Tag Archives: PSK

News, Portable, POTA, PSK, QRP, Videos

Portable POTA Hunting on a Winter’s Day and Native PSK31 on the Elecraft KX2

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This year, we’ve experienced some cold weather and snow at our mountain home—conditions that always seem to arrive on weekends. While we haven’t had any significant snowfall, the 2–4-inch dustings we’ve received have been enough to coat our steep and winding mountain road. Since our road is still undergoing repairs from the damage caused by Hurricane Helene, there are no guardrails, making it feel a bit sketchy to navigate.

Our family’s approach has been simple: we hunker down and avoid heading into town. Honestly, it’s a great excuse to stay cozy at home.

A Near Miss

On Friday, January 10, 2025, I planned to set aside part of the day for a POTA outing but decided against heading down the mountain. Turns out, that was a wise decision. Unbeknownst to me, a contractor working on a neighbor’s house lost control of his one-ton truck on our slick road. The truck veered off into the creek and narrowly avoided plunging all the way in. While it’s hard to tell from the photo, his truck was precariously balanced on the road’s edge, with the rear passenger tire dangling a good two feet off the ground.

The mishap blocked our road for two full days, as no tow truck could make it up the mountain to retrieve the vehicle.

A Hunting We Will Go!

Undeterred by the weather, I was still determined to squeeze in some POTA time—but in relative comfort. So, I decided to do a little portable POTA hunting from one of our porches.

Since Hurricane Helene took down all of my antennas, I’ve kept a line in a tree near the house for quick antenna deployment. When I want to hop on the air, I simply attach a wire antenna for the bands I plan to use.

That Friday, I deployed my PackTenna 20-meter End-Fed Half-Wave. My goal was to work as many POTA activators as possible, especially since those operating north of me were likely facing some serious winter conditions.

Thanks to my KX2’s ATU, I knew I could find matches on 40, 30, 17, and 12 meters if the resonant bands (20, 15, and 10 meters) were quiet. I decided to capture this hunting session on video, so I turned on the camera and got to work!

Gear:

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Radio

Antenna & Cable Assembly

Case

Logging

Camera/Audio Gear

Portable POTA Hunting

I started scanning for POTA stations within my propagation footprint. Unfortunately, there weren’t many activators on the air. Much of the country was enduring an arctic blast, so I suspect the cold and snow kept many operators indoors. Continue reading Portable POTA Hunting on a Winter’s Day and Native PSK31 on the Elecraft KX2 →

Articles, News, POTA, PSK, QRP, SOTA

2025 Plans: Less About Goals, More About the Journey

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Last week, we recorded an episode of the Ham Radio Workbench podcast. Our main topic was Winter Field Day, but we also discussed our plans for 2025—not just workbench projects but our overall goals and what’s on the calendar.

Lately, I’ve been so focused on the present and immediate future (sorting out post-storm property repairs, etc.) that I hadn’t really taken the time to think about our bigger plans.

I may tweak this list over time, but here’s what’s on my mind so far:

Projects:

  • A proper, thorough shack purge: I really need to cut a lot of the detritus out of my QTH radio space.
  • Attend at least four hamfests with N3CZ as vendors to help accomplish the first point!
  • Use PSK-31 and other digital modes more frequently.
  • Finally build that QCX+!
  • Develop our Swannanoa Valley GMRS network and grow the user base through public information sessions.
  • Spend more time QRPp and experiment with antenna choices: I do love playing radio with one watt or less!

Where I plan to go:

  • The Charlotte Hamfest 
  • RARSfest (timing for this one is always tricky for me, but I’ll do my best!)
  • Four Days in May
  • Hamvention 2025 (I’ll be at the Ham Radio Workbench table with the crew)
  • A multi-week family trip this summer (possibly a road trip or something further afield by air—it all depends on my daughters’ summer studies schedule).
  • WCARS Hamfest (if we’re in the country)
  • The W4 SOTA Fall Campout

I’d love to attend Ozarkcon, but that weekend is a tough one—perhaps if I skip RARSfest, I could make it. I’d also love to attend the Huntsville Hamfest, but I suspect it’ll conflict with university move-in dates for my daughters.

A true bucket list item is Messe Friedrichshafen, but unfortunately, the date this year conflicts with another commitment.

What I’m looking forward to:

  • Checking out the new Yaesu FTX-1F (I paid to reserve one with DX Engineering)
  • Ham Radio Workbenches On The Air (coming in March—details will be announced soon on the HRWB website).
  • Getting back into SOTA (Hurricane Helene really set me back here)
  • Taking my vintage Swiss Army Rucksack to the field!
  • More camping! Depending on the car we choose to replace the Subaru Forester, I may or may not get to use my awesome C6 rooftop tent

I may add more to this list, but you might notice there are no numerical goals—for example, specific targets for POTA or SOTA activations. This year, we’re still focusing on getting back on our feet. Maybe next year, I’ll set goals in that regard.

You might also notice that I don’t have any active goal of growing my YouTube channel’s subscriber base. Indeed, I never have. Honestly, my philosophy has always been that people who enjoy my channel will find it organically. What makes my channel so fun for me is not worrying about subscriber numbers, channel metrics, or stats.

Following the YouTube algorithm often leads to stress, clickbait, and compromising one’s vision. It also creates a certain sameness among channels, which I’m just not interested in. I love the community around my channel and am happy to let it grow naturally.

Thank you for making this QRPer community such an amazing one!

How About You?

I’d love to hear what your plans and projects are for this year. Please comment below!

Kits, Portable, PSK, QRP Radios

The NUE-PSK Digital Modem

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QRPers have long been fans of PSK. And why wouldn’t they? The mode is efficient and uses DSP technology to help discover low bandwidth digital signals.  What that means for the QRPer is: 1 watt + PSK = DX   Very effective use of the juice!

Thing is, PSK has traditionally required the QRPer to bring along some sort of computer and a handful of wires and cables to take PSK to the field.

The American QRP Club has made this easier with the introduction of their portable digital modem–the NUE-PSK. This modem, like other AmQRP products is a kit and requires some experience with surface mount kits.

Here’s the AmQRP description of their modem:

The NUE-PSK is a small 7″ x 4″ x 1″ standalone, battery-operated digital modem using a graphic display for transmit and receive text data, as well as for showing band spectrum and tuning. Just plug in a standard PS2 keyboard and connect to an SSB-capable transceiver like the FT-817 or the PSK-xx transceivers from Small Wonder Labs, and you’ll have an effective digital mode station that goes absolutely anywhere.

The NUE-PSK is a small 7″ x 4″ x 1″ standalone, battery-operated digital modem using a graphic display for transmit and receive text data, as well as for showing band spectrum and tuning. Just plug in a standard PS2 keyboard and connect to an SSB-capable transceiver like the FT-817 or the PSK-xx transceivers from Small Wonder Labs, and you’ll have an effective digital mode station that goes absolutely anywhere.

Why wait? Go check out the specs on their website and also check eHam as reviews come in.