As you read in day 1 of this story, I landed up in Montana opportunistically. The plan for day 2 was to say goodbye to our visiting family, then make our way north from Kalispell, MT via Eureka, MT and head for home. We’d stop on the way to visit with friends and, of course do one more POTA activation.
Operating position at K-4848. This spot is at the south end of Lower Stillwater Lake.
After departing Kalispell we arrived at Lower Stillwater Lake, part of K-4848, at around 11am MT.
There is one picnic table near a boat launch and it was vacant so I got to work quickly and set up. I had brought along a lightweight kit consisting of my VE6VID EFHW, Elecraft AX-1, the KX3, a battery, a key, a paper logbook and some extra bits like carabiners, a bit of masonry string and a small mast that I landed up not using. With my wife and doggo along for the ride, I didn’t want to take too much time to set up and operate, so the natural choice would have been the Elecraft AX1 antenna, but with conditions being as soft as they were a day earlier, the resonant wire antenna seemed the better choice for the extra 5 minutes it would take to set up.
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
In early August 2023 I was lucky to be able to activate parks in beautiful West Montana on such short notice.
As opportunity would have it, my brother Dan, AG7GM, and Sister-in-Law Val were at the tail end of visiting with us and wanted to do a drive on Glacier National Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road as part of their return journey home. We had attempted this trip with them some years ago but were met with inclement weather and were turned around after landslides blocked the road. After an overnight stop in Kalispell for all of us, they would continue towards home and we would head back to ours.
The preparation involved plotting out which of the 9 parks I could tackle along the routes I would be travelling. I settled on K-0028, Glacier National Park and K-4848, Stillwater State Forest. But, still, my activations would need to be opportunistic in nature and involve a willing family allowing me to partake in one of my favourite activities.
Before you do this road trip, you need to understand that the Going-to-the-Sun Road is highly popular and the park restricts the number and type of vehicles that pass along it each day. You can find out more details about Going-to-the-Sun Road here. While their advance booking system granted me one vehicle pass, I needed two and was unsuccessful in the days before the actual trip to secure a second one. Luckily (there’s that word again) we arrived after 3pm when passes are not required at this time of year. I was absolutely stoked as I love driving on mountain roads!
Update: Also, please note that the G106 is on sale at Radioddity at time of posting. With our affiliate link pricing is only $264 US (see note at end of review). Please read this review prior to making a purchase decision!
An in-depth review of the Xiegu G106 QRP HF transceiver
by Thomas (K4SWL)
Last year––in May of 2022, that is––Xiegu announced a new compact field radio that would be added to their line of transceivers: the Xiegu G106.
Xiegu has really made a name for themselves over the past few years with several transceiver offerings, many of which have become very popular. Among these:
The Xiegu G90 is a 20-watt transceiver with an excellent built-in ATU. The G90 has become a very popular field radio over the past few years.
The Xiegu X5101 is a five-watt shack-in-a-box HF transceiver covering 160-6 meters. The X5105 has become a go-to QRP portable due to its fine built-in ATU and built-in rechargeable battery pack.
The Xiegu X6100 is much like the X5105, in that it’s also a shack-in-a-box QRP transceiver, but it leverages SDR technology to provide a beautiful color spectrum display and a host of features not found on its predecessors. Many have adopted the X6100 because its operating system is Linux-based and many enthusiasts have created their own X6100 interface that promised direct digital mode operation.
Because we’re seeing more products like these from Xiegu, the up-and-coming Xiegu G106 stirred interest.
Moreover, Xiegu has become a low-cost leader among HF transceiver manufacturers. In each of the reviews I’ve published about Xiegu radios, my summary statement is that each unit offers a lot of performance for the price. Xiegu transceivers don’t have the most robust receiver front-ends, and the audio is unrefined, but their rigs get the job done and have some serious “fun factor.”
So when I first learned about the new Xiegu G106, I was curious where it would fit into their product line.
I did watch, however, K8MRD’s initial and updated review of the G106 on YouTube. While it was less than stellar––understatement alert––more relevant to me was that Mike shipped his second evaluation unit to me on behalf of Radioddity.
I connected that G106 to a dummy load, checked the transmitted signal on my SDRplay RSPdx spectrum display, and it simply didn’t look very clean. In fact, it looked worse than it did when Mike checked it only a couple of weeks prior.
