Tag Archives: QRP

News, QRP, QRP Radios, Surveys

Survey #1 Results: What QRP transceiver do you turn to the most in the field?

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This past weekend, I posted the first of several surveys on QRPer.com asking:

“What QRP radio do you tend to use the most in the field?“

The responses started flowing in immediately and within the first day we had already accumulated over 400 votes.

I turned off the survey this morning at 5:00 EDT with a total of 696 responses.

Survey Results

Here’s a pie chart showing the top 26 results in the survey. To see detail, you will need to click on the image below (or click this link) to enlarge it in a new window:

The top choice was the Elecraft KX2 which received 131 votes. I’ll admit, this was my top choice, too.

The KX2 is the most compact, full-featured radio currently on the market. I know of no other radio that weighs less and is smaller in size that also sports options for an internal battery and internal ATU. It’s also one of only about five radio models on the market that has a built-in microphone.

The KX2 is one of the pricier QRP transceivers on the market, so in that sense, it did surprise me that it was number 1.

The Yaesu FT-817 and FT-818 series transceivers took second place with 105 votes.

Since this radio enjoyed one of the longest production runs in the history of amateur radio–and the price floated around $650 US new–we shouldn’t be surprised. It has so many good things going for it; click here if you want a deep dive into why I think the 817/818 is a fantastic field radio.

The Icom IC-705 took third place with 101 votes.

The IC-705 is an incredibly versatile radio as well and it packs some serious performance! It’s also one of the priciest QRP radio on the market at around $1,400 US. Click here to read my full review of the IC-705.

These are only the top three radios–check out the full results below to see how the top ten ranked among a total of 48 entrants.

Full Results…

If you would like to see the actual number of votes for each of the 48 radios in this survey, click the link below to load the rest of the page:
Continue reading Survey #1 Results: What QRP transceiver do you turn to the most in the field? →

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

Postcard Field Report: Pairing the Elecraft KX3 and Tufteln Random Wire

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Believe it or not, the 2023 Hamvention and Four Days In May is only ten days away at time of posting.

Where in the world did the time go–?

If you’re going to Hamvention, I hope to meet you there. When I’m not floating around, I’ll be hanging out at the Ham Radio Workbench/Halibut Electronics table: 3011.

I’m super excited about attending, but I’ve so much to prepare in advance. Every day between now and then is planned out to the max with family activities and projects.

That, and being an introvert (this might surprise some of you), I have to mentally prepare myself for hanging out with 30+ thousand other human beings. I’ll need ten days for that alone. If I appear tired at Hamvention or FDIM, you’ll know why! Ha ha!

Postcard Field Report

I’ve got a load of videos in the pipeline and to keep from falling behind publishing them, you’re going to see more of my slightly shorter “Postcard Field Reports” for the next couple of weeks during my travels.

These postcard reports contain all of the core information, just less wordy.  (In theory!)

Tuttle Educational State Forest (K-4861)

On Wednesday, April 5, 2023, I had a bit of time in the early afternoon to do a POTA activation. Tuttle Educational State Forest was low-hanging fruit as my errands that day took me within a stone’s throw of the park.

I arrived a bit before noon and took some time to record a Hike and Talk video (which will be published in the next couple of weeks).

After the hike, I set up my Elecraft KX3 and paired it with my Tufteln End-Fed Random Wire antenna. Continue reading Postcard Field Report: Pairing the Elecraft KX3 and Tufteln Random Wire →

News, QRP Radios, Surveys

Survey 1: What QRP HF transceiver do you turn to the most in the field?

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Last week, Phil shared results from a survey he conducted on Facebook regarding the most popular radios used for POTA. The survey was informal and, of course, only open to those in the POTA Facebook community.

The survey confirmed my suspicions that both the Yaesu FT-891 and Xiegu G90 were among the top radios used by POTA activators. Heck…I hardly know a POTA op that doesn’t have one of these two rigs–!

The survey also made me realize that I live in the world of QRP and often forget that the vast majority of ham radio operators do not, necessarily.

QRP Radio Survey Series

I thought it might be fun to publish a series of surveys over the course of the next few weeks that specifically focus on QRP transceivers.  Each survey will contain only one question.

