Tag Archives: sotabeams

Contests, CW, DX, Operating, Portable Ops, Soapbox

CQ WW WPX CW Contest – May 25th, 2019

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In this video, I get a chance to talk a little philosophy while driving to a local park. I then set up my Mountain Topper and SOTABEAMS dipole and work 11 stations… 8 of which were 5,000+ miles away! This will show you that a tiny, battery-powered radio can produce excellent results and allow you to have a ton of fun.

 

Gear seen in this video:

MTR-5B HF radio: https://www.lnrprecision.com/store/MT…

3Ah lithium ion battery: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01…

Mini Speaker: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01…

Palm Mini Paddle – no longer available

Zoom H6 Audio Recorder: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/deta…

GoPro Hero7 Black camera: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc…

2″ Drive-On Mast Mount: https://tn07.com/mast-supports

Green 33′ fiberglass telescopic mast: https://tn07.com/telescoping-masts

Antennas, CW, Operating, Portable Ops

New England QSO Party – From Bobcat Ridge

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This past weekend, I took the Mountain Topper radios (3B and 5B) to Bobcat Ridge and worked a bunch of stations.  In this video, I show my antenna setup and work 5 or 6 stations. At the end of the video, I show all of the stations I worked.

Not bad for 3 watts and a wire antenna.  I was only transmitting for about 90 minutes, total.  The various contests running this weekend made it super-easy to work QRP!

Portable Ops

QRP bike ride…

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One of my favorite things to do in ham radio is to take a QRP rig with me on a bike ride. I’ve got several places where I go on my bicycle and set up a station.

This evening, I rode to one of my favorite spots and worked K2H (VA) and N4LB (TX) before packing it back up and heading home.

I used my Elecraft KX3 with a Sotabeams 20m/40m linked dipole antenna.

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My bike with a portable camp chair and my radio gear stuffed into a pannier.

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Here’s what it looked like after setup.  The antenna was hoisted up into a tree and tied off to the handlebars of my bike.  The KX3 has a Begali Adventure attached… what a fun combo!