Remember yesterday when I mentioned the latest addition to my POTA setup, the Xiegu 5105 QRP rig….

Well this morning I decided to test it out and see how much work I would have to do with setting the parameters such as mic gain, processor, to make it sound like me… I was also testing out my EARCHI 9:1 unun with a 29.5 foot random wire to see how it would play with the built in AT of the 5105.

I figured I might as well do the testing at a POTA location just in case I was able to turn the test into an activation.

For this I chose Fort Frontenac POTA CA-5303. Its fairly easy to get there via the Kingston Transit system and its also close to downtown and all the amenities I might need. In the North East corner of the picture you will notice some white lines on the ground.

They are actually the walls of what’s left of that part of the Fort. Also the only parts of the Historic Site that is open to the public.

I leaned my MFJ 33 foot mast (supporting the 9:1 and wire in the vertical configuration) up against the tree.

And then ran the COAX over to the remains of the wall and set up my radio there and started operating.

My first contact was on 7.255 with the NCS of the ECARS net. He did hear me and considering I was QRP I was pleased. He did tell me that my audio seemed hot as if I was overdriving things. Lowering my voice seemed to help.

After that I looked at POTA Spots and managed to get W2IDG and VE3FI into the log from their parks and then finished up with the NCS of the MidCars net on 7.258.. All contacts were made on 40m SSB. I tried 20 SSB and was hearing lots of stations including a POTA Activation in VO1 but no luck breaking any of the pileups.

Then I figured it was time to get home and try to re configure the radio to my liking… I turned off the Speech Processor and lowered the Mic Gain from 60 to 40. Over the next few days I will get out again and see what else I have to do to get things sounding right.

Till then

73bob

Remember yesterday when I mentioned the latest addition to my POTA setup, the Xiegu 5105 QRP rig….

Well this morning I decided to test it out and see how much work I would have to do with setting the parameters such as mic gain, processor, to make it sound like me… I was also testing out my EARCHI 9:1 unun with a 29.5 foot random wire to see how it would play with the built in AT of the 5105.

I figured I might as well do the testing at a POTA location just in case I was able to turn the test into an activation.

For this I chose Fort Frontenac POTA CA-5303. Its fairly easy to get there via the Kingston Transit system and its also close to downtown and all the amenities I might need. In the North East corner of the picture you will notice some white lines on the ground.

They are actually the walls of what’s left of that part of the Fort. Also the only parts of the Historic Site that is open to the public.

I leaned my MFJ 33 foot mast (supporting the 9:1 and wire in the vertical configuration) up against the tree.

And then ran the COAX over to the remains of the wall and set up my radio there and started operating.

My first contact was on 7.255 with the NCS of the ECARS net. He did hear me and considering I was QRP I was pleased. He did tell me that my audio seemed hot as if I was overdriving things. Lowering my voice seemed to help.

After that I looked at POTA Spots and managed to get W2IDG and VE3FI into the log from their parks and then finished up with the NCS of the MidCars net on 7.258.. All contacts were made on 40m SSB. I tried 20 SSB and was hearing lots of stations including a POTA Activation in VO1 but no luck breaking any of the pileups.

Then I figured it was time to get home and try to re configure the radio to my liking… I turned off the Speech Processor and lowered the Mic Gain from 60 to 40. Over the next few days I will get out again and see what else I have to do to get things sounding right.

Till then

73bob

People who know me have heard me say that after all these years there are 3 radios I have sold that I actually regret selling. Well now there are only 2 radios that I regret selling…

.

Welcome the Xiegu X5105 back into my portable shack…

.

Between my FT991a and my FT891 there was a bit of a gap. The Yeasu FT891 Portable Station was a bit too heavy for my old bones. I needed something in a lighter backpack to make it easier to carry if I was to choose to activate one of the local POTA Parks here in Kingston.

The above pic shows my old X5105 with the Bandspringer attached

The Xiegu X5105 fills that gap. With the built in battery pack, the built in automatic antenna tuner along with the contest keyer and the built in CW Decoder it makes it a dream portable station.

