[TenTec] SOTA RADIO
Bwana Bob
wb2vuf at verizon.net
Wed Mar 16 22:13:03 EDT 2016
Rick:
Is there still that much SW broadcasting in Europe? I know that the
BBC, Swiss Radio International, Radio Netherlands, and the Voice of
Russia (Radio Moscow, when I was a kid) have all gone dark. Who is
left? Deutsche Welle, maybe?
Well... You might have to just lug the Scout up the mountain. The Scout
with a gel cell battery still weighs less than the MIL surplus HF
packsets that the soldiers used to carry. I have run my Scout on a 7 Ah
SLA battery, by reducing the power to 5W, though one can go higher. I
usually run the Scout at 30 W, which is plenty for SSB. If low battery
voltage is a concern, you can make up a pack with a 4 V and a 6 V SLA in
series to make 14 V. Just a few ideas..
73,
Bob WB2VUF
On 3/16/2016 8:20 AM, rick at dj0ip.de wrote:
> The Arogonau V's receiver was a disaster here in Europe.
> The local QRP club gave it such a bad review that you couldn't sell it in
> Europe.
>
> As I have said many times, you guys in the states have no idea what we are
> facing over here.
> Besides the smaller, more congested bands, we have all of these hundred
> thousand watt shortwave broadcast stations.
>
> 73 - Rick, DJ0IP
> (Nr. Frankfurt, Germany)
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Dave
> Edwards
> Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 11:47 AM
> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] SOTA RADIO
>
> The Argo V seems like it came and went quickly.
> A QRP rig, that was actually adjustable up to 20 or 25 watts.
> Did (obviously) CW very nice...and SSB was fine also.
> ...Dave
>
> On 3/16/16 6:36 AM, rick at dj0ip.de wrote:
>> OK, tnx Barry.
>>
>> It seems to be that All of the low cost radios that work SSB are not
>> very good at CW.
>> And the radios that are good at CW do not work SSB. :-((
>>
>> I know QRP has an official limit of 5w, but in my 25 years where I was
>> really active all the time in portable work, I found that 10w CW was
>> much more reliable for communicating than 5w, even though it is just
>> 3dB difference. I also found I could work reliably with 20 to 25w of
>> SSB and that 5w SSB was tough a lot of time. So I would love to see a 20w
> radio.
>> I believe the SGC 2020 has 20w but I've heard it is not good on CW and
>> that the receiver tends to overload and the radio also hangs a lot,
>> requiring a master-reset.
>>
>> We need to design a dual band radio with:
>>
>> > Analog VFO from 10 to 11 MHz
>> > A crystal local oscillator on 3.5 MHz
>> > Mixer products give us "13.5 to 14.5" MHz AND "6.5 to 7.5" MHz
>> > 6-Pole Jones filter on 3.5 MHz
>> > 20w SSB & CW
>> > Audio-derived AGC
>> > Analog Audio filter
>> > Use transistors rated 50 or even 100w, but run at 20w. That way
>> it can work into 5:1 SWR without a tuner!
>>
>> That's your 40m/20m dual band radio, simple and easy!
>> The VFO tunes in opposite directions on the two bands but that doesn't
>> matter.
>> KISS!
>>
>>
>> 73 - Rick, DJ0IP
>> (Nr. Frankfurt, Germany)
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Barry
>> N1EU
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 10:28 AM
>> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
>> Subject: Re: [TenTec] SOTA RADIO
>>
>> You don't want the roofing filter option for the KX-3 because it has
>> to be defeated if there are reasonably strong in/out-of-band signals.
>>
>> You would be fine with just 40 & 20M from the mountain top. 30M is
>> nice to have and occasionally 17M. When condx are good, 15M is also nice
> to have.
>> And of course, when the solar flux is higher, 10M is an amazing QRP band.
>> But just 40 & 20M would serve you very well.
>>
>> The LNR rig might not be so great on CW - you should research that.
>>
>> I suggest you post questions about SOTA and SOTA radios in these two
> places:
>> http://reflector.sota.org.uk/
>> https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/nasota/info
>>
>> 73, Barry N1EU
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 2:33 AM, rick at dj0ip.de <Rick at dj0ip.de> wrote:
>>
>>> (changed the subject: was Service, overhead and the future A/K...)
>>>
>>> Barry,
>>>
>>> I did a lot of reading in the past day and I believe you are right.
>>> The KX3 is exactly the radio I described. PERFECT.
>>>
>>> Unfortunately it's beyond my budget.
>>>
>>> The basic KX3 costs $1500 here in DL.
>>> Add in a tuner and roofing filter and paddle and it's over $2K for a
>>> 10w radio that I might use 5 or 6 times per year on a mountain top.
>>> The ROI just isn't worth it.
>>>
>>> For home use, say as my 2nd radio, I would need an amplifier.