These will all be informal surveys, but I’d like to have a fairly specific question in mind with each and would ask that you think about that question and answer it as honestly as you can. Many of these are subjective, so this isn’t always an easy task.

This first question, though? It’s easier to base on fact…

What QRP radio do you use the most in the field?

At the end of the day, our “favorite” radio might not be the one we actually use the most in the field.

In this first survey, please select the QRP radio you use most often in the field. 

Notes:

  • If you see a glaring omission in this list–a popular, mass-produced QRP radio I’ve overlooked–please comment and I’ll add it to the list.  Otherwise, simply select the “Other” choice and provide the manufacturer and model.
  • This list is pretty comprehensive, but I didn’t include some of the more obscure models, nor did I include vintage or Japanese Novice models simply because I see so few people using them as daily drivers in the field.
  • For this survey, I included radios with a maximum output power of roughly 20 watts.
  • The survey form has no place for comments, so if you’d like to tell us about your selection (even if it’s your only QRP radio), feel free to leave a comment on this post!

Thank you!

Survey 1:

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

Picnic Blanket POTA on a beautiful spring day at South Mountains State Park

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Monday, April 10, 2023, was a spectacular day weather-wise. Spring was out in all its glory making it impossible to stay indoors.

That day, I was driving back to the QTH and made a little detour to the Clear Creek Access of South Mountains State Park.

According to my calculations, I had about one hour to play radio. I did have a firm deadline to hop off the air because I needed to take my daughter to a tennis lesson that afternoon. Couldn’t be late to that!

South Mountains State Park (K-2753)

As I pulled into the Clear Creek Access parking area, I noticed a family of five grabbing picnic supplies from their car.

For the first time ever, there was going to be competition for the one single picnic table at the Clear Creek access!

Actually, there would be no competition at all because there was no way in the world I’d ever take over the picnic table when a family could use it. 🙂

They had a much better reason to use a picnic table than me. Frankly, I was super pleased to see someone else besides a POTA activator using that table. I get a real thrill out of seeing families enjoying our public lands.

Plus, I don’t need a table to play POTA so it was a brilliant excuse to pull the picnic blanket out of the car and set up under a beautiful antenna support…I mean, tree.

For this activation, I decided to use my Penntek TR-45L and, for an antenna, two 28 foot lengths of wire.

Continue reading Picnic Blanket POTA on a beautiful spring day at South Mountains State Park →

Accessories, Field Reports, Grab And Go, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, QRP Radios, Reviews, Videos

POTA Field Report: Testing my CP Gear Tactical Aircrew/Pubs Bag with FT-817ND and Armoloq TPA-817 Pack Frame

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Last year, during a Black Friday sale, I took a calculated risk and purchased a bag I hoped would accommodate my Yaesu FT-817ND that has been outfitted with an Armoloq TPA-817 Pack Frame.

CP Gear Tactical Aircrew/Pubs Bag

Rod (VA3ON) first introduced me to CP Gear Tactical–a  military pack manufacturer based in New Brunswick, Canada.

I’d had their their Aircrew/Pubs Bag with Padded Tablet Pocket on my wish list since the Ham Radio Workbench podcast episode where we talked about backpacks and pouches. CP Gear Tactical manufactures a wide variety of gear primarily for the Canadian military market. Everything is made either in Canada or the US (or both).

I contacted CP Gear Tactical shortly after outfitting my FT-817 with the TPA-817 pack frame. I measured the frame carefully and asked if the interior padded pocket (which is actually designed to hold a tablet–might fit my radio.

I never heard back from them. I could have called them, but on Black Friday, when it was on sale for 20% off and free shipping, I decided to throw caution to the wind and simply purchase it. My total price in USD was something like $62 shipped.

As soon as I opened the CP Gear pack, the first thing I did was check to see if the FT-817 with pack frame would fit in the interior pocket.

Much to my surprise, it fit it perfectly!

Indeed, it’s as if the pocket were specifically designed to accommodate the FT-817ND/TPA-817 combo.

