Equipment – Page 5 – WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio

My Wounded Whip

A while back, I ordered a 5.6M/18.4 foot. telescopic whip from a seller on AliExpress. I didn’t really need it, but having seen them on the Interwebs, I was curious to see what you get for $18 USD. Heck, at that price, why not take a chance?

You can find these whips all over AliExpress. (I have also seen them on Amazon for about $10 more.) One nice thing about them is they are 7.5 inches shorter than an MFJ-1979 when fully collapsed. So, it might fit in backpacks easier. The shorter collapsed length is due to having 14 telescoping sections compared to the MFJ-1979’s 10 sections. Because of its thinner metal and lack of a reinforced base, the AliExpress whip weighs 4.4 ounces/125g less than the MFJ whip. Of course, the other obvious advantage is the incredibly low cost.

There are some downsides though. The threads are metric (10mm), so you need an adapter to use it with a ⅜-24 mount. Fortunately, adapters are readily available as well. The other downside that I’ve noticed is that the metal they are made of is pretty thin. (More on that in a bit) The MFJ whip has a heavy stainless steel reinforcement at the bottom, while the AliExpress whip does not.

My antenna arrived from China about a week and a half later. It came wrapped in several layers of bubble wrap with a tough plastic outer wrap. I eagerly opened the package, but I was disappointed to see that the bottom section was damaged. It looked like either someone dropped something heavy on it or Big Foot stepped on it. As I mentioned previously, the metal is pretty thin.

While traveling half-way around the globe, this telescopic whip antenna encountered some rough handling.

When I finished uttering every expletive in my vocabulary, I contacted the seller through the AliExpress app and sent pictures of the damage. They promptly shipped out another antenna, and they didn’t want the old one back. So, I set the wounded whip aside, while I awaited its replacement.

The replacement whip arrived 6 days later, which is pretty impressive for a shipment from China. Happily, this shipment arrived intact. I would be remiss if I didn’t give props to the HUI BANG TE Store on AliExpress. Their customer support was top-notch.

When I get a chance, I’ll take the inexpensive whip out to a park to give it a go. I laid the AliExpress whip next to the MFJ-1979, and it looks like collapsing one section from the bottom on the AliExpress whip makes it about the same length as the MFJ.

I also have some ideas on how to straighten and reinforce the damaged whip to make it usable. That might be a winter project.

72, Craig WB3GCK

MY AX1 Kit

I’ve had a lot of fun with my Elecraft AX1 antenna since I bought it six or seven years ago. I’ve activated several parks with it, and it has yet to let me down. Running five watts into a 45-inch whip shouldn’t really work, but somehow it does. While I don’t always use it as my primary antenna, I always take it along on outings as a backup.

I have used my AX1 in a variety of settings, e.g., picnic table portable, with a car window mount, clamped to the handlebars of my bike, etc. While perusing the Temu website, I stumbled upon a tactical-style MOLLE pouch capable of holding the AX1 and all the accessories I typically use for those configurations. The cost was a mere $8.00 (USD) for a pair of them. (The original offering is no longer available, but a search for “molle pouch” on Temu or AliExpress should find this pouch or something similar.)

AX1 Kit (front). I have two of these pouches, so I used a nylon zip tie label to tell them apart.

AX1 Kit (Rear). The pouch is MOLLE-compatible. — AX1 Kit (front). I have two of these pouches, so I used a nylon zip tie label to tell them apart.

It measures 6.3 in. (16cm) x 4.33 in. (11cm) x 2.1 in. (5.5cm). For as inexpensive as they are, the quality is pretty good. The material is durable, and the zipper works smoothly. Each pouch came with an American flag velcro patch. At these low prices, you often get what you pay for. This time, though, I think it was a pretty good deal.

Here’s what I carry in the bag:

Elecraft AX1 loading coil & whip
Radials (4 @ 13 feet)
Tufteln AX1 Stand
Car Window Mount
Camera Mount Clamp (Bike Mount)
Elecraft AXT1 Tripod Mount
Elecraft AXB1 Bipod
3-foot RG-316 coax cable w/ BNC connectors

Everything fits comfortably in the little pouch, but there isn’t much room to spare.

