It's been a while since I've had the time to sit down and write a few lines. My recent work and personal schedule has looked like a blackout bingo game. When work interferes with play, that's serious. That said, I have been able to do a few things around the shack. I've been clearing out some of the surplus of QRP radios that have accumulated over the years to make room for more QRP radios. It is, after all, the circle of life isn't it. Buy it, play with it, look at it, sell it and then buy something else to start the cycle over again.
I've also changed up my QRO line-up. I have the FT-5000DX which is a wonderful radio. It does however take up a fair amount of real estate on my, not-so-big, desk. Along with VL-1000 amp, I don't have much room left over. So, I am sending the FT-5000 to my ranch station and replacing it at the home shack with a K3. Not a bad trade. I just received the K3 and am getting comfortable with it. Having owned a KX3 for while, the learning curve is not too steep. There is another agenda here and that is I want to be able to remote into my home station when away and Elecraft has an elegant solution for that. They build a K3/0 which looks just like the K3 but without the TX and RX circuitry. So when remote, you have the same front end to play with. Plug in your key, link up, spin the knobs and away you go. At least that's the theory. I will be setting this up soon and I will report on the progress.
So the circle of life is always with us, which makes life interesting.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Five Summits in Three Days
I have SOTA fever really bad. Activating summits seems to continually occupy my thinking these days. My goal, 1,000 activator points at which time I will buy piece of glass with my call and a picture of a goat on it. Doesn't everyone think about that?
To feed my addiction I made a trip to my QTH in Santa Fe, NM. I arrived there on my birthday February 13th. I had been planning this trip for more than a month and was worried about how the weather would be since the long weekend in Santa Fe would be my only chance to activate summits for a while. The weather forecast was for highs in '60's. Perfect.
. I had a different strategy for this trip, since none of the hikes would be more than a mile one way, I carried my FT-817 and an Elecraft T-1 tuner with plans to get on the WARC bands since the ARRL DX-CW contest would be going on the weekend. The FT-817 is fresh from getting modified with the W4RT on-board filter for both SSB and CW and the DSP as well.
DAY 1
So on Friday the 14th, I met up with Fred, KT5X aka WS0TA. We had two summits on the agenda, Peak 7119, W5N/PW-037 and Glorieta Mesa, W5N/PW-032. The day was windy, but the temps were comfortable. While the climbs were short, they were very steep to both summits. There were probably easier ways up, but what the heck, we were looking for adventure.
Propagation was good on the first summit, Peak 7119, I worked 5 EU stations, OH9XX, DJ5AV, EA2LU, ON4LI and G4OBK. My antenna was an LNR Trail Friendly 40-20-10 EFHW strung over as high a limb as my pole could reach and then to my carbon fiber fishing pole and down to the rig, an inverted L configuration. the antenna tuned great on the WARC bands. Fred and I employed a strategy that maximized available bands. I started on 12m and worked my way down to 20m while Fred started on 20m and move down to 30m and 40m. So as a team we made the summit available in several bands. I made 20 QSO's; 11 on 12m, 3 on 17m, 5 on 20m and 1 on 30m. I did have a couple of S2S's, one with N6JZT and another with N7CW, both with huge signals. Thanks guys.
The Glorieta Mesa expedition was executed in a very similar manner, same radio, same antenna configuration, except this time I made 25 QSO's on the following bands; 10 on 12m, 5 on 15m, 2 on 17m and 8 on 20m. The only DX was DJ5AV on 15m.
It was a good day, 45 QSO's, two nice hikes and 20 SOTA points.
DAY 2
Fred was unable to go on Saturday, so my buddy Jeff from Red River, NM was visiting, so he set out with me for the days activities. Again, there were two summits on the agenda, Peak 8409, W5N/PW-027 and Peak 9420, W5N/PW-020.
Peak 8409 is a relatively easy summit, with only about a 75 vertical feet ascent required to get into the activation zone. I used an AlexLoop on this summit as I wanted to get set up quickly. Propagation must have been in the process of warming up. I only made 9 QSO's 8 on 12 meters and 1 on 30 meters. The stations I heard were loud, but there weren't many of them. I never was spotted on RBN. I tried to self spot on SMS but put a slant bar in the summit reference which is the incorrect format. I didn't figure this out until later. So, I had to pack up to make the scheduled time on Peak 9420, so Jeff and I made our way down the hill to the car and were on the way to the next summit.