I shared my results with Radioddity and told them I didn’t feel comfortable putting the G106 on the air; they asked that the unit be returned and checked out.
Fast-forward to January 2023, when I was once again contacted by Radioddity to see if I would like to field test an updated G106? I answered that I was happy to do so, because I was curious whether the G106 experience had improved.
In the spirit of full disclosure, keep in mind that Radioddity is a Xiegu retailer/distributor––the company is not the manufacturer, nor is it owned by Xiegu. They sent this G106 to me on an extended loan for an honest evaluation.
So where does the G106 fit into the Xiegu product line? It’s being marketed as a low-cost, entry level, multi-mode QRP HF transceiver that leverages 16-bit CODEC sampling to provide the user with a lot of radio for the price. It’s basic, and meant to be so, in that it’s only a transceiver; there is no built-in ATU or battery. The G106 is marketed as a bare-bones portable HF transceiver.
I feel like it hits this mark.
The G106 doesn’t have a lot of features or controls one might expect in other Xiegu radios, but it has more features than any other modern HF radio I know of in its price class (see features list below). Indeed, I can’t think of any other 80-10 meter general coverage QRP transceiver that retails for $320 or less. The G106 has this market niche to itself for the moment.
Overview
When I first received the G106, I was a little surprised: it was even more compact than I had imagined.
The sides of the G106 are rounded and the chassis extends beyond the encoder and front controls of the radio, thus the interior is quite well protected in the event the radio is dropped. This is one of the few QRP field radios on the market that doesn’t need an aftermarket cage. I’ve been transporting the G106 in an old hard shell headphone case a friend gave me. The case isn’t large, but it easily holds the G106 and a power cord with a bit of room to spare.
The G106 sports a small monochrome backlit display that’s very easy to read in the shack or in the field with full sunlight.
Besides the weighted encoder (which has soft detents), the volume control, and microphone port, there are also four multi-function buttons located under the small display on the front panel. On top of the radio, there is a power/backlight button, mode/pre-amp button, and two band buttons that also can be pressed and held to change the frequency cursor position. The internal speaker is also mounted on the bottom of the top cover, just behind the top panel buttons.
On the back of the G106, you’ll find a BNC antenna port, ground/earth lug, key port, COM port, 8 pin ACC port, and a DC input port.
The most conspicuous omission is a headphone or external speaker port. I would have expected this in a QRP field radio because operators often prefer using headphones in the field rather than a speaker. I know that some G106 owners have built their own RJ9 audio plug to port out the audio to headphones. There is a headphone port on the supplied speaker mic, but CW-only operators might prefer a more direct way to connect earphones in order to keep the bulk of their field kit to a minimum.
What is surprising is that the G106 has a very basic spectrum display that is actually quite useful!
Ergonomics
The ergonomics of the G106 are overall pretty good…but a bit quirky. To be honest, giving the user access to numerous functions and features on a radio this small is always going to affect ergonomics; there’s only so much control-surface real estate. Continue reading An in-depth review of the Xiegu G106 QRP HF transceiver→
Many thanks to Jonathan (KM4CFT) who shares the following guest field report and video:
Chatfield State Park (K-1212)
January 20, 2022
by Jonathan Kayne (KM4CFT)
The honorable Yaesu FT-817/818. You all know it and love it. I had been wanting to get myself one for a while but after just buying myself a shiny new ICOM IC-705, I had been planning on getting myself an 818 in the spring to play around with. December came and I find out that Yaesu was going to discontinue the 818, so I went and bit the bullet and bought one from Ham Radio Outlet.
I had been getting into CW for portable operations lately after wanting to learn CW for a while and my friend Zach Thompson (KM4BLG) had pushed me to learn it. I learned it over the course of two months through an app called “Morse Machine” and listening to Thomas’s YouTube videos while working so as to get used to the exchanges and pick up words. Then I activated and all the rest is history! (If you want to see my 3rd time activating see this video here.)
Why is this important? Because the FT-818ND does not have a narrow 500 Hz filter for CW operation by default, and since I consider myself to be still a newbie I wanted to install a Collins Filter before I take my new 818 into the field. Since these filters are hard to obtain, I went with the build your own route. The method I used has been outlined in this blog and I have made a video of it here.
Now that I had my radio all ready to go with a filter, side rails, and Windcamp Battery, I wanted to get it in the field as soon as possible. Unfortunately due to a snow storm, the temperature in the Denver area was quite cold.