This is everything I carry in my AX1 kit. (See text for list) — This is what I carry in my AX1 kit. Not shown is a 3-foot RG-316 coax cable. (See text for list)

I normally carry my AX1 pouch in my backpack. When I have too much other stuff in my pack, I can use the MOLLE straps to attach the pouch to the outside of the pack.

It’s nice having all of this stuff in one place. Now my little AX1 is always ready to go, however I plan to use it.

72, Craig WB3GCK

Of Hotspots and Wi-Fi

I recently spent some time in Central Pennsylvania at my daughter’s house. Since I was going to be there a while, I brought along my Raspberry Pi hotspot. While I’m not really active in digital voice modes (or any voice modes, for that matter), there are a couple of DMR nets I like to check into each week.

One issue I ran into in the past, is that my hotspot refuses to connect to their Wi-Fi network. Their Wi-Fi SSID has both an apostrophe and a space in it, so I’m guessing that’s the issue. I could have connected the hotspot directly to their router via an ethernet cable. Because of their router’s location, I would have had to move some furniture and put the hotspot in an awkward location. So, this time around I brought a little travel router to try another approach.

Back when I was working, I had a TP-Link Nano router that I took on business trips. Typically, I would connect it to an Ethernet port in my hotel room to create a personal Wi-Fi network for my laptop and phone. A while back, I upgraded to the newer (and faster) TP-Link TL-WR802N travel router. I don’t travel nearly as much these days, so the new router hasn’t seen much use.

My little TP-Link travel router (right) and my beat up old hotspot. The paper taped onto the hotspot is to tone down its excessively bright LEDs. — My little TP-Link travel router (right) and my beat up old MMDVM hotspot. The paper taped onto the hotspot is to tone down its excessively bright LEDs.

I brought the travel router along on this trip to create a wireless bridge from the house’s Wi-Fi to my personal Wi-Fi. The router’s Wi-Fi network has an SSID that my hotspot likes. I haven’t used that mode much, so I had to resort to the user manual to refresh my memory on how to set this thing up.

Actually, it was pretty easy to set up. It was simply a matter of connecting my laptop to travel travel router’s Wi-Fi to access the admin functions. From there, I set it up in the “Hotspot Router” mode. Then, I scanned to find the house’s Wi-Fi network and logged into it.

Testing the internet connectivity with my laptop, the speed looked good. I had previously added my travel router’s SSID and password to the hotspot, so soon after powering up I was hearing the sounds of DMR coming from my HT. This configuration worked great, and I successfully checked into a few nets during the week.

The next time I go out there to visit, I’ll just need to power up the router and the hotspot, and everything should work. (Knock on wood)

No ground-breaking technological advances here. I just love when a plan comes together.

73, Craig WB3GCK

[Disclaimer: I have no monetary interest in this product, and there are no affiliate links in this post. I’m just a satisfied owner.]

MFJ-1979 and the Junk Box Coil

I’ve been toying with buying a 17-foot telescopic whip for some time now. I didn’t really have a pressing need for it, since my 12-foot whip has been doing a great job for me. As a result, I kept talking myself out of buying it—until now. When I heard the news that MFJ was shutting down production, I figured I might as well buy one while they’re still available.

With no additional matching, you can adjust the MFJ-1979 to cover the 20M band and higher. I figured this whip coupled with my “Junk Box Coil” should easily cover 40M through 20M with the antenna fully extended. The four-foot height advantage over my 12-foot whip, should yield some performance improvement. With my older, larger coil, operation on 80M might be possible.

To test my assumptions, I made a trip to Evansburg State Park (US-1351, KFF-1351), where I was one activation away from a POTA “Repeat Offender” award. Like my last visit, it was raining, and I seemed to be the only one in the park.

I set up the 17-foot whip and coil on the back of the truck and quickly identified the proper tap for 40M. I used a Sharpie pen to mark the tap location. (The coil now has two sets of marks.) Despite an impending geomagnetic storm, I made my first 10 contacts in about 12 minutes. Not too bad for an early activation on a Friday morning.