Peak 9420 is an excellent SOTA Summit. It climbs 800 feet over a distance of about one mile, which is relatively steep, but the hike is only a mile to the summit and it has a nice trail with lots of switchbacks to take some of the sting out of the hill. I'm in relatively good shape and it took me 23 minutes to get to the top. The weather was cooler and the wind was blowing at a stiff clip. There was some snow on the ground at the top, but not too much. It was too windy right on top, so I moved down a little to get out of the wind. I used my FT-817 with the Elecraft T1 tuner and the EFHW. I netted 31 QSO's , 11 on 12m, 9 on 20m and 11 30m. During my run on 30m, I heard a faint but copiable signal and a slow but sure fist calling. It is K7NIT, Rachel, calling for an S2S, followed soon thereafter by K7ATN. Thanks guys. Another fun thing happened, after my first run on 12 meters I didn't work either W4DOW or AE4FZ both of which are well up the standings on the 12 meter challenge. I worked AE4FZ on 20m so I knew he was out there. So after the pile-ups died down I went back to 12m and threw out the bait. Like two big trout after a fly, very quickly after calling CQ I worked both W4DOW and AE4FZ. I knew then it was okay to QRT.
For the day, 40 QSO's and 22 SOTA points (including bonus points)
DAY 3
Day 3 would require a little driving. I was headed to Sandia Crest, W5N/SI-001. Sandi Crest is dominant peak in Albuquerque, NM. My XYL accompanied me on this trip. It is a drive up to the summit which sits at ~10,600 feet. We also wanted make the drive on HWY 14 out of Santa Fe which is a beautiful drive. In addition to the views it goes through Madrid which is where much of the Tim Allen film, "Wild Hogs" was filmed. Its a very cool little town. We didn't have time to stop, but will make a special trip next time.
At the summit it was cold. In the 30's and very windy. I would have to find a spot out of the wind. Because of the cold my wife decided to sit this one out, in the gift shop. Now this was probably a mistake on my part, because when I was done with the activation she had found several nice things to put in our house. Another way of looking at this is that it's a small price to pay for a SOTA pass:-).
I hiked about a quarter of a mile south of the summit structures and found a place where I could sit on a log, out of the snow, be sheltered from the wind but yet give my antenna a good look at the world. The picture below is what I found. The log in the foreground was where I sat and the Alexloop, with the tripod anchored in the snow, has a nice look over the snow bank. I again used the 817.
To feed my addiction I made a trip to my QTH in Santa Fe, NM. I arrived there on my birthday February 13th. I had been planning this trip for more than a month and was worried about how the weather would be since the long weekend in Santa Fe would be my only chance to activate summits for a while. The weather forecast was for highs in '60's. Perfect.
. I had a different strategy for this trip, since none of the hikes would be more than a mile one way, I carried my FT-817 and an Elecraft T-1 tuner with plans to get on the WARC bands since the ARRL DX-CW contest would be going on the weekend. The FT-817 is fresh from getting modified with the W4RT on-board filter for both SSB and CW and the DSP as well.
DAY 1
So on Friday the 14th, I met up with Fred, KT5X aka WS0TA. We had two summits on the agenda, Peak 7119, W5N/PW-037 and Glorieta Mesa, W5N/PW-032. The day was windy, but the temps were comfortable. While the climbs were short, they were very steep to both summits. There were probably easier ways up, but what the heck, we were looking for adventure.
Propagation was good on the first summit, Peak 7119, I worked 5 EU stations, OH9XX, DJ5AV, EA2LU, ON4LI and G4OBK. My antenna was an LNR Trail Friendly 40-20-10 EFHW strung over as high a limb as my pole could reach and then to my carbon fiber fishing pole and down to the rig, an inverted L configuration. the antenna tuned great on the WARC bands. Fred and I employed a strategy that maximized available bands. I started on 12m and worked my way down to 20m while Fred started on 20m and move down to 30m and 40m. So as a team we made the summit available in several bands. I made 20 QSO's; 11 on 12m, 3 on 17m, 5 on 20m and 1 on 30m. I did have a couple of S2S's, one with N6JZT and another with N7CW, both with huge signals. Thanks guys.
The Glorieta Mesa expedition was executed in a very similar manner, same radio, same antenna configuration, except this time I made 25 QSO's on the following bands; 10 on 12m, 5 on 15m, 2 on 17m and 8 on 20m. The only DX was DJ5AV on 15m.
It was a good day, 45 QSO's, two nice hikes and 20 SOTA points.