The one thing about doing POTA activations in the winter is being aware of just how short the days are. It seems like, lately, I’ve had a number of activations that have spilled over well beyond sunset.
With POTA, running out of sunlight really isn’t a big deal. As long as I have a headlamp (I always do) and/or a lantern, I can continue operating as long as the park is still open to guests.
With SOTA, running out of sunlight can develop into a serious situation, especially if you’ve bushwhacked to a summit in unfamiliar territory. Even with a headlamp, it can be difficult finding your way back to an established trail. I’ve never scheduled a SOTA activation that pushed sunset unless I’m comfortable with the path to the summit.
If I’m being honest, I think a part of me actually enjoys doing POTA activations after sunset. It feels a lot like camping.
On Sunday, December 4, 2022, I was on the road once again and could not help but squeeze in a POTA activation at Lake James State Park.
It was late afternoon and I knew I’d be pushing sunset, but I had my little LED lantern just in case I ran out of sunlight (hint: I did!) and I was ready to play some radio: both CW and SSB!
Lake James State Park (K-2739)
It was a grey, chilly day and there were no other cars in the parking lot at the Catawba River Access. I had the whole park to myself until closing time at 7:00PM.
I chose a picnic table by the lake, putting some distance between me and the visitor’s center which has been known to spew radio interference (QRM) in the past.
I brought along my Elecraft KX3 for this activation.
The KX3 is one of my top field portable radios, but I rarely take it to the field these days for a couple reasons:
It’s my main shack radio and is hooked up to my KXPA100 amplifier 100% of the time (although I rarely run enough power that the amplifier engages). I do much of my park/summit hunting from home with the KX3.
Since I purchased my KX2 in 2016, I tend to take it to the field instead since it’s *that* much more portable. It’s like a smaller version of the KX3 with nearly the performance and only lacking 160 and 6 meters.
But I do love my KX3. It’s a benchmark radio–and one of the best field transceivers on the market. You will see a few field reports with it each year since I try to give all of my radios a regular dose of fresh air!
Setting up
After recording the intro to my activation video (which I tried to do before the sun actually set), I decided to film the antenna deployment as well.
I debated which antenna to use at the site. I decided upon the super easy-to-deploy 28.5′ “no transformer” random wire antenna by Tufteln (see link in the Gear section below). I first demoed this super simple antenna on Mount Mitchell during a SOTA activation. It’s basically two lengths of 28.5 foot 26 AWG wire connected to a BNC connector on a small 3D printed mount which provides strain relief.
Hey have a question about a QRP radio that a friend of mine acquired from an SK estate. I was thinking this radio might be a Mountain Topper or maybe one of an early N6KR radios, but a search has come up empty. Maybe you could help identify it? Thanks in advance for any info:
Todd’s friend also noted:
It works on the phone portion of the 20 meter band with about 5 watts out. When the “Spot” button is pressed the radio reports the tuned frequency in CW.
I’m not terribly familiar with SSB QRP transceivers. Perhaps a QRPer reader can chime in with an answer for Todd? Please comment!
UPDATE:
This was solved rather quickly by readers. This is, of course, a White Mountain Series SSB Transceiver by the amazing Dave Benson (K1SWL)!
As soon as I read the first reply, it jogged my memory. I believe the photo Todd sent above face-on threw me a bit; I think I would have recognized more readily had it been a shot showing the size of the radio.
Dave (K1SWL) is a regular here on QRPer and he might even have more comments about this fine mono-band SSB radio!
Many thanks to Damian (SP9LEE) who shares the following field report:
Field Report: 5 Parks in 5 Hours
by Damian (SP9LEE)
Okay, to be totally frank with you and as not to lose your trust, I have to admit that the title, however technically 100% true, may be slightly misleading. If you’re wondering to what extent, I suggest you keep reading 😉
I live in Krakow, the second-biggest city in Poland, and I’ve always complained about not having enough green areas there. But starting my QRP outdoor adventure and joining the POTA program helped me realize that I couldn’t be more wrong. I live in the city center (20 minutes walking distance from the Main Square) and as it turns out, there are 11 POTA parks within a 20-minute drive (outside rush hours, of course), and around 30 if you decide to drive 40 minutes.