The MFJ-1979 17-foot whip mounted on my "Junk Box Coil." — The MFJ-1979 17-foot whip mounted on my “Junk Box Coil.”

After about 25 minutes, I switched to the 30M band and marked the tap location on the coil. I picked up eight contacts on 30M before giving 20M a try. It was no surprise that the SWR was a flat 1.5:1 with the entire coil bypassed. Although conditions on 20M seemed a little weak, I logged five more contacts before pulling the plug. I ended up with 25 contacts in the log. No DX or park-to-park contacts today, unfortunately.

For part of the activation, I used a plastic bag to keep the rain off the coil. When I got home, I brought the coil and the whip inside and dried everything off. While I had the whip extended, I measured the actual length. By my measurements, it’s 16 feet 11 inches long.

Based on this brief test, I made a few observations:

Compared to my older 12-foot MFJ whip, I don’t think the quality of the MFJ-1979 is as good. The older whip just seems to telescope more smoothly. Some online reviews mention problems keeping the antenna from collapsing after using it for a while. In an effort to avoid problems like that, I’ll be extremely careful when extending and collapsing the whip.
Performance on 40M, 30M, and 20M should be better than the 12-foot whip, given the additional length. A big difference? Given today’s band conditions, it was hard to tell.
With the 17-foot whip and my coil, I can cover 40M. 30M, and 20M without adjusting the length of the whip. However, the 12-foot whip gives me 40M, 30M, 20M, and 17M without adjusting the whip. This lines up perfectly with the bands on my TR-35.

I won’t be retiring my 12-foot whip anytime soon. I think for most POTA activations, I’ll stick with the 12-foot whip out of convenience. For contesting and activities like Winter Field Day, I will probably go with the 17-foot whip. I have an old 20M mono band QRP rig I want to put back on the air in the near future. The MFJ-1979 should be perfect for that.

72, Craig WB3GCK

Byonics KX3 AX1 Stand

I mentioned in an earlier post that I bought my Elecraft AX1 antenna not long after they came out. Although I carried in my pack as a backup antenna for a few years, I never used it much. That changed last year, when I started giving it some serious use. It’s now one of my go-to options for casual, impromptu portable operation.

Of course I bought a few accessories for the AX1. I typically use the AXB1 Bipod with the AX1 attached directly to my KX3. While that works fine, I saw mention of an interesting alternative to the bipod, the Byonics KX3 AX1 Stand. My curiosity got the better of me, so I ordered one.

It’s a clever little 3D printed stand that weighs next to nothing. To use it, attach the BNC elbow adapter to the AX1 and set it in the stand. Scoot the stand up to the radio and connect the AX1 to the radio. That’s it!

I set it up at home, and it seems pretty stable. The thing I like about it is that there are no adjustments. Since Byonics makes these stands for specific radios, the KX3 version won’t fit a KX2 and vice versa. That’s not a problem for me, since I don’t currently own a KX2. The Elecraft bi-pod, of course, can be adjusted to fit either radio.

I’m looking forward to trying it out in the field sometime soon.

73, Craig WB3GCK

An Extra Helping of Pi

Back in 2020, I started fooling around with digital voice modes. I don’t really use them a lot, but there are a couple of DMR nets I like to check into each week. I recently started using the WPSD software instead of the Pi-Star software I had been using on my two hotspots. Just for the heck of it, I wanted to try upgrading the old Raspberry Pi Zero board on one of them to something more capable.

According to the documentation, WPSD was never written for single core processors, like the old Pi Zero W board in my hotspot. The developer recommends a Pi Zero 2 W or better. While it will work on a single core Pi, it runs slower—I can attest to that. I also noticed that CPU utilization was well over 100% at times. With its quad core processor, the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is supposed to be five times faster than its single core predecessor. So, I was hoping to see some general performance improvements and faster boot-ups after this upgrade.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’m no Raspberry Pi expert—far from it. I had to do some online research before launching into this. It looked simple enough; the Pi Zero 2 W board is a drop-in replacement for the original Pi Zero board, so it seemed simple enough.