DAY 2
Fred was unable to go on Saturday, so my buddy Jeff from Red River, NM was visiting, so he set out with me for the days activities. Again, there were two summits on the agenda, Peak 8409, W5N/PW-027 and Peak 9420, W5N/PW-020.
Peak 8409 is a relatively easy summit, with only about a 75 vertical feet ascent required to get into the activation zone. I used an AlexLoop on this summit as I wanted to get set up quickly. Propagation must have been in the process of warming up. I only made 9 QSO's 8 on 12 meters and 1 on 30 meters. The stations I heard were loud, but there weren't many of them. I never was spotted on RBN. I tried to self spot on SMS but put a slant bar in the summit reference which is the incorrect format. I didn't figure this out until later. So, I had to pack up to make the scheduled time on Peak 9420, so Jeff and I made our way down the hill to the car and were on the way to the next summit.
Peak 9420 is an excellent SOTA Summit. It climbs 800 feet over a distance of about one mile, which is relatively steep, but the hike is only a mile to the summit and it has a nice trail with lots of switchbacks to take some of the sting out of the hill. I'm in relatively good shape and it took me 23 minutes to get to the top. The weather was cooler and the wind was blowing at a stiff clip. There was some snow on the ground at the top, but not too much. It was too windy right on top, so I moved down a little to get out of the wind. I used my FT-817 with the Elecraft T1 tuner and the EFHW. I netted 31 QSO's , 11 on 12m, 9 on 20m and 11 30m. During my run on 30m, I heard a faint but copiable signal and a slow but sure fist calling. It is K7NIT, Rachel, calling for an S2S, followed soon thereafter by K7ATN. Thanks guys. Another fun thing happened, after my first run on 12 meters I didn't work either W4DOW or AE4FZ both of which are well up the standings on the 12 meter challenge. I worked AE4FZ on 20m so I knew he was out there. So after the pile-ups died down I went back to 12m and threw out the bait. Like two big trout after a fly, very quickly after calling CQ I worked both W4DOW and AE4FZ. I knew then it was okay to QRT.
AD5A coming up the trail to 9420
Operating from 9420, out of the wind
For the day, 40 QSO's and 22 SOTA points (including bonus points)
DAY 3
Day 3 would require a little driving. I was headed to Sandia Crest, W5N/SI-001. Sandi Crest is dominant peak in Albuquerque, NM. My XYL accompanied me on this trip. It is a drive up to the summit which sits at ~10,600 feet. We also wanted make the drive on HWY 14 out of Santa Fe which is a beautiful drive. In addition to the views it goes through Madrid which is where much of the Tim Allen film, "Wild Hogs" was filmed. Its a very cool little town. We didn't have time to stop, but will make a special trip next time.
At the summit it was cold. In the 30's and very windy. I would have to find a spot out of the wind. Because of the cold my wife decided to sit this one out, in the gift shop. Now this was probably a mistake on my part, because when I was done with the activation she had found several nice things to put in our house. Another way of looking at this is that it's a small price to pay for a SOTA pass:-).
I hiked about a quarter of a mile south of the summit structures and found a place where I could sit on a log, out of the snow, be sheltered from the wind but yet give my antenna a good look at the world. The picture below is what I found. The log in the foreground was where I sat and the Alexloop, with the tripod anchored in the snow, has a nice look over the snow bank. I again used the 817.
Operating Position on Sandia Peak
Propagation was very good as I had 35 QSO's. I surprisingly found an open spot on 20m despite the contest that was going on and started there. I made 23 QSO's on 20 meters and then move to 12m, where I had 7 QSO's including contacts with DJ5AV and EA2LU. I finished out on 30m with 5 more contacts. When the CQ's produced no more results I packed up and headed back to the warm gift shop and my awaiting bill. But no worries, it was a fun trip. I was happy, my wife was happy and we had a nice day in the mountains.
This was a very nice SOTA trip. For a winter weekend in New Mexico, the weather was exceptional. I activated 5 Summits, made 120 QSO's and netted 55 Activator points. I'm just a little closer to that piece of glass.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Upgrading My FT-817
The FT-817 is a great little radio. It has been around for 15 years and was the first QRP radio, that I'm aware of, that was designed for backpacking and covered 160m through 70cm. It is housed in a rugged package that is efficient, and is relatively easy to pack. The radio sells for ~ $660 and is a great value for the money. It has been the undisputed leader of it's class until the entry of the Elecraft KX3 came to market. The KX3 is a fine radio that clearly has more bells and whistles than the FT-817 although it is doesn't cover 2m and 70cm in its base model.
