[TenTec] SOTA RADIO

[rick@dj0ip.de]

Bob,

I have a 12 Ah Li-Fe-Po battery that weighs only 4 lbs. It runs at about
13v.
In comparison, my 9 Ah Gel battery for my motor scooter weighs about twice
as much.

So I can run my Scout all day long at 25w using this Li-Fe-Po.

The problem is not the scout, nor the battery, it's me.

"I" was that soldier carrying the manpack back in the early 1970s and
believe me, it was 10x easier than carrying the scout and Li-Fe-Po today!  

73 - Rick, DJ0IP
(Nr. Frankfurt, Germany)



-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Bwana Bob
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 3:13 AM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] SOTA RADIO

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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