Even the middle Velcro strap fits precisely in the middle of the radio between the pack frame side extensions. The strap holds the rig securely; once, I accidentally fumbled while holding the bag and even though it was upside down, the FT-817 remained securely inside. The strap held it in place.

The bag has loads of room inside. In fact, you can very easily transform it into a fully self-contained field radio kit.

I actually give a small tour of this pack in my activation video below, so if you’d like to see some of the exterior pockets, I would encourage you to check it out!

Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace (K-6856)

On Tuesday, April 11, 2023, I once again popped by the Vance Birthplace for a leisurely POTA activation–I thought this activation, in particular, would be a good one to test my new Aircrew/Pubs bag! Continue reading POTA Field Report: Testing my CP Gear Tactical Aircrew/Pubs Bag with FT-817ND and Armoloq TPA-817 Pack Frame →

Accessories, Articles, Field Radio Kits, Field Reports, Grab And Go, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP

Testing my new Headrest QRP POTA Field Kit!

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I love field radio kits.

If you’ve read my “Anatomy of a Field Kit” series, you’ve likely gathered that field kits are a bit of an obsession. [Yeah, understatement alert!]

My field kits roughly fall into two main categories: modular and fully self-contained. My modular kits are ones where components like the battery, antenna, throw line, key, and radio are in separate pouches and can easily be combined to make a complete station before I leave for an activation.

My fully self-contained kits are ones that quite literally have everything needed to perform a park or summit activation in one pouch or box. A good example that I’ve documented here is my MTR-3B field kit.

For more on this, again, check out my “Anatomy of a Field Kit” series.

Vehicle kit

If you’re a devoted park and/or summit activator, I think it’s important to keep a dedicated kit kit in your car at all times. Why?

  • It’s ready to grab for impromptu activations
  • It’s handy in case of road-side emergencies in remote areas
  • It’s always  accessible to demonstrate amateur radio to those who are curious
  • It’s always always there for those times when you hadn’t planned to play radio, but the opportunity presents itself

I always have a full radio kit in my Subaru and over the years, I’ve changed and adapted it. For the most part, though, it’s been located in the trunk/boot and lives with anything and everything else I keep back there. Sometimes, it’s in the way when we need to fill that trunk space with family items for a trip or when we’re hauling things around town. Other times, it’s floating/sliding around freely in the back.

On long family trips, I’ve been known to store radios under the floor, but it’s a true hassle to remove them because I have to remove anything in the trunk before lifting the floor.

Contraband I hid in the car during our two month Canada trip last year.

I’ve always wanted a way to store my kit in the car in a dedicated space. In the past, I’ve tried to make a kit that could fit under the driver’s seat–thinking that might be ideal–but there’s very little clearance under it and it’s difficult to remove.

Enter the BROG Headrest Pouch Kit

Before I placed my initial order for the Blue Ridge Overland Gear (BROG) Gadget Bag, I checked out other items on their website. One that immediately caught my attention was their Headrest Kit.

It consists of a Velcro panel that fits around a vehicle headrest and a pouch (or pouches) attach to it.

BROG caters to Overlanders and vehicle storage/organization is huge in that community. The headrest kit makes a lot of sense: it’s using space that’s accessible, doesn’t interfere with any passengers, is off the floor, and is otherwise underutilized!

The big questions, of course:

  1. would the pouch offer enough space to store an entire radio kit,
  2. and would the kit weight too much for the Velcro back to hold it in place?

I asked for the Headrest Pouch Kit ($47.99) to be sent with my Gadget Bag order.

BTW: Big thanks to BROG for giving me flexibility with this order. Since I had no experience with their gear, I asked that they send me a list of items and allow me to evaluate them, then pay (full price) for what I decided to keep. 

Would it work?

I knew I’d need to store a very small transceiver in this dedicated pack. A few could potentially fit the bill–namely the:

  • Mountain Topper MTR-3B
  • Venus SW-3B
  • QCX-Mini
  • TEN-TEC R4020

I eliminated the QCX-Mini from this list because it’s mono band (mine is set for 20M) plus, I really love the field kit I already designed for it. Same for the MTR-3B–the kit I built for it is now time-tested and I love it as-is. The R4020, while quite compact, is the largest in this group of wee rigs. Continue reading Testing my new Headrest QRP POTA Field Kit! →

Field Reports, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, SOTA, Videos

QRP DX: A beautiful day for SOTA on Flat Top Mountain!