I have both radios but favor the FT-817 for SOTA expeditions when I choose to carry an all band radio. (I usually carry CW only radio that is much lighter, but carry the FT-817 on some trips). Clearly the out of the box filtering is better on the KX3, but so is the price. You can buy two 817's for the price of a KX3. However that said, I set out to modify my 817 to see if I could close the gap between the two. So I added the W4RT On Board Filter ($284) with both SSB and CW (300Hz) filters. I also added the BHI DSP filter ($169). These prices include installation by W4RT, if you do it yourself you can save a few bucks. These modifications, in my opinion help to close the gaps between the two radios considerably.
Below are some very basic, unscientific, comparisons of the two radios on SSB and CW.
CW Comparison
SSB Comparison
As you heard in the videos the differences boil down to a matter of taste. I think the 817, with the 300Hz filter comes very close if not better than the KX3 on CW, on SSB the KX3 has the advantage but the DSP does clean up the noise and the SSB filter does sharpen the 817 audio considerably. I favor 817 for outdoor work and the KX3 for the in-shack QRP radio.
In future blogs I will discuss a couple cool additions to the 817.
I have both radios but favor the FT-817 for SOTA expeditions when I choose to carry an all band radio. (I usually carry CW only radio that is much lighter, but carry the FT-817 on some trips). Clearly the out of the box filtering is better on the KX3, but so is the price. You can buy two 817's for the price of a KX3. However that said, I set out to modify my 817 to see if I could close the gap between the two. So I added the W4RT On Board Filter ($284) with both SSB and CW (300Hz) filters. I also added the BHI DSP filter ($169). These prices include installation by W4RT, if you do it yourself you can save a few bucks. These modifications, in my opinion help to close the gaps between the two radios considerably.
Below are some very basic, unscientific, comparisons of the two radios on SSB and CW.
CW Comparison
SSB Comparison
As you heard in the videos the differences boil down to a matter of taste. I think the 817, with the 300Hz filter comes very close if not better than the KX3 on CW, on SSB the KX3 has the advantage but the DSP does clean up the noise and the SSB filter does sharpen the 817 audio considerably. I favor 817 for outdoor work and the KX3 for the in-shack QRP radio.
In future blogs I will discuss a couple cool additions to the 817.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
FT5ZM with QRP
All major expeditions are chaotic in the first days. Panic sets in as days go by and contacts aren't made, logs aren't posted, propagation doesn't cooperate and on and on. It is a very predictable pattern. However there is also a predictable pattern in the last days of a major expedition and that's comments on the reflector of, "finally made it", "on 14.023 begging", "working simplex", " worked with a wire", "worked first call", "worked mobile!!!" and finally, "worked QRP". An so that time has arrived for the FT5ZM expedition.
I can't say enough about the quality of this team and their operating plan. Amsterdam is antipodal to my QTH and yet these guys have been workable on most bands, I have worked them on six bands using my battleship sized station and yes, I worked them yesterday QRP with my FT-817 on 20m. Over 2,000 miles per watt! It's ironic, but there is power in QRP. There was a small pile-up, relatively speaking, covering 2-3 KC's but my 5 watt signal travelled almost exactly half way around to the world to be copied by a station almost 12,000 miles away. Very cool.
The QRP contact was the first good news of the day, the second was a bonus. The common grayline/shared darkness with FT5 and my QTH in W5 is about 30 minutes. Yesterday around 0028z, with still some faint sunlight, the FT5ZM signal came out of the mud on 3.523 listening up 2. I use only an inverted L on 80m at about 55 feet at its apex, so we aren't talking about a superior antenna. Their signal was in the 339 - 449 range. Very light copy, but solid. I was excited just to copy them. I am usually confident when I jump in a pile-up, but not this one, figuring the east coast would drown me out. However on about the fourth call I could hear faintly but solidly, AD5A 599, I went back, de AD5A 599 599 bk.......AD5A 599 599. Oh no, he didn't hear me come back.....de AD5A 599 599 599 bk.......AD5A 599 TU UP.....Yesssss! An unexpected bonus and a short victory dance and another short one when the QSO was verified in the online log today.
There are so many ways to enjoy radio and yesterday was another fun day in this wonderful hobby of ours.