That’s just crazy, especially compared to the places where some POTA Brave Souls live, giving Thomas (K4SWL) as an example – a few dozen activated parks, but only a couple of them in close range. Mine I could reach by foot or bike! I don’t like to waste anything (not only tangible goods, but also opportunities or this great potential that a lot of nearby POTA parks give), so I rolled up my sleeves and started activating one by one in May 2022.
But when December 31 comes, it tends to provoke reflections of the happenings in the last year. This happened to me as well. I asked myself: “Hey, isn’t it also a waste if you have a few parks clustered and never try to do them all in one day?” As you read this, you already know what the answer was. I decided not to hesitate and do it as soon as possible, on January 2nd, 2023.
Since I’ve never tried to do more than one activation per day, I felt quite insecure. What I do like during an activation is to practice quick antenna deployments (this may be useful one day), then experiment with different antenna configurations (such as sloper angles, heights, azimuths, counterpoise placement), and finally make as many contacts as possible during a given time limit. This time limit is usually set by my family schedule or other errands I need to run.
As you can see, that’s the complete opposite to the requirements that RaDAR or POTA Rover awards make: proficient antenna deployment, gathering 10+ QSOs for a valid activation, collecting the equipment, and speedy drive to a next spot. Sounds challenging? But isn’t it what the New Year usually brings? It’s just a matter of making proper adjustments in one’s procedures and attitude. At least, that’s what I thought.
I picked three park entities 20-25 minute car drive from my home, which in total would give me 5 POTA references:
SP-0997 Kowadza Protected Area (3-fer)
SP-0994 Skołczanka Nature Reserve (3-fer)
SP-2274 Skawiński Obszar Łąkowy Natura 2000 (2-fer)
They are all located on the territory of Bielańsko-Tyniecki Lanscape Park (SP-0993) and/or Dębnicko-Tyniecki Obszar Łąkowy Natura 2000 (SP-2122). So now you know why the title might be a bit misleading – I actually planned to take advantage of having 2- and 3-fers around and work 5 entities in total from only 3 different spots.
Kowadza Protected Area (SP-0997)
I hopped into the car just after I left home (yes, some of us have work or school duties… and some of us have a day-off to play radio!). I’ve never been to the Kowadza Protected Area, so even after researching it on Google Maps, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Besides my standard set, I also packed my fiberglass 6m fishing rod in case there was no convenient place to mount the antenna, and my portable PV panels in case the LiPo 5Ah battery died. Continue reading POTA in Poland: Damian activates five parks in five hours→
I’d like to start this field report with a side story. I’ll keep this reader anonymous since I haven’t asked for permission to post his story (although I’m certain he wouldn’t mind!):
A QRP Christmas Gift
Yesterday, I was contacted by a reader who had just received an amazing gift.
On Christmas morning, his wife presented him with a tiny wrapped box and inside there was a small note:
“Get yourself a great field radio. You have Carte Blanche!”
What an amazing gift…right–?! She literally said Carte Blanche!
Evidently, she is familiar with my YouTube channel (poor thing) because he often watches my activation videos on their living room TV. [Between us, I’m a bit surprised she still loves him after subjecting her to my videos.]
She told him, “Run your choice by Thomas before ordering.”
The funny bit? He approached me with this very question in November as he plotted a 2023 radio purchase. He couldn’t decide between the Icom IC-705 and the Elecraft KX2.
He wrote yesterday to tell me that he placed an order for a new Elecraft KX2 with all the trimmings; Elecraft’s KX2 “Shack-In-A-Box” package plus a set of KXPD2 paddles.
The KX2 is back-ordered due to parts availability, so he won’t receive his unit for several months, most likely.
Based on his operating style, I think he chose wisely. The IC-705 is a benchmark field radio, but he was looking for something that he could pair with a random wire antenna (the ‘705 lacks an internal ATU) and that would be easy to use on SOTA activations. He’s new to CW as well and loved the fact that the KXPD2 paddles attach to the front of the KX2.
Why do I mention this story? Because it’s not only fresh on my mind, but it’s the same radio and antenna I used during an activation on Thursday, December 1, 2022.
Tuttle Educational State Forest (K-4861)
As I pulled into Tuttle’s parking area that day I had a tried-and-true field radio kit pairing in my pack: my Elecraft KX2 and PackTenna 9:1 Random Wire antenna.