I bought a Pi Zero 2 W board on Amazon for about $28 (US). The board didn’t have the header pins installed, so I bought some. I bought a box of 40-pin headers for less than $10 (US). I now have more of them than I’ll use in my lifetime.

I took advantage of a rainy Sunday to do the upgrade. First, I needed to install headers on each end of the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO area. The two headers had two rows of five pins each. With the help of an Xacto knife, I snapped the pieces I needed from one of the (many) 40-pin headers I now own. With my aging eyes, I needed to use a lighted magnifying glass to do the soldering. To avoid melting the plastic, I allowed some cooling time after I soldered each pin.

The new Pi Zero 2 W board installed in the hotspot case. The two headers I soldered in are towards the front.
The MMDVM board installed on top of the Raspberry Pi board.
The is the fully-assembled hotspot. This pink section to the right is a piece of paper I used to cover some overly-bright LEDs.

From there, it was a simple task to disassemble the hotspot, swap boards, and put it back together. I estimate that the hardware part of the upgrade took all of about 20 minutes.

I had previously burned the WPSD image on a new Micro SD card, so it was ready to go. When I inserted the card and powered up, the hotspot booted up in a minute or two. After importing a backup WPSD configuration file and doing a couple of tweaks, the hotspot came to life. Success!

The performance improvements were immediately obvious. The dashboard and configuration web pages were much more responsive, and the CPU load typically stays under 20%. It’s been running for a week now, and it’s been rock-solid. Since this upgrade went so smoothly, I went ahead and upgraded my other hotspot. That one was just as easy and is also working great.

For you Raspberry Pi power users out there, this is pretty trivial stuff. Yeah, I guess it is. But it was an easy and fun little project, and I learned a bit about Raspberry Pi boards in the process.

73, Craig WB3GCK

Loading Coil Case

Sometimes I get excited over some of the most trivial things. This is one of those times.

I wrote about my Junk Box Loading Coil in a recent post. I normally keep the loading coil and my 12-foot telescopic whip antenna stashed away under the backseat of my pickup truck, so it’s handy for spur-of-the-moment activations. I also keep a couple of Jackite poles and some other gear under there. While the coil is pretty rugged, I just didn’t feel right about cramming it in there unprotected. By pure dumb luck, however, I stumbled on the perfect storage solution.

While mindlessly browsing the Internet a while back, I stumbled across something on a Chinese seller’s website (Temu.com) that caught my eye. It was a storage case that was probably made for something no longer sold. I’d provide a link, but products quickly come and go on this website. The website listed it as “Simple Portable Storage Zipper Bag, Travel Electronic Tools Organizer, Zipper Container.” Wow. That’s a mouthful.

I had seen similar cases on eBay, but not in this particular size. Given the listed dimensions, I thought it might be a good fit for my homebrew loading coil. At the time I placed my order, it was selling for $7.98 USD.

This is the case I bought to use with my Junk Box Loading Coil.

The container, along with a few other things I ordered, arrived on my front porch eight days after I placed my order. Voila! The case was a perfect fit for my loading coil. In fact, it looks like it was custom made for it. It’s semi-rigid, so it affords some degree of protection. It’s definitely not elephant-proof, though. There’s an elastic strap inside that helps hold everything in place.

My Junk Box Loading Coil tucked away in its new storage container

I’m not exactly sure what this case was intended to house, but it’s perfect for my application. So now, my coil will stay clean and protected, while waiting under the backseat of my truck for my next POTA activation.

73, Craig WB3GCK

Turkey Day Activation

Our family had to postpone our Thanksgiving get-together until the weekend. So that gave my (far) better half and me a quiet day to ourselves. What better way to celebrate a holiday than a POTA activation?

My destination today was Marsh Creek State Park (K-1380, KFF-1380), one of my favorite local parks. As I was walking out the door, my (far) better half told me, “You shouldn’t expect too many contacts because of the holiday.” Ha! After being married to a ham for 46 years, you would think she would know better. A holiday is just an opportunity to get on the radio instead of working!