I can't say enough about the quality of this team and their operating plan. Amsterdam is antipodal to my QTH and yet these guys have been workable on most bands, I have worked them on six bands using my battleship sized station and yes, I worked them yesterday QRP with my FT-817 on 20m. Over 2,000 miles per watt! It's ironic, but there is power in QRP. There was a small pile-up, relatively speaking, covering 2-3 KC's but my 5 watt signal travelled almost exactly half way around to the world to be copied by a station almost 12,000 miles away. Very cool.
The QRP contact was the first good news of the day, the second was a bonus. The common grayline/shared darkness with FT5 and my QTH in W5 is about 30 minutes. Yesterday around 0028z, with still some faint sunlight, the FT5ZM signal came out of the mud on 3.523 listening up 2. I use only an inverted L on 80m at about 55 feet at its apex, so we aren't talking about a superior antenna. Their signal was in the 339 - 449 range. Very light copy, but solid. I was excited just to copy them. I am usually confident when I jump in a pile-up, but not this one, figuring the east coast would drown me out. However on about the fourth call I could hear faintly but solidly, AD5A 599, I went back, de AD5A 599 599 bk.......AD5A 599 599. Oh no, he didn't hear me come back.....de AD5A 599 599 599 bk.......AD5A 599 TU UP.....Yesssss! An unexpected bonus and a short victory dance and another short one when the QSO was verified in the online log today.
There are so many ways to enjoy radio and yesterday was another fun day in this wonderful hobby of ours.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Fickled Propagation, Working FT5ZM
One fun thing about ham radio and propagation in particular is that no two days are exactly the same. One day a given path is open and signals are booming, the next day, nothing. Thus the challenge in working difficult paths. Amsterdam, FT5Z, is on the opposite side of the earth from where I live in Texas and is tough entity to work, especially when thousands of others are calling. So the challenge is on.
For those trying to work FT5ZM from the states it has been widely chronicled that the signals are coming in via multiple paths, even the indeterminate "skew" path. In other words just rotate your antenna until the signal peaks. I have heard them on such a path which is more east that the SSE short path heading from my QTH. Last evening they were spotted on 12m, 15m and 17m. I swung the beam SP and, as I would expect, nothing but noise. Skew path, same thing. Well, let me try long path and viola, there they were. A very nice signal on 15m, a fluttery signal on 17m and nothing on 12m. The better signal on 15m was also heard very well in JA as that was all the operator was working. So let me try the weaker signal on 17m. First find where he is listening....he is working a W7, good, and I can hear both ends of the QSO, cool,.....I drop my call in figuring other west coasters will beat me out, but what do I hear? ....AD5A 599...jubilation...... and with that another band counter in the log.
They will be there for two weeks and working them should get easier, but don't give up, try some of the sneaky ways into the log, it's a lot more fun.
I must issue a disclaimer: This is not a QRP story, I was hitting on all cylinders on this one:-)
For those trying to work FT5ZM from the states it has been widely chronicled that the signals are coming in via multiple paths, even the indeterminate "skew" path. In other words just rotate your antenna until the signal peaks. I have heard them on such a path which is more east that the SSE short path heading from my QTH. Last evening they were spotted on 12m, 15m and 17m. I swung the beam SP and, as I would expect, nothing but noise. Skew path, same thing. Well, let me try long path and viola, there they were. A very nice signal on 15m, a fluttery signal on 17m and nothing on 12m. The better signal on 15m was also heard very well in JA as that was all the operator was working. So let me try the weaker signal on 17m. First find where he is listening....he is working a W7, good, and I can hear both ends of the QSO, cool,.....I drop my call in figuring other west coasters will beat me out, but what do I hear? ....AD5A 599...jubilation...... and with that another band counter in the log.
They will be there for two weeks and working them should get easier, but don't give up, try some of the sneaky ways into the log, it's a lot more fun.
I must issue a disclaimer: This is not a QRP story, I was hitting on all cylinders on this one:-)
Sunday, January 26, 2014
QRP/SOTA Fun Without Climbing A Mountain
Rather than activating summits, I spent the weekend at my small ranch near Rocksprings, TX. I have a nice QRO station there with 107 foot Rohn 55 Tower, a Log Periodic, 40 Meter beam and wires on low bands. I can work a lot of stuff from there. However, I had a plan this weekend to test a few antenna configurations for my QRP operations from SOTA summits.
So I set up my operating position just as I would on a summit. I was testing one of the SOTA beams EFHW antenna with counterpoise and a homebrew 29 ft. wire. I brought along two tuners including Hi-Tee Tuner from SOTAbeams and a recently acquired Hendricks SLT+ 80m-10m end fed half wave tuner.
