: Testing the new MTR-3B field kit at Tuttle Educational State Forest

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On January 26, 2022, I fit in multiple park activations in one day as a RaDAR (Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio) run. My hope was to activate four or five sites between 14:00 – 21:30 UTC.

Here are the field reports and videos of my first four activations:

The next park in my run (#5) was Tuttle Educational State Forest and it was the final park in this modest RaDAR run!

I packed up the gear at Johns River Game Land in a matter of three minutes, popped it all in the car, then drove 8 minutes to nearby Tuttle Educational State Forest which, at this point, almost feels like a home away from home.

Tuttle Educational State Forest (K-4861)

As I pulled into the Tuttle parking lot, I found my buddy Max (W4GZ) activating the park from his truck. It was no surprise finding Max here since I had just worked him Park-To-Park (P2P) from Johns River next door.

Max delivered some precious cargo: some more of his mom’s homemade QRP pickles!

“Them’s QRP pickles!”

Max continued to activate Tuttle from his truck while I set up my station. Continue reading POTA RaDAR Run Final Activation: Testing the new MTR-3B field kit at Tuttle Educational State Forest →

Events, Field Reports, Morse Code, Portable, POTA, QRP

POTA RaDAR Run Activation #2: Pisgah National Forest & Pisgah Game Land

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As mentioned in my last field report, on January 26, 2022, I decided to fit in multiple park activations in one day as a RaDAR (Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio) run. My hope was to activate four or five sites between 14:00 – 21:30 UTC.

The first activation at Lake James State Park went so well, it started me out a little ahead of schedule.

After packing up my gear at Lake James, I began a 40 minute drive to the second site–Dogback Mountain–where I hoped to do a POTA two-fer along with a Summits On The Air activation.

The drive was beautiful. Only twenty minutes into the trip, I came to the forest service road that lead to Dogback Mountain. For a six mile drive, Google Maps was telling me it would take about 20 minutes, so I knew the dirt road would require slow driving.

The road was actually in pretty good shape, but there are rocky and rough spots that pretty much require good vehicle ground clearance. My Subaru had no issues at all–in fact, I love driving on back roads like this!

Three or four miles into the forest service road I reached an impasse.

While there hadn’t been snow in the area for at least a week, the north slope portions of the road were quite icy. The thaw and night time freezing pretty much meant that there was no snow to navigate–only ice, and I’m not a big fan of ice.

I already passed through two sections of ice where I could still manage a little traction on the side of the road (at least half the car had traction). At one point, though, I saw a large section of icy road ahead, so I parked the car to investigate what it looked like over the crest of the hill.

It was so icy, I struggled to find a spot to walk on to peek over the hill and almost slipped once. That hill was pretty steep and I could see no spots for the car to get traction. Remembering what my wife said that morning (“Don’t do anything crazy, okay?“) and knowing that the worst thing for my RaDAR run would be getting stuck in a spot recovery vehicles might struggle with, I chose the option of forgoing the summit activation.

Frankly, if the summit activation was the only thing on the schedule that day, I would have likely parked, then hiked 3 miles to the summit along the forest service road. But my RaDAR run left no time for this.

Fortunately, where I parked was firmly in the two-fer zone of Pisgah National Forest and Pisgah Game Land!

Pisgah National Forest (K-4510) and Pisgah Game Land (K-6937)

I parked the car on one of the many roadside camping areas right there on the ridge line. It was an ideal spot for a field activation: good altitude, no obstructions, and lots of trees. Continue reading POTA RaDAR Run Activation #2: Pisgah National Forest & Pisgah Game Land →