My rig today was my old YouKits HB-1B. After I bought it through Ten Tec 10 years ago, it was my go-to portable rig. In recent years, I’ve been taking it along on trips as a backup rig, but it hasn’t seen much air time.

The HB-1B has a canned “CQ” CW message, but no programmable memories. I brought my old NorCal keyer along to take care of that. Since the HB-1B also lacks an internal tuner, I used my Elecraft T1. Actually, this was a portable configuration I have used many times years back. Antenna-wise, I went with my 12-foot whip and homebrew loading coil on the back of my truck.

My old YouKits HB-1B transceiver, along with my Elecraft T1 ATU and NorCal keyer

The HB-1B never had the cleanest sounding sidetone; but using a LiFePO4 battery (around 13V), the sidetone had some loud clicks. Over the years, the display also developed some kind of mark or smudge that is very noticeable at some viewing angles. Neither of these issues were a show-stopper for me.

I started out on 40M and seemed to get out well enough. After the first eight contacts, though, the band seemed to dry up. I moved up to 20M, and things picked up. Although it took 20 minutes to get my first 10 contacts, there was lots of activity on the 20M band. The power output is slightly lower on 20M (approximately four watts), but I still collected 32 contacts there. I picked up a few more on 30M before calling it quits.

My view of the lake in Marsh Creek State Park (K-1380, KFF-1380)

In less than 90 minutes on the air, I ended up with 50 contacts (with one dupe). There were no park-to-park or DX contacts today. (I neglected to post a spot for the WWFF folks.)

Despite its shortcomings, the little HB-1B gave a good accounting of itself. It’s still a worthy backup rig, and I need to put it on the air more often.

Finally, to all those celebrating, have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

72, Craig WB3GCK

Taking My FT-817 Back to the Field

Looking through some files recently, I came across the sales invoice for my old Yaesu FT-817. According to the invoice, my FT-817 was 20 years-old back in May. The ‘817 hasn’t seen much use lately, so I set out to change that.

I first saw the FT-817 at an Atlanticon QRP convention back in 2001. The FT-817 had just come out, and I wanted one the moment I saw it. It wasn’t until two years later that I finally pulled the trigger and bought one. The FT-817 became my main rig for many years, both at home and in the field. After I bought my Elecraft KX3, the FT-817 was only saw infrequent use in the shack.

The early FT-817s were plagued with a tendency to blow the finals. Sadly, mine was no exception. Despite being very careful, my finals went belly-up during a camping trip in 2006. I sent my rig back to Yaesu for repairs, and they installed the newer, more robust finals used in the FT-817ND. It’s been fine ever since—knock on wood.

Initially, I used my homebrew Z-match tuner with the FT-817. In 2009, I bought the LDR Z-817 auto tuner, which was designed specifically for the FT-817. The Z-817 certainly made tuning up a lot faster.

A while back, I tried to program some new repeater frequencies using Chirp on my laptop. Windows informed me that the chip in my old FT-817 CAT cable is no longer supported. I bought a new cable on Amazon, and I was soon back in business.

To prepare for today’s outing, I put fresh batteries in the Z-817. Since the FT-817 doesn’t have a memory keyer in it, I dug out my old NorCal Keyer. I built the NorCal Keyer from a kit not long after I purchased the FT-817, so it is also 20 years old. I gave the keyer a set of fresh batteries and programmed one of the three memories with a “CQ POTA” message.

With my trusty FT-817 in tow, I drove over the Valley Forge National Historical Park (K-0761, KFF-0761). I parked my truck in a spot that had a picnic table about 10 feet behind it. That allowed me to set up my homebrew 19-foot vertical on the truck and run an 18-ft length of RG-8x over to the rig.

My 20 year-old Yaesu FT-817 back in the field at Valley Forge National Historical Park (K-0761, KFF-0761). The blue box in the foreground is my NorCal Keyer, which I built from a kit 20 years ago.

Before starting my activation, I did some testing. The FT-817 and Z-817 combo played well with the vertical. I was able to easily get a good match from 40M through 10M. The earbuds I used were more sensitive than the headphones I use at home, so the sidetone was louder than I’m accustomed to. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember how to adjust the sidetone volume, and I neglected to pack my little FT-817 cheat sheet. So, I just pulled the earbuds out a bit and continued on.