My antennas are a 40m EFHW made with 28ga wire and a QRP AMAZON 49:1 unun. I also can use a 29foot end fed random wire using a QRP EARCHI 9:1 unun.

I also have the SOTABeams Bandspringer antenna that plugs right into the antenna input and uses the built in tuner to operate between 10m and 60m.

So what’s the other two radios you might ask?

Above is my first QRP setup. FT817, LDG QRP Autotuner.

If I could work a deal for a Yaesu FT817 and a Flex 1500 it would complete the list. However used rigs are pricy and it seems most hams think that radios seem to appreciate with age so like I mentioned above it has to be a good deal for both the seller and myself.

73bob

People who know me have heard me say that after all these years there are 3 radios I have sold that I actually regret selling. Well now there are only 2 radios that I regret selling…

.

Welcome the Xiegu X5105 back into my portable shack…

.

Between my FT991a and my FT891 there was a bit of a gap. The Yeasu FT891 Portable Station was a bit too heavy for my old bones. I needed something in a lighter backpack to make it easier to carry if I was to choose to activate one of the local POTA Parks here in Kingston.

The above pic shows my old X5105 with the Bandspringer attached

The Xiegu X5105 fills that gap. With the built in battery pack, the built in automatic antenna tuner along with the contest keyer and the built in CW Decoder it makes it a dream portable station.

My antennas are a 40m EFHW made with 28ga wire and a QRP AMAZON 49:1 unun. I also can use a 29foot end fed random wire using a QRP EARCHI 9:1 unun.

I also have the SOTABeams Bandspringer antenna that plugs right into the antenna input and uses the built in tuner to operate between 10m and 60m.

So what’s the other two radios you might ask?

Above is my first QRP setup. FT817, LDG QRP Autotuner.

If I could work a deal for a Yaesu FT817 and a Flex 1500 it would complete the list. However used rigs are pricy and it seems most hams think that radios seem to appreciate with age so like I mentioned above it has to be a good deal for both the seller and myself.

73bob

Last night around 9pm I was browsing Amazon and found the same 64:1 unun that I use with my 40m EFHW. This antenna is my primary antenna for my “Transportable/POTA” setup with my FT891.

I decided that the last one worked so well for me that it was time to see if the 1st one was the real deal or a fluke.

Around noon today I checked my front door and found the Amazon Fairy had magically made the new 64:1 unun appear sometime between 10am (last time I checked for it) and noon.

I had a spare 100 foot roll of Princess Auto 18ga insulated wire in the shack and as a bonus for my home environment is was even green.

I quickly measured out 64 feet and then did the connection things. As with most of Eastern North America it was a rather wet day.

Around 4pm locally the rain stopped and I was able to remove the old wire and install the new antenna, once again using the fir trees on the edge of my yard for camo as not draw attention to the antenna.

The SWR is pretty good especially for a wire hidden in the branches:

6m – 2.5:1, 10m – 1.7:1, 12m- 1.2:2, 15m – 1.6:1

20m – 2.0:1, 40m – 1.3:1, 80m – 3.0:1

The bands are not the best, but signal reports (90w output pwr) were fairly well (S7-S9+) with the stations that I was able to contact.

All in all for what it is…. I’m impressed and the best part is that using the built in auto tuner on my Yaesu FT991a I can easily bring it down to 1:1 on all the bands listed above.

The results are the same on my Yaesu FT891 with the same style of balun and a 64 foot length of quality (Red) Princess Auto 18 ga automotive wire. The only real difference is that as I use the 891 with no tuner I have to be careful on some of the bands.

As the new install gets more use I will let you know if there are any “issues” with its performance.

73bob

Last night around 9pm I was browsing Amazon and found the same 64:1 unun that I use with my 40m EFHW. This antenna is my primary antenna for my “Transportable/POTA” setup with my FT891.

I decided that the last one worked so well for me that it was time to see if the 1st one was the real deal or a fluke.