The SOTAbeams combo was my first configuration. I put the antenna over a limb about 15ft. up and let it slope down to another limb about 7 feet up and then down to the radio. The antenna wire terminated into a 4mm plug that prevented me from running through the eyelets of my pole. I plugged the wire into the tuner (which will only take a 4mm plug, there is no binding post) as well as the counter poise. The antenna tuned nicely and I had QSO with a station in Arizona. As I finished that QSO I tuned across the SOTA frequencies and heard W0CCA calling CQ SOTA from a summit in Arizona on 20m. Cool, now could I work him with this set-up? I usually don't have to wait long in a pile-up but for this QSO I would have to. I was tempted to run over to the QRO shack and make the contact to ensure I got the points since he was on a 10 pointer, however I resisted the temptation. My faith in QRP was rewarded, Cap finally heard me and gave me a 229. Cool.
So now I set-up the simple 29 ft. wire. Since it didn't have the banana plug on it, the Hi-Tee Tuner was useless, so I set up on the SLT+. I was able to use my pole this time, so the wire was higher off the ground in an inverted L configuration. By that time KX0R was calling CQ SOTA on 20m from a summit in Colorado. Evidently the pile-up had run it's course because I got him on the first call. So my little tuned wires had netted 12 SOTA chaser points. I am regularly amazed by QRP, how much you can do with a few watts and some wire.
A great day of QRP/SOTA fun.
So I set up my operating position just as I would on a summit. I was testing one of the SOTA beams EFHW antenna with counterpoise and a homebrew 29 ft. wire. I brought along two tuners including Hi-Tee Tuner from SOTAbeams and a recently acquired Hendricks SLT+ 80m-10m end fed half wave tuner.
The SOTAbeams combo was my first configuration. I put the antenna over a limb about 15ft. up and let it slope down to another limb about 7 feet up and then down to the radio. The antenna wire terminated into a 4mm plug that prevented me from running through the eyelets of my pole. I plugged the wire into the tuner (which will only take a 4mm plug, there is no binding post) as well as the counter poise. The antenna tuned nicely and I had QSO with a station in Arizona. As I finished that QSO I tuned across the SOTA frequencies and heard W0CCA calling CQ SOTA from a summit in Arizona on 20m. Cool, now could I work him with this set-up? I usually don't have to wait long in a pile-up but for this QSO I would have to. I was tempted to run over to the QRO shack and make the contact to ensure I got the points since he was on a 10 pointer, however I resisted the temptation. My faith in QRP was rewarded, Cap finally heard me and gave me a 229. Cool.
So now I set-up the simple 29 ft. wire. Since it didn't have the banana plug on it, the Hi-Tee Tuner was useless, so I set up on the SLT+. I was able to use my pole this time, so the wire was higher off the ground in an inverted L configuration. By that time KX0R was calling CQ SOTA on 20m from a summit in Colorado. Evidently the pile-up had run it's course because I got him on the first call. So my little tuned wires had netted 12 SOTA chaser points. I am regularly amazed by QRP, how much you can do with a few watts and some wire.
A great day of QRP/SOTA fun.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
More Battery Power for the FT-817
I occasionally use the Yaesu FT-817nd on my SOTA expeditions if I want to use higher bands on the activation or for some odd reason want to operate SSB:-). I actually prefer it to the KX3 simply because it is less bulky and it performs well in the field. One of the concerns I have with taking the 817 is; should I take an external power supply since the internal, rechargable, battery can have a relatively short life span. This is due to the power required to operate the 817 versus smaller, CW only radios. I was looking for a higher capacity battery made for the 817 and came across an interesting offering on EBay. The link is http://www.ebay.com/itm/3000mAh-Polymer-Lithium-Battery-pack-back-door-holder-Yaesu-FT-817-ND-radio-/331093734430?pt=US_Radio_Comm_Antennas&hash=item4d16b9741e#ht_4797wt_706
The product is a 3000mAh LiPo battery that fits the 817, a replacement for the battery door that allows the battery to be charged by an external charger (included) and a nice stand for the radio. (The battery that comes with the 817 is 1400mAh) All this for $89. Now, it is a product made in China, so it is tough to determine quality, (that's also true for certain US producers as well). I ordered the package and will test it to see if it is as advertised. W4RT offers a similar product but it's priced at $150.00 and the battery is a NiMH.
I have no commercial interest in this product, but it seems worth the money if it delivers as advertised.
I have no commercial interest in this product, but it seems worth the money if it delivers as advertised.
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