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The weather on the morning of April 4, 2023, was absolutely outstanding!

I woke up that morning, drank a cup of coffee, looked outside and knew what would be in store the day: a SOTA activation!

My schedule was actually open that fine Tuesday because my daughters were on spring break from school, so the only problem was deciding which summit to activate. A good problem, in other words!

After staring at the SOTL.AS map for a while, I decided to activate Flat Top Mountain (W4C/EM-026) near Blowing Rock, North Carolina. One of the main reasons I chose Flat Top was because the roughly five mile round-trip hike is such a pleasant, casual one. My left ankle was recuperating from a bit of a strain, so I knew Flat Top’s flat, wide carriage trails would fulfill my need for exercise without straining my ankle (which, by the way, is doing much better now).

The drive to Flat Top is a beautiful one–a good third of it is on the Blue Ridge Parkway including the Linn Cove Viaduct which offers up stunning long-range views. I made my way to Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, at BRP milepost 294, where I parked the car and put on my hiking boots.

The park was pretty active for early April, no doubt because the weather was so stunning.

I checked out the beautiful Flat Top Manor to see if renovations had been completed.

It looks very close to completion, I have to assume they’ll be open again soon. The old manor was looking beautiful against clear skies!

Flat Top Manor was built by in 1901 by Moses Cone who was a very successful local textile entrepreneur, conservationist and philanthropist. It’s so fitting that this beautiful bit of architecture and these expansive grounds (which includes no less than two SOTA summits) are now protected by the National Park Service for all to enjoy.

I started my hike by following one of the carriage trails in front of the manor. It leads past a farm building, then crosses under the Blue Ridge Parkway two-lane road. Continue reading QRP DX: A beautiful day for SOTA on Flat Top Mountain! →

Articles, Field Reports, Hams, Morse Code, News, People, Portable, POTA, QRP, Skills, Videos

Join Brooks (KO4QCC) on his First CW POTA Activation–!

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Friday, March 24, 2023 was a very special day for Brooks (KO4QCC) and for K4SWL.

I’m so excited to share this with you.

You might recall that, last year, I met up with Brooks at Tuttle Educational State Forest as he performed his very first POTA activation in SSB. He did such an amazing job!

Since I first met Brooks, he’s always had a goal of learning CW and activating parks and summits using Morse Code.

I’ve been in touch with Brooks regularly over the past year and have followed him as he progressed on his CW journey.

Though, like me, he has an active family life, Brooks has found the time to practice CW both through lessons and actual on-the-air contacts. Fortunately, this is all possible because–again, like me–his wife and family are very supportive of his amateur radio adventures!

Early this year, we met on 80 meters and had a good one hour rag chew at about 12 words per minute. I could tell he was ready to do his first POTA activation in CW.

To give him a little real-world practice, we decided to hit the field on a day when I was performing an activation and he could log for me in real-time.

I could tell by how well he was logging as I worked stations at 18WPM  that he was ready to perform his first activation, so we made it a goal to do so within the next couple weeks.

Fast-forward to 8:30 AM on March 24 when Brooks and I met at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Coincidentally, this is the same location where I performed my first CW activation!

We deployed his MFJ-1984MP 40 meter EFHW (End-Fed Half Wave) and connected it to his Xiegu X5105 transceiver in very short order. Brooks also chose his lucky CW Morse paddle for this activation.

But before hopping into the field report, let’s back up just a bit…

First CW Activation: Getting there…

Brooks very kindly wanted to share a bit about his CW journey in this field report. He writes:

From the moment I knew of its existence, becoming a POTA activator using CW has been at the top of my “radio bucket list.”

It seemed like the ultimate challenge and I knew I would never be satisfied until I was able to confidently activate parks using CW. There is also a bit of mystique to CW that other modes lack, making it inherently more interesting to me. In this article, I am going to share the path I took to learn CW and how it culminated in a very successful CW activation.