Around noon today I checked my front door and found the Amazon Fairy had magically made the new 64:1 unun appear sometime between 10am (last time I checked for it) and noon.

I had a spare 100 foot roll of Princess Auto 18ga insulated wire in the shack and as a bonus for my home environment is was even green.

I quickly measured out 64 feet and then did the connection things. As with most of Eastern North America it was a rather wet day.

Around 4pm locally the rain stopped and I was able to remove the old wire and install the new antenna, once again using the fir trees on the edge of my yard for camo as not draw attention to the antenna.

The SWR is pretty good especially for a wire hidden in the branches:

6m – 2.5:1, 10m – 1.7:1, 12m- 1.2:2, 15m – 1.6:1

20m – 2.0:1, 40m – 1.3:1, 80m – 3.0:1

The bands are not the best, but signal reports (90w output pwr) were fairly well (S7-S9+) with the stations that I was able to contact.

All in all for what it is…. I’m impressed and the best part is that using the built in auto tuner on my Yaesu FT991a I can easily bring it down to 1:1 on all the bands listed above.

The results are the same on my Yaesu FT891 with the same style of balun and a 64 foot length of quality (Red) Princess Auto 18 ga automotive wire. The only real difference is that as I use the 891 with no tuner I have to be careful on some of the bands.

As the new install gets more use I will let you know if there are any “issues” with its performance.

73bob

There has been lots happening and no time to keep you in the loop and so here (once again) is the “Coles Notes” version.

The POTA Support your Parks event went better than I expected.

There were some family issues that kept me from taking my FT891 out into the local parks for activation.

However I did manage (as a hunter) to get 35 activators in my log with resulted in 6 new parks in my log as I slowly (very slowly) get towards the 3000 unique Parks in my log.

A bit of a “shucks” happened when a deal I had made for some new equipment for the shack fell through.

The other party (to his credit) cancelled the deal when he found out there was problem with the radio I was about to acquire from him.

It will need major repairs and most likely will not be finding its way into my shack.

And the final “downer” for the week happened yesterday. I entered a contest at our local FM broadcast radio station with the prize being a trip for 2 on a River Cruise along the St Lawrence River and last week they informed me that I won the trip for 2. Liz and I started to make plans

Yesterday I got given notice that the cruise had been cancelled and on the Radio Stations website I found this:

The radio stations, and its TV affiliate has laid off most/all of their on air staff as their Parent Company Corus Entertainment tries to restructure so they can stay afloat (no pun intended).

This is part an an email sent to me (the day after I got notified by the ticket agent that they had cancelled) by Corus which reads as follows”

“I want to thank you for supporting 96.3 BIG FM, and for purchasing tickets to the boat cruise.  Due to recent staff changes, we don’t think it’s the appropriate time to be holding a party boat cruise and have decided to cancel the event.“

Liz was looking forward to the evening out and we will still go somewhere but our feet will stay dry. (a small pun intended here)

Thinking about an earlier “3 Hour Cruise” from the past…has me thinking that keeping dry might be a good thing .

This would be the Punny side of life I guess…

73bob

There has been lots happening and no time to keep you in the loop and so here (once again) is the “Coles Notes” version.

The POTA Support your Parks event went better than I expected.

There were some family issues that kept me from taking my FT891 out into the local parks for activation.

However I did manage (as a hunter) to get 35 activators in my log with resulted in 6 new parks in my log as I slowly (very slowly) get towards the 3000 unique Parks in my log.

A bit of a “shucks” happened when a deal I had made for some new equipment for the shack fell through.

The other party (to his credit) cancelled the deal when he found out there was problem with the radio I was about to acquire from him.

It will need major repairs and most likely will not be finding its way into my shack.

