More magic on 6 meters

I'm such a newbie in regard to anything having to do with the 6m band that I was thrilled two months ago when I was able to work Ecuador on that band.

Two days ago, I decided to have a look at the "50 MHz" tab on the DXMaps website and saw dozens of contacts being made between EU and Africa during their local afternoon hours. So I decided to set up the station here to monitor what I hoped would be an approaching TEP opening for this side of the Atlantic.

The ions did not disappoint and the same opening repeated itself the next day.

I was able to make many contacts with SA stations, the highlight being VP8LP. At one point VP8LP announced that he was going to FT4. I followed but decoded nothing. Evidently business was lacking there for him as well as he returned to FT8 after a few minutes.

I did give a listen on CW but...nada. All contacts were FT8.

Rig: Apache Labs 10E, Neptune 100w amp, 5m whip (1/4-wave vertical for 20m) with two radials. The autotuner matched the antenna with no problem on 50 MHz.

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Celebs discuss ham radio

As we know, there are a number of celebrities/politicians who are or have been ham radio operators: Barry Goldwater, Joe Walsh, King Hussain and many others.

Not so commonly known is that many non-ham celebrities know enough about the hobby to have opinions on it.

Here are a few:

 

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Yu's upcoming rig in its prototype case

6-80 meters, 50 watts SSB/CW, 20 watts on digital modes.

No projected release date or price yet.

Images of Yu holding it give a better perspective of the radio's small size than if it were simply on a tabletop. 

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 More photos:

5-band QMX on this morning's 5-band POTA activation

The little QMX has come a long way since it was first released as a CW/digital transceiver, and I don't just mean the addition of SSB.

Far more significant to me are the very recent firmware updates that corrected two major shortcomings with the radio:

Strict DC input voltage limitations and

Common failure of the final BS170's during high SWR at full power.

These two issues prevented the QMX (and QMX+) from being a serious consideration for outdoor ops who don't use resonant antennas and don't want to take along a buck converter, LiPo battery or place "dropping diodes" in series with the DC source.

Those are a lot of things to contend with if you want to just set up and be on the air with minimal fuss.

They are no real issue at all though, if you don't mind taking the time to accommodate the radio rather than have the radio accommodate you.

Sometimes I like to savor the steps necessary to put a station on the air and don't mind taking extra time (and steps) to enjoy the process.

But for a roadtrip like the one I have planned, I want a minimal to-do list and a quick set up time - and I'm happy to say that the QMX/QMX+ now support this.

This morning's was my first activation with the 15-40m QMX. Hans built this one for me and expedited it to me a few months ago as I was trying to get permission to operate in Vietnam and Thailand. Thailand said 'Yes" but Vietnam said "No, don't even bring a radio here". So I had to leave the radio at home since VN was our first stop.

Now, with a different type of trip on the horizon, the little QMX again has become the front runner of the 4 radios I'm considering. 

KX2's internal battery capacity when charged from different voltage sources - and a new product for the KX2

The manual for the KX2's internal battery charger (KXIBC2) allows for a variety of input voltages, up to a maximum of 15V, to be used to charge the radio's 2.6AH lithium battery. The manual also mentions that lower voltages (down to 11V) can also be used although the battery will not be fully charged at these voltages.

I was curious to see how a lower charging voltage - ie, a partial charge - would correspond to capacity.

My main interests were:

• If I charge the KX2's battery from my motorcycle's lead-acid battery, how much capacity will it have?
• If I charge a completely discharged KX2 battery from the motorcycle, will I still have enough juice in the motorcycle battery to be able to start the bike?