As I mention at the start of my activation video (see below), with the Elecraft KX2 and a random wire, I could easily activate all of the summits, parks, and islands I desire. It’s such an effective, flexible, and portable combo.
QRPp
To shake things up, I decided to knock the output power of the KX2 down to one half of one watt–500 milliwatts–at least for the CW portion of my activation.
Once I started doing CW POTA activations in 2020, there really was no going back.
It’s hard to explain, but CW makes POTA and SOTA activations so much easier, in my opinion.
I’m sure many who’ve ventured down the path of CW understand. I know devoted SSB operators who started doing CW in the field and pretty much permanently switched to CW. Indeed, that was me.
That said, I do like SSB as well and it has some positives over CW in terms of POTA.
For one thing, there are so many more SSB hunters out there (compared with CW); even on a slow POTA today, you can still amass large pileups. The cadence of SSB exchanges is also faster than that of POTA CW exchanges (which rarely exceed 20 WPM) so it’s easy to log two or even three times the number of contacts in the same amount of time.
In addition–let’s face it–it’s also fun hearing another operator’s voice on the other end.
Many readers have been asking me to do more SSB activations and I’ve been meaning to. Truth is, though, the majority of my field radios are CW-only, so when I have them in tow, SSB simply isn’t an option.
Tuttle Educational State Forest (K-4861)
On Thursday, November 17, 2022, I stopped by Tuttle Educational State Forest for a short hike and, of course, an activation.
It was during my hike that I came up with the idea to do a five watt SSB activation. I quickly realized, though, that the only radio in my car with SSB capabilities was the Elecraft KX2, but I didn’t have a hand mic or headset packed!
Fortunately, the KX2 has a built-in microphone for SSB. It’s not as ideal as my Elecraft/Heil Pro Set, nor even the basic Elecraft hand mic, but it works, so I thought it might be fun to do an entire SSB activation only using the KX2 internal microphone!
Setting up
There’s not a lot to set up when using a KX2; the radio has an internal battery, internal ATU, and since I was using the internal mic, all I needed was an antenna and some feed line.
Naturally, as with any camping trip or extended travel, I’d put a lot of thought into choosing the portable transceiver and field kit to take along.
The great thing about camping at a state park is that I can “activate” that park via the “Parks On The Air” (POTA) or “Worldwide Flora and Fauna” (WWFF) programs pretty much anytime: early morning, late afternoon, or even in a late shift well into the night. Or, of course, all of the above. Since my activation site is also where I’m eating and sleeping, my radio usually gets heavy use.
Before leaving on that April camping trip, I knew what radio I wanted to operate the bulk of the time: my Yaesu FT-817ND. For a lot of reasons which I’ll delve into later, I think the FT-817ND (or its latest iteration, the FT-818ND) is an amazing QRP field radio.
Despite unstable propagation and a little campground QRM that moved in over the weekend––no doubt from a neighboring RV, chock full of noisy switching power supplies––I found the FT-817ND activation to be a most enjoyable experience. I posted a few field reports and activation videos from my New River activations on QRPer.com.
The thing is, each time I publish a field report using the FT-817ND, I receive a string of questions from subscribers and readers. Questions such as…
Should I buy a new FT-818 or a used FT-817?
Why do you like the FT-817ND so much?
What’s the difference between the 817 and 818?
How does the FT-817/818 compare with _____ radio?
Most queries, however, are a version of this comment from reader David:
“We have such a wide array of QRP rigs available to us these days, I’m curious what brings you back to the Yaesu for activations? It’s bigger than our more modern radios, with no ATU and more current draw. I’m just wondering if there is something that you find it does particularly well, or if it’s just ‘because I like to use it,’ which to me is an entirely valid reason, too! My 897 served me well, as does my 891; I’ve had Yaesu handhelds forever, so I’m certainly a fan. I don’t own an 817/8 but they have a devoted following so I just wanted to get your perspective on it.”
Or as another subscriber distilled the question:
“Why choose a legacy design like the 817/818 when newer QRP transceivers have better overall field specs and features?”
Of course, these types of questions are simple enough when it comes to asking, but when it comes to answering, much more complex.
Of course, as I said in my recent TSM article about choosing a field radio, one’s love of a particular radio is by definition quite subjective, and this certainly applies to my response…we all have our own personal preferences. But behind these preferences are objective facts, such as product’s unique features, specifications, and form factor; let’s take a look at these.
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