And the final “downer” for the week happened yesterday. I entered a contest at our local FM broadcast radio station with the prize being a trip for 2 on a River Cruise along the St Lawrence River and last week they informed me that I won the trip for 2. Liz and I started to make plans

Yesterday I got given notice that the cruise had been cancelled and on the Radio Stations website I found this:

The radio stations, and its TV affiliate has laid off most/all of their on air staff as their Parent Company Corus Entertainment tries to restructure so they can stay afloat (no pun intended).

This is part an an email sent to me (the day after I got notified by the ticket agent that they had cancelled) by Corus which reads as follows”

“I want to thank you for supporting 96.3 BIG FM, and for purchasing tickets to the boat cruise.  Due to recent staff changes, we don’t think it’s the appropriate time to be holding a party boat cruise and have decided to cancel the event.“

Liz was looking forward to the evening out and we will still go somewhere but our feet will stay dry. (a small pun intended here)

Thinking about an earlier “3 Hour Cruise” from the past…has me thinking that keeping dry might be a good thing .

This would be the Punny side of life I guess…

73bob

.

This weekend is the Summer Support your Parks event. Basically get on the air and Hunt Activators from the comfort of your shack and/or Activate some parks and let the Hunters find you.

Below is a “Cut N Paste from the POTA Website

---

Support Your Parks

This event happens seasonally, on the 3rd full weekend of the month (Saturday & Sunday UTC). These are ‘activity weekends’ where the main purpose is to get out in the parks, and have as much fun as possible.

• Winter – 3rd Full Weekend of January. January 18-19, 2025
• Spring – 3rd Full Weekend of April. April 19-20, 2025
• Summer – 3rd Full Weekend of July. July 20-21, 2024
• Autumn – 3rd Full Weekend of October. October 19-20, 2024

---

For myself the plan (remember plans can change without notice) is to spend some time on Friday night as a hunter and then on Saturday as an activator spread some RF out in a couple of the local Kingston Parks.

The below map shows the local parks (Yellow Dot)

If the band conditions co operate I hope to hear you on the air and also get you in my log.

Keep an eye on the POTA Spots pages

73bob

…. A “new” POTA Park…

Ontario offering free preview of new provincial park under development

For those of you not certain where Uxbridge Ontario is…. Look up for a map.

From the info given on the Global TV site (see above link) I am led to believe that this will be a “Day Use” Park but it will be a “Provincial Park” which means that when the work is complete and the park is opened to the public it will qualify as a POTA entity once it gets assigned a POTA Number.

Looking forward to getting another new park in my log

73bob

…. A “new” POTA Park…

Ontario offering free preview of new provincial park under development

For those of you not certain where Uxbridge Ontario is…. Look up for a map.

From the info given on the Global TV site (see above link) I am led to believe that this will be a “Day Use” Park but it will be a “Provincial Park” which means that when the work is complete and the park is opened to the public it will qualify as a POTA entity once it gets assigned a POTA Number.

Looking forward to getting another new park in my log

73bob

Traditionally held on “The Last Rainy Weekend” in June but for the sticklers for the rules its actual date is the 4th weekend in June…

This year it would be on June 22nd and ending on June 23rd

So what will VA3QV be doing???? Its safe to say that my Field Day Station will look a bit like this:

or like this from back in 2017….

So I plan to be operating as a 1B Battery Station from the RAC Ontario East Section (ONE)

The actual location has not been determined yet but there is a good chance the location could be one of the Parks on the Air location in the City of Kingston.

That’s the plan for good weather… and so far the long range forecast is calling for nice (dry). If the weather is not dry then the plan is to operate as a home station in the 1D catagory just to give out points to the participants

If you are new at this then the rules can be found here:

Years ago Field Day was considered a test of our emergency operating skills specifically to set up and operate a station for 24 hours and somehow it has morphed into more of contest with groups of operators putting up equipment that would not be used in a real emergency at power levels that could not be maintained unless you had a generator and an endless supply of gasoline.

I’m a little more primitive by setting up my QRP (5w of power) radio with a wire antenna and using a solar panel to top up the battery as needed.

I will have the option of being under cover (see above pic) as protection from the sun and/or rain most likely be needed at some time . Not sure how long I will be operating but it won’t be for the full 24 hours.

