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Thank you. Yes, I put chapters in the timeline so folks can skip over the bits they don't care for. (Or skip the entiore video!). 😜

I have before, but you're right, it's not often enough. Sometimes it's because mobile phone reception is so poor, other times I simply don't have enough time. It was a pleasure to do all of that casual hunting!

I might do just that some day!

John at Penntek, is almost fully retired at this point. I think the only radios he has left are the TR-45L Skinny and those are in limited supply. Only recently, I've seen a couple of TR-35s on the used market. They don't come up often, though.

Thank you!

Congrats on passing your extra exam! So you've got a simple question, but the answer is way more complex than I could explore in a RUclips comment. :) It's all about the modes you plan to operate, the types of antennas you'd plan to use (wire, vertical--would you buy them or build them?), your overall budget, how important performance is to you, etc. With radios like the X6200 with built-in ATUs, you could use pretty much antenna. Maybe start with a cheap speaker wire antenna (search for that on QRPer.com). The X6200 would definitely work as a first HF radio, but there are also so many other options out there, too.

Thank you for the kind comment!

I just started doing SOTA activations, but I plan on doing a POTA in the near future. You gotta start somewhere...

Wonderful! Hey--I only did 14 contacts during this activation! :) Great job on accomplishing your first POTA activation!

14 is a lot, especially with propagation up and down these days. Congratulations !

Brilliant! Yes, I think I'll use one of my Talent Cells witht he QMX next time.

Indeed you do! Sadly, that one dead tree I've used for years at Vance is not long for this world. :)

He's still producing them and there are actually updates in the works now. Often, Boris shares this info and current status on the RGO One email group.

Ha ha! I'll admit that I find it so much easier in the field to simply use pencil and paper these days. :)

Because.......tree high, antenna high good signal, shelter low, antenna low poor signal.

@@procrusteus referring to horizontal distance from his radio. Not vertical height.

@@TridentMissileTech There are no trees close by and height of antenna giving better performance is the real reason why the antenna is located far away, not damaging effects of radiation. Strange that you thought it necessary to point out the obvious. Probably not the first time.

@@TridentMissileTech Honestly, in this case, it had a lot to do with the tree location (being quite far away) and the height I wanted my sloping EFHW. When the EFHW was stretched out, it took most of my feed line to reach it. That and the feed line shield acts as the counterpoise for this antenna, so the extra length was a part of the antenna's ground. You have a good point, though, and one of the reasons I love QRP so much: at 5W of output power, RF safety isn't an issue even when the antenna is on the table with your radio.

The battery I'm using is a 15Ah LiFePo4 battery from Bioenno. At the end of the day, I could probably use one slightly smaller, but I tend to use this larger battery for any of my "QRO" radios. I haven't run the numbers on the K3 (I don't own one), but I would assume a 15Ah battery would last a LONG time if you're running QRP power with your K3. At 100W, I'm not sure how long it would last, but I'm guessing for a full activation.

Thanks for the reply Thomas. Those MaH estimates are good to know. For some reason I was thinking I would need a 50 or even a 100MaH LiFePo4 battery. But yes, if strictly keeping everything 5-10 watts, even for SSB I should be able to go for a quite a while with a really good LiFePO4 even at 15Ah. The Bioenno seems to have great ratings, but they are 2-3X higher in price than other similar batteries though without the Anderson power pole connectors of course. I guess the best way to know is to just try it. I’m going to do simple POTA activations in the parks around Los Angeles where my wife and I can drive to, pull up at, and grab a bench, so nothing serious. I’m currently waiting for an OM0ET magnetic loop antenna to arrive for even simpler POTA. I’ll have my EFHW wire on hand just in case. Keep up the great videos. They are very helpful to a POTA novice. Thank you!

But why name a park after a guy like this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebulon_Vance

@@Homer19521 Like what...there is a reason its called History. We going to go around and change every name of every park, street, building, cemetery because the historic timeline isn't one shared in today's view. You can't change history but you can surely change the future and that can only be done by learning from history.

Parks in the US can also differ greatly based on the state they're in. Some states invest in their parks (I feel like NC is one of them). I've been to some states where the parks have a minimum amount of facilities. It really can depend here. I must say that in Canada, so far, I've been impressed with some of the national, provincial, and regional parks.

@@Homer19521 It was a mixed bag with Zebulon Vance. He was very vocal about opposing antisemitism; he was a slave owner, so modern historians don't paint him in a good light. Asheville did remove his public statue because of this. I'm conflicted about him - it just shows that a person is multifaceted - racist but also a contributor to the local history and a leader in several ways in the South. Many lenses to look through. We must learn from all history.

@@ThomasK4SWL Thomas, that's so true. I am originally from Wisconsin, and we have some great Parks, and we have some parks that need a little bit/lotta bit of work there and in Illinois. Your parks look especially lovely, though. Maybe it's because we know you're doing important work with your CW Key! 😂

😂 Oh dear. I might already be there!🤪

Very favorably. I prefer the variable filtering and ergonomics of the RGO One, but in terms of performance, they are very similar.

That Jersey wire has got some serious prop chops! :) I was just thinking of making another with it, of course!

I thought I'd changed the gain, but perhaps I didn't during this activation? I need to check.

Le KX2 est l'un des meilleurs du marché, je crois!

Indeed. More often than not, they just fire up on top of you. :)

Honored to share a birthday with another solstice baby! :)

That is his CW Paddles.

I think we all hope it's sorted out in the next firmware update.

More to come! I hope!

I think the wire is 26 or 28 AWG. The length? Honestly, I'm not sure. I think the total length with the 40M extension is roughly 65'. At 30M, I can't remember where I started. I just did an EFHW calculation, then added a couple of feet for good measure, then trimmed it bit by bit until I acheived the match I wanted. It's a bit tedious but works!

Thank you! :)

There are many more radios with better CW characteristics. You might look to Elecraft, Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood, or even a CW-only radio. You'd need to contact me offline with more details about how you plan to operate and what your requirements are to give you a better idea. :)