>>>
>>> Bottom Line: It's a champagne dream on a Budweiser budget.
>>> For that money -(at this point in my life)- I would get more bangs
>>> for my buck out of playing with something else, such as a 7300 or an
>> Annan, etc.
>>> I need a Plan B for SOTA. Maybe it's just "bite the bullet and carry
>>> my Scout up the mountain."
>>>
>>> I don't mind spending $500 or so but I would sure like to know how
>>> the radio is going to perform BEFORE I buy it.
>>>
>>> My primary bands for portable have always been 40 and 20. 15 will be
>>> dying soon. Do I really need 17m for SOTA?
>>>
>>> QUESTION FOR YOU ACTIVE SOTA Ops: What bands do you mainly operate
>>> when you are on a mountain top?
>>>
>>> I've only been on one SOTA outing together with a buddy and we
>>> operated
>>> 40/20/17/15 making a lot of QSOs on each band. Perhaps not quite as
>>> many on 17.
>>>
>>> I think I will take a second look at the LNR offering.
>>> It is indeed an SDR with DDC - so not an NE-605 type of radio.
>>> Unfortunately they don't show much detail; just a block diagram.
>>> There is a box called SDR-RF BPF.
>>> This is a make or break component.
>>> Some SDR radios have ham band BPFs (good), others have an LPF, with
>>> 0-12MHz (useless).
>>>
>>>
>>> 73 - Rick, DJ0IP
>>> (Nr. Frankfurt, Germany)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
>>> Barry N1EU
>>> Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2016 5:48 PM
>>> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
>>> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Service, overhead, and the future. A/K/A/ I've
>>> got my
>>> 2 cents!
>>>
>>> Rick, I'm not sure if you would be satisfied by the KX1 or the MTR
> radios.
>>> Unfortunately I don't know the answer to something better but not too
>>> expensive.
>>>
>>> I suggest you try to borrow an MTR-5B. That's the only lesser
>>> expensive radio that will do 40-15M inclusively. And you'd have to
>>> search around to find one for sale currently although LNR should be
>> bringing it out soon.
>>> Or, just stick with the FT-817. I like the radio, although it really
>>> needs an external speech processor to work well on SSB.
>>>
>>> 73, Barry N1EU
>>>
>>> On Tue, Mar 15, 2016 at 11:50 AM, rick at dj0ip.de <Rick at dj0ip.de> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Barry,
>>>>
>>>> I'd love to have a KX3 but it is much too heavy.
>>>> It's weight would place too big of a dent in my wallet!
>>>>
>>>> For SOTA I really only need 40/20/17/15m.
>>>> 10 is dying and by the time it comes back, I doubt that I will still
>>>> be running up any mountains.
>>>>
>>>> My next scheduled SOTA operation is 1-April. "Fool on a hill" -
>>>> that's
>>> me!
>>>> I don't know yet if I'll try carrying my Scout up the mountain or not.
>>>> I can borrow an FT-817.
>>>>
>>>> How good is the KX1?
>>>> We have some heavy challenges on our receivers here in EU.
>>>> A weak DR3 destroys 40m, especially at night, and a weak DR2 makes
>>>> working 20m difficult - especially at night. You guys in the states
>>>> can't appreciate that. You have to see/hear it to believe it.
>>>>
>>>> I once built a 20m QRP rig based on a design by Rick Littlefield.
>>>> Had some kind of IC mixer.
>>>> It was marginal.
>>>> I ran a QRP CW contest using a home-brew magnetic loop antenna.
>>>> Sitting in my living room with radio, mag loop, and battery, I
>>>> worked
>>> dozens of QSOs.
>>>> Thought it was great. Then I put it on a big antenna and all hell
>>>> broke loose at night.
>>>>
>>>> So I bought the MFJ 20m QRP CW rig.
>>>> It was no better than the one I built.
>>>> I sold both.
>>>>
>>>> I want something better than that - but not too expensive.
>>>> But I don't know the QRP radios at all, except for the Argonauts.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 73 - Rick, DJ0IP
>>>> (Nr. Frankfurt, Germany)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
>>>> Barry N1EU
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2016 12:25 AM
>>>> To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
>>>> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Service, overhead, and the future. A/K/A/ I've
>>>> got my
>>>> 2 cents!
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Mar 14, 2016 at 9:40 PM, rick at dj0ip.de <Rick at dj0ip.de> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> My Scout is a bit too heavy and over-powered, but the FT-817 just
>>>>> isn't enough radio for me.
>>>>> I'm looking for something in between. I'd like to see a 10w or 20w
>>>>> radio with a good RX.
>>>>> I want it to have both SSB and CW.
>>>>
>>>> It's called a KX-3
>>>>
>>>> I've got one, but I usually carry a much lighter KX-1 or MTR-5B when
>>>> I actually hike up a mountain. (200 SOTA activations here)
>>>>
>>>> 73, Barry N1EU
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