Overnight all I would be doing is listening to static and feeding the mosquitoes…

No egos to stroke…. Just operate and make some contacts with the emphasis of having fun and not taking myself too seriously.

Hope to hear you and be heard by you during the event

73bob

The event was held on June 1st and finished on June 2nd. At the time of posting this there were 106 Museum Ships (including memorials) on the list. For more info on the event check out: https://www.nj2bb.org/museum/ .

In Kingston we were fortunate enough to have the SS Keewatin berthed at the Great Lakes Museum and so for this event it was a 45 min bus ride with all the radio gear I needed to participate.

Here is a couple of pics I took while at the museum.

The gear I used for operating from alongside the Keewatin was my POTA Station that consisted of my Yaesu FT891, Eco-Worthy 20ah LIPO 4 battery and a MFJ 33 foot telescopic mast to support the home brewed 63 Foot End Fed Half Wave (10m to 40m) antenna.

It looks rather small compared to the size of the Keewatin… Thanks to the Taxi Driver who moved into the pic so I could show the size of the ship easier. No I did not use the taxi… Kingston Transit bus #3 stops right at the front door of the Museum.

All my gear fit in my wife’s laundry cart… She may never get it back now…

I used some bungy cords to secure the mast (right of the pic) to a fence behind the tree cover. It suspended the EFHW in a “inverted Vee” configuration and worked well for me with no tuner needed.

I was able to operate for about 3 hours (or less) each day. The gear worked without a hitch but not so much the operator.

As the radio room in the Keewatin has not been updated yet, I was forced to operate from alongside (the above pic) so I was unable to leave the gear to use the facilities and so once nature called… it was time to pack up.

At the end of the event according to my logs I actually was contacted by 100 stations that were “Welcomed on Board the Keewatin”… of those 100 contacts 12 of them were other Museum Ship and their details follow.

(Pictures above the name of the ship)

Col James M Schoonmaker

USS Lafferty

USS Thresher Memorial

USS Massachusetts

Tall Ship Elissa

USS Nautilus

Claud W Somers

USS North Carolina

Watson Naval Museum

USS Salem

USS Cobia

This was a “spur of the moment” style of activation. I was going past the ship a week before and then found out the Museum Ships event was the next weekend. Although the Keewatin does have a valid Callsign without the radio room ship shape they were not in a position to activate.

I asked if I could do it and was given the green light to operate (using my own personal callsign) from where I did. (alongside but outside the fence)

As the Drydock is part of the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail (POTA CA-6003) some amateurs also got a new park in their logs.

Long story short… The activation was a success…. At least 100 amateurs now know of our ship and the Museum Ship community welcomed the Keewatin and its my hope that next year the ship itself will the on the air.

If we made the contact, thanks again. My logs for the two day event have been uploaded to EQSL, QRZ.com, the Museum Ships Group and will be uploaded to LoTW when they have fixed the security issue. I will also offer a copy of my logs to the Keewatin Radio Operators (see above link) for their records.

73bob

Anyone who has been with me for awhile knows that every now and again “Murphy” of Murphy’s Law fame comes for a visit.

Things here have been going fairly well (Ham Radio wise) recently. I have been able to some contacts (mostly 20m SSB) during the daytime and also in the evenings (mostly 40m SSB) and considering the band conditions I think that’s pretty good.

But (and you know there had to be a “but”!

After making some evening 40m ssb contacts last night I shut off the power supply and left the shack. I came back to the shack and turned on the power supply and the radio would not turn on.

I did a quick check and the power supply now had an output of 4v dc. Not what I was expecting as before I shut it down it was steady at 13.5v dc which is normal for this unit.

I then took the cover off and could not smell the “magic smoke” and there was no visible issues on the board itself. No burn marks on the board, everything attached and no signs of any thing out of the ordinary.

I did have a backup PS so I’m still on the air with a 25 amp unit rather than the 30 amp unit that now is a paperweight.