Since the picnic table was only 10 feet from my truck, I was able to use my homebrew 19-foot vertical.

Once I got going, using the FT-817 brought back a lot of memories of portable outings from years ago. Happily, the old rig still works like a charm.

Despite some fading on the bands, contacts came easily. In a little more than an hour, I made 21 contacts with four park-to-park QSOs. Most of my contacts were on 40M and 20M, with one contact on 30M (a P2P). I also had a contact with W1AW/0, but the operator didn’t give his location.

It was a lot of fun getting my trusty FT-817 back out in the field again. The FT-817 isn’t my oldest QRP rig; that honor goes to my 30 year-old MFJ-9030 transceiver. I definitely need to dust off more of my old rigs and give them some QRP-portable love.

72, Craig WB3GCK

Evolve III E-Book Impressions

I bought the Evolve III Maestro E-Book about nine months ago. Having used it for various ham radio applications during that time, I thought I’d offer some updated thoughts on this inexpensive laptop.

Spoiler alert! There really isn’t anything I dislike about the Evolve III laptop. Sure, it’s not the speediest machine ever built, but it has stood up to every task I’ve thrown at. I regularly use it at home for Winlink, NBEMS, and VarAC. I’ve also used it for these modes in the field for ARES-RACES exercises.

The Evolve e-book in use during this year's Field Day — The Evolve e-book in use during this year’s Field Day

Power Considerations

Besides its small size and low cost, the thing I like best about the Evolve III is its battery life. Depending on what I’m doing, I can get eight to ten hours of run time. That’s way more than I need for my typical portable outings.

Since the “wall wart” charger it came with outputs 12VDC, I can charge the laptop from a 12V battery. For charging in the field, I bought a 6-foot cable on Amazon that has a 3.5mm x 1.35mm coaxial power connector on one end. On the other end, I added a 12V accessory plug (cigarette lighter type). I also built a second cable with an Anderson Powerpole connector.

A charging cable I built with a 12V cigarette lighter type plug
A 12V charging cable I built with a Powerpole connector

For Field Day, I operated all day without having to charge the laptop. I couldn’t have done that with other laptops I have used in the past. Before turning in for the night, I connected the Evolve to a 17 A-H gel cell battery to charge it overnight. (I had a fused 12V socket installed on the battery.) When I woke up during the night, it was fully charged, so I disconnected it. The Evolve lasted the rest of Field Day without further charging.

Field Day Configuration

My Field Day configuration made full use of the Evolve’s capabilities. I used it for logging, connecting to our shared log file via Wi-Fi. I also used one of the two USB connectors to drive my WKmini Morse interface to send CW with my KX3.

Since I only had one more USB connector available, I used a 3-way USB splitter to accommodate the other devices I needed to attach. I had the receiver for my wireless mouse attached to one port on the splitter and the KX3’s rig control cable connector to another port. I used the third port to connect a thumb drive, which I used for exchanging files with another Field Day participant.

This is a USB splitter I bought at Staples years ago. The extra USB ports came in handy during Field Day.

For backups, I had my N3FJP Field Day logger configured to save backup files to an SD card. Since my backup files included the entire networked log, I had everything I needed to submit our group’s entry on my laptop when I got home.

With all that going on, the Evolve performed flawlessly.

Some Additional Thoughts

I recently heard from a couple of hams who received Evolve laptops with a USB-C charging port. This is a recent design change, I suppose. I don’t have any hands-on experience here, but I think this might actually simplify things in the field. A 12V socket connected to the battery and a commercial 12V cell phone car charger should be all you need to charge the Evolve. Most cell phones and devices seem to favor the USB-C connectors these days, so suitable 12V car chargers are easy to come by.

So, if you couldn’t tell, I’m a big fan of the Evolve III Maestro E-Book. So far, I feel the $89 I paid for it was money well spent. I’m hoping I can get several more years of good service from it.

73, Craig WB3GCK