A possible early departure for the TAT/QRP motorcycle ride

Since my initial posting a few weeks ago, I've heard from half a dozen other ham/off-road motorcyclists who have ridden or are planning something similar to what I'm hoping to do. It's great to know that there are others reading this who can relate.

I'm working toward my planned ride of the Trans-America Trail on several fronts:

Departure Date

I'm keeping a close eye on the Colorado passes and noting reports from locals in that area regarding snow in the high elevations. It seems the passes are expected to open earlier than usual this year, having received lighter-than-normal snowfalls. As I type in mid-April, Engineer Pass is currently open - something that doesn't usually happen until July.

Portion of the Colorado TAT

 

There are two options for the Colorado TAT - one goes over Engineer Pass, the other over Ophir Pass. I've ridden over Engineer (10 years ago) but Ophir was my nemesis. I dropped my heavy Suzuki DR650 three times trying to reach the top, having to pick up the 400lb beast at 12,000 feet, huffing and puffing in the thin air.

Ophir is steeper than Engineer Pass and, as one approaches the top, the trail consists almost entirely of grapefruit-size rocks. That, combined with a carbuerated engine's lack of horsepower at that elevation, made forward momentum an iffy commodity; thus the fall-downs.

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.