The replacement from “The Toronto Toystore” will set me back around $220.00 after shipping/taxes, so it won’t break the bank and they have one in stock so “fingers crossed”.

So, this morning I look out into my backyard and notice the counterweight attached to the end of my “Stealthy Inverted L” is laying on the ground. A quick check found that the wire itself was intact but…. (yup but again) the wire had slipped off on of the branches that support the horizontal section of the wire. This does happen every now and again so…. 30 minutes later I’m back on the air.

The plan now is to see if the band comes to life (the numbers are looking good) and I can get (more than) a few contacts in the log.

.

Ending on a positive note I was able to contact VE3FI Bill as he activated POTA CA-2376 as part of his cross Canada tour. I guess the antenna is working after all that.

73bob

Anyone who has been with me for awhile knows that every now and again “Murphy” of Murphy’s Law fame comes for a visit.

Things here have been going fairly well (Ham Radio wise) recently. I have been able to some contacts (mostly 20m SSB) during the daytime and also in the evenings (mostly 40m SSB) and considering the band conditions I think that’s pretty good.

But (and you know there had to be a “but”!

After making some evening 40m ssb contacts last night I shut off the power supply and left the shack. I came back to the shack and turned on the power supply and the radio would not turn on.

I did a quick check and the power supply now had an output of 4v dc. Not what I was expecting as before I shut it down it was steady at 13.5v dc which is normal for this unit.

I then took the cover off and could not smell the “magic smoke” and there was no visible issues on the board itself. No burn marks on the board, everything attached and no signs of any thing out of the ordinary.

I did have a backup PS so I’m still on the air with a 25 amp unit rather than the 30 amp unit that now is a paperweight.

The replacement from “The Toronto Toystore” will set me back around $220.00 after shipping/taxes, so it won’t break the bank and they have one in stock so “fingers crossed”.

So, this morning I look out into my backyard and notice the counterweight attached to the end of my “Stealthy Inverted L” is laying on the ground. A quick check found that the wire itself was intact but…. (yup but again) the wire had slipped off on of the branches that support the horizontal section of the wire. This does happen every now and again so…. 30 minutes later I’m back on the air.

The plan now is to see if the band comes to life (the numbers are looking good) and I can get (more than) a few contacts in the log.

.

Ending on a positive note I was able to contact VE3FI Bill as he activated POTA CA-2376 as part of his cross Canada tour. I guess the antenna is working after all that.

73bob

Well its not as bad as indicated from my last post…

But its still got a way to go…

This morning on my 11 am (Eastern) hour on the TPN I managed to get 7 stations in my log which is the best its been in a while. After the net ended I had some household chores to do before I could get to the next part of this post.

Today I wanted to take my Yaesu FT891 rig along with my two antennas out into my backyard and make sure everything is still working as well as I remember. Next week my shifts on the TPN will be ending for a while as I am taking the summer off in an attempt to concentrate on my POTA part of the hobby.

So here’s the setup

Rig: Yaesu FT891 powered by my ECO-Worthy 20ah LI-PO4 battery

Antenna 1: 40m EFHW which is 63 feet long and fed by a 64:1 unun. This antenna usually is used in a sloper or inverted Vee configuration. Its very nice on 10-40m and I have 2 small counterpoises which I clip on as needed. I feed the unun from a 25 foot run of RG58 with a RF choke at one end.

Antenna 2: 17.5 foot long end fed fed by a 9:1 unun. I normally would use this in a vertical or sloper configuration. Its excellent on 10m to 20m but will also work on 40m without the need of a tuner. Depending on the situation I have a couple of small counterpoises I can clip onto the unn if needed. I feed the unun from a 25 foot run of RG58 with a RF choke at one end. The advantage to this antenna is that if I use it as a vertical there is next to no footprint which could make a couple of the parks in the downtown area much easier to activate.

If the trees do not cooperate I also carry a MFJ 33 foot telescopic masting which will support the wire if needed.

How did I do today?