Continue reading Join Brooks (KO4QCC) on his First CW POTA Activation–! →

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Morse Code, Portable, POTA

KN4OK’s Mini POTA Field Report from the Florida Keys

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Many thanks to Dave (KN4OK) who shares the following mini POTA field report:

POTA Activation K-3620 Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail State Park.

By Dave (KN4OK)

On April 8th, 2023, on our way to the Overseas trail near the 7 mile bridge, is a great place to activate with a picnic table and shade on the water.

I was smart enough to mention to the wife that we were going to activate a park and she was carrying my Elecraft KX2.  Of course, in my hand was the antenna, the MFJ-1889T, and counterpoise wires that I borrowed from my WRC antenna.

After a mile hike on the trail, we stopped at the picnic table and I set the station up on 17 meters CW.  The SWR was pretty good and I made 9 contacts with no problem.  I then switched the radio and antenna to 20 meters and obtained a better SWR.

One thing that I noticed: extending the counter poise wire (33ft) all the way out for both bands helped a great deal.  The jumper holes on the antenna were also changeable and helped as well.  MFJ has a nice manual for band setups, but be sure to adjust for best SWR.  Very easy to do and works great.

The 20 meter band was also a big success and I was very pleased with the performance of the MFJ 1899T antenna.  Thanks for all the previous discussion of the similar antennas that inspired me to take out my antenna.

The end result was 19 contacts, all CW in about 45 minutes on a beautiful day!

My Equipment:

Thanks to all my chasers and QRP rocks!

72

Dave KN4OK dit dit

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

Snagging a little POTA QRP DX with the Chelegance MC-750 and Xiegu G106

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Over the past couple of months, I’ve been trying to give the Xiegu G106 a thorough workout in the field. This little HF QRP radio is on loan to me from Radioddity who has very kindly been quite flexible about the loan period.

I want to give the G106 a fair shake-out because I believe it must be the least expensive multi-mode, full HF coverage transceiver on the market. Field ops are always looking for portable, affordable, effective radios to take to the field so many are considering the G106.

Of course, you simply can’t get benchmark performance out of a low-cost leader.

My full review of the Xiegu G106 will be in the May 2023 issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine. It’s one of the longest reviews I’ve published in TSM because I try to fully explore the pros and cons of this pint size rig in order that pretty much anyone can make a purchase decision based on their own preferences and requirements.

POTA Plan B

On Saturday, March 18, 2023, I  decided to take the G106 out for a very brief activation during a return trip to my QTH.

My park of choice was Tuttle Educational State Forest (K-4861) because it’s conveniently located, is an excellent POTA site, and I wanted to fit in a quick hike as well. Tuttle’s two mile loop fit the bill perfectly.

When I arrived at the park entrance, however, the gates were closed. I had double checked Tuttle’s schedule in advance and was under the impression that they had started opening the park on Saturdays again for the season.

I really wanted to fit in a decent hike so the next logical park choice was Lake James State Park. It didn’t require a major detour and I was certain it would be open.

Lake James State Park (K-2739)

Lake James has two major access points: the Paddy’s Creek Access and Catawba River Access.

I prefer the Catawba River Access even though it’s much smaller than Paddy’s Creek. For one thing, it’s always less busy and they’ve better spots to set up for POTA (since I like hanging wires trees more often than not). Although the Catawba River access lacks the trail network found at Paddy’s Creek, they do have a few trails that can be stitched together for a nice workout.

Lake James State Park Map Catawba River Access

After arriving at the park, I put on my hiking boots and walked the Fox Den Loop and a bit of the Lake Channel Overlook.

I hiked back to my car, ate a bite of lunch, then grabbed my radio gear for some cheap POTA fun!

Higher Bands

The great thing about the G106 compared with some of my more affordable QRP radios (MTR-3B, SW-3B, R4020, TR-35, etc.) is that it’s not limited to CW and it covers all bands from 80 to 10 meters. Continue reading Snagging a little POTA QRP DX with the Chelegance MC-750 and Xiegu G106 →