Operating from my deck I strung out the 63 foot EFHW kind of as an inverted xyz configuration. Hanging 63 feet of wire anywhere I could hand it without anyone seeing it or running into it. Despite the setup Contacts were made on 40m and 20m despite the band conditions. with a reasonable SWR (no tuner in line) where I normally use it

Next I used the 17.5 with the 9:1 unun as a low sloper and made 1 contact on 20. The SWR was “tolerable” on 40m but on 10m to 20m it was under 2:1 which is great for a Portable setup. Nothing to complain about on my part.

I also use this style of antenna at home in a vertical configuration and it works great for my need either “home or away”

So here’s the plan…

If you notice the above map there are 10 POTA sites (yellow dots) that I can easily access from my home in Kingston. All of them easily reachable via public transit or a bit of a walk. The one on the bottom right (the island) is not reachable via foot. There is a dock but I can’t find out if Kingston has a Water Taxi so if I can activate 10 out of 11 I will be pleased.

I guess I could also say that this would be a test of the station I will be using for Field Day this year. Not sure where I’m going to be yet but…. I know I’ll be participating from somewhere near Kingston.

.

Till next time

73bob

Well its not as bad as indicated from my last post…

But its still got a way to go…

This morning on my 11 am (Eastern) hour on the TPN I managed to get 7 stations in my log which is the best its been in a while. After the net ended I had some household chores to do before I could get to the next part of this post.

Today I wanted to take my Yaesu FT891 rig along with my two antennas out into my backyard and make sure everything is still working as well as I remember. Next week my shifts on the TPN will be ending for a while as I am taking the summer off in an attempt to concentrate on my POTA part of the hobby.

So here’s the setup

Rig: Yaesu FT891 powered by my ECO-Worthy 20ah LI-PO4 battery

Antenna 1: 40m EFHW which is 63 feet long and fed by a 64:1 unun. This antenna usually is used in a sloper or inverted Vee configuration. Its very nice on 10-40m and I have 2 small counterpoises which I clip on as needed. I feed the unun from a 25 foot run of RG58 with a RF choke at one end.

Antenna 2: 17.5 foot long end fed fed by a 9:1 unun. I normally would use this in a vertical or sloper configuration. Its excellent on 10m to 20m but will also work on 40m without the need of a tuner. Depending on the situation I have a couple of small counterpoises I can clip onto the unn if needed. I feed the unun from a 25 foot run of RG58 with a RF choke at one end. The advantage to this antenna is that if I use it as a vertical there is next to no footprint which could make a couple of the parks in the downtown area much easier to activate.

If the trees do not cooperate I also carry a MFJ 33 foot telescopic masting which will support the wire if needed.

How did I do today?

Operating from my deck I strung out the 63 foot EFHW kind of as an inverted xyz configuration. Hanging 63 feet of wire anywhere I could hand it without anyone seeing it or running into it. Despite the setup Contacts were made on 40m and 20m despite the band conditions. with a reasonable SWR (no tuner in line) where I normally use it

Next I used the 17.5 with the 9:1 unun as a low sloper and made 1 contact on 20. The SWR was “tolerable” on 40m but on 10m to 20m it was under 2:1 which is great for a Portable setup. Nothing to complain about on my part.

I also use this style of antenna at home in a vertical configuration and it works great for my need either “home or away”

So here’s the plan…

If you notice the above map there are 10 POTA sites (yellow dots) that I can easily access from my home in Kingston. All of them easily reachable via public transit or a bit of a walk. The one on the bottom right (the island) is not reachable via foot. There is a dock but I can’t find out if Kingston has a Water Taxi so if I can activate 10 out of 11 I will be pleased.

I guess I could also say that this would be a test of the station I will be using for Field Day this year. Not sure where I’m going to be yet but…. I know I’ll be participating from somewhere near Kingston.

.

Till next time

73bob

Recently (at least for me) the bands have not been the best (understatement) and so rather than tell you about the contacts I have (or not) made …. Here is a bit on a new radio coming that if it lives up to its hype might wake up the QRP market a bit.

DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING POST IS NOT A ENDORSEMENT OF THE PRODUCT LISTED BELOW. IN THE PAST WE ALL OF HEARD ABOUT GOOD THINGS AND BAD THINGS ABOUT 1ST ATTEMPTS OF A NEW RADIO.

If the early info give to us by XIEGU is accurate this could be a welcome addition to the QRP part of the hobby.

Draw your own conclusions from the post and then make your own decisions…. Buyer Beware

==========================================

The radio is the Xiegu 6200 which is from the company that has given us the G90 and the X5105 both of which are excellent radios once the “gremlins” were removed from the firmware.

Although I never operated a G90 I know quite a few operators from the POTA world who did (and still do) and they never complained about it (at least to me) and their signals always sounded great

I did operate a X5105 as my POTA radio for a while and foolishly sold it.

So let me show you the Xeigu X6200

All the following info comes from the Radioddity site: https://www.radioddity.com/products/xiegu-x6200

so once again do your research and come up with your own opinions…

Looks good but looks can be (might be) deceiving.

So its “eye candy” Looks great but what about the stats?

Once again from their website.

Xiegu X6200 – A new generation flagship ultra-portable transceiver that uses a high-performance DRFS platform architecture and offers a convenient user experience for amateur radio enthusiasts.

It has a 4-inch color screen, a built-in battery pack, an automatic antenna tuner, a microphone, and a recorder. It also supports various SDR features, such as digital filters, noise reduction, pulse interference elimination, and spectrum/waterfall display. It has two USB interfaces, an ACC interface, a 3.5mmKEY interface, and an S/P interface. It has two external expansion component slots for additional applications and peripherals.

Highlights
– HF/50MHz all-mode
– Detachable battery pack
– Built-in efficient automatic antenna tuner
– Integrated standing wave scanner and voice pager
– Integrated modem, preset message, CW automatic call
– Integrated USB line control/transmission, built-in sound card
– Support remote control, wireless FT8 operation
– WFM broadcast reception, aviation band reception

But what about the specs?:

Xiegu X6200 Sneak Peek
on March 21, 2024
1. The images currently displayed are only of the engineering prototype, they do not represent the final form of the product.
2. For more latest news, please subscribe to the Radioddity newsletter.
3. Please credit the source when reposting the images.

All the data used in this blog posting has been provided by the Radioditty Website and or the groups i/o site via a link on the above mentioned website and I thank them for it

My comments follow:

Yes…. its output is 5w….. but it is a QRP radio so….

From what I see so far this radio could/might be a contender against the IC705 and the KX3 from the expected price point. How will the 6200 perform? This depends on the firmware and has yet to be seen.

DISCLAIMER: THE ABOVE POST IS NOT A ENDORSEMENT OF THE PRODUCT(s) LISTED ABOVE . IN THE PAST WE ALL OF HEARD ABOUT GOOD THINGS AND BAD THINGS ABOUT 1ST ATTEMPTS OF A NEW RADIO.

If the early info give to us by XIEGU is accurate this could be a welcome addition to the QRP part of the hobby.

Draw your own conclusions from the post and then make your own decisions…. Buyer Beware

Am I rushing out to buy one? NO!!! but it does have my attention and I will be following the reviews and if they are good…. you never know it might make it into my radio kit

73bob

If you were checking the Trans Provincial Net Website you might of noticed a small blurb mentioning I will be taking the summer off.

“Bob VA3QV will be away starting 18th May till  September 2024.”

I currently cover the 11am (EST) hour 5 days a week and I do enjoy being a NCS…. But… Now that the nicer weather is finally looking like it might arrive… I decided I would prefer to spend it doing other stuff compared to sitting in the shack for a while.

No doubt that radio will be a big part of my summer but it won’t be from the shack unless its raining.

As always if I am doing (or have done) anything interesting in radio you will be able to read about it right here.

73bob