Batteries are a necessity for portable operation, including Summits On The Air (SOTA) activations. In situations where I’m using a handheld transceiver, it has its own battery. I might carry a spare battery or two, depending on how long I intend to operate.

I also make use of my Yaesu FT-817 (mostly for 2m ssb/cw) and a small 2m/70cm FM transceiver (Yaesu FT-90). The FT-817 has an internal battery pack but I worry that it will run out of charge during the activation. The FT-90 needs a battery to function, drawing 9.5 A at full power. However, I usually run it at a lower power setting, probably drawing about 5 or 6 A.

Sealed Lead Acid Battery

I started out using a small sealed lead acid (SLA) battery. These use well-established battery technology that has stood the test of time. They are easy to charge and do a good job. But they are a bit heavy. Initially, I thought “what’s an extra pound or two in my backpack?” Later, I started looking around for something more compact and lighter. As backpackers and SOTA activators know, a pound here and a pound there means you up end up with a really heavy backpack.

Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery

Many SOTA activators use lithium iron phosphate (LiFePo4) batteries that are commonly used for radio-controlled aircraft/vehicles.  I bought two of these batteries (Zippy 4200) and a special charger that handles LiFePo4. These batteries are lightweight and have great power density. One charge handled several SOTA activations…I never ran out of power.

As shown in the photo, these battery packs have two connections: one for charging that accesses each cell individually and one for current output that you connect to your radio. I removed the output connectors that came installed and replaced them with PowerPole connectors.

These batteries worked pretty well for me. They had plenty of capacity and held their voltage nicely during discharge. Then one of the batteries failed early in life. (I think I was taking good care of them, too.) One annoying thing with these batteries is that the charger was relatively large and had a fragile adapter that connected to the battery charging port. (This allows one charger to handle a wide variety of battery packs.) This was not a problem at home but I found it to be a disadvantage when traveling.

Bioenno Power 12 Volt Series

When the Zippy battery failed, it caused me to look further for other options. I ended up adopting the Bioenno series of batteries, specifically their 12V series: 12V Series – LFP (LiFePO4) Batteries. These battery packs also use LiFePO4 cells, but the charging controller smarts are embedded into the battery pack. These packs also have short circuit protection which is an awesome safety feature for lithium batteries. This makes the battery pack friendlier to use but it does cost a bit more. They also come with PowerPole connectors installed (along with another connection that I don’t use.)

From the Bioenno web site:

Our 12V LFP Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries give you the following advantages:

• We guarantee our entire battery range comes with built-in protection-circuit-modules (PCM) micro-computers that internally balanced cells and confer protection including from overcharge, overdischarge and short circuiting.
• A Bioenno Power battery is thermally and chemically stable
• A Bioenno Power battery is dependable and reliable without the possibility of lithium fires
• A Bioenno Power battery is 50% to 70% lighter than a traditional SLA (sealed lead acid) battery
• A Bioenno Power battery allows for extraction of >80-90% of the rated capacity, whereas an SLA battery only allows for 50% of the rated capacity
• A Bioenno Power product has a service life of 2000+ charge cycles at 5-10+ years with a shelf life that far exceeds the service life of many other batteries

I bought two of their battery packs. The 4.5 Ah pack is for normal SOTA use, small and lightweight (1 pound). The second pack is 9 Ah for when I’m operating for a longer time (weighs 2.6 pounds), such as mountaintopping for a VHF contest. The Bienno 2A charger, which has a nice compact form factor, works with both of them. This charger is much better for packing up when traveling.

I have used the Bioenno batteries on several SOTA activations and I’m quite happy with the setup. The Zippy LiFePO4 (and Sealed Lead Acid) are fine to use but I have found that the Bioenno system is superior overall. I will probably add a few more Bioenno battery packs to my collection over time. They make some really large batteries that would be good for EmComm work, but too heavy for hiking.

That’s my story on battery packs. What are you using?

73 Bob K0NR

The post My SOTA Battery Journey appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Joyce/K0JJW and I were planning a trip that included some time in Europe. It turned out that our airline route would connect through Zurich. Rather than spend a few hours in an airport, we decided to spend a day or two in Switzerland.

Somehow the discussion turned to Summits On The Air (SOTA) and whether we should do an activation in Switzerland.  Slowly, a plan developed to do a “check the box” activation on a local summit near Zurich. As readers of this blog know, I’ve been exclusively using VHF/UHF for SOTA activations. We decided to pack really light so SOTA gear on this trip was extremely limited: 2m/70cm handhelds and vertical antennas. Sorry, no yagi.

SOTA Help

I came across this thread about the proper callsign prefix when operating under CEPT rules in Switzerland. The SOTA association is called HB but valid callsign prefixes are HB9 (full license) or HB3 (novice license). This sent me back to the CEPT rules to make sure I understood them correctly:  Recommendation T/R 61-01 and ECC Recommendation (05) 06. The short story is that as an Amateur Extra licensee, I operate as HB9/K0NR. Joyce has a General Class license which corresponds to the “novice” category under CEPT, so she uses the callsign HB3/K0JJW.  Apparently as an Extra, I had previously overlooked or forgotten some of the fine points of CEPT. Specifically, US Extras are given full privileges by CEPT but Generals can only operate in a subset of CEPT countries while Technicians get no privileges at all (yet another reason to upgrade your license).

I also put out a request for advice on the SOTA reflector:

Joyce/K0JJW and I have one day in Zurich later this month. Somehow the idea of squeezing in a SOTA activation while in Switzerland made it onto the itinerary.

This will be on 2m FM only with basic gear. The current plan is looking like a hike up Altberg (HB/ZH-015) but we are open to other ideas.

A number of people responded with helpful information. Soon I was contacted by Paul/HB9DST who suggested we do an activation together. Paul is an American living just outside of Zurich (his US callsign is AA1MI) and is very active in SOTA. We soon had our eyes on the Churfirsten SOTA summits which are southeast of Zurich (see Paul’s activation reports).  Ultimately, we chose the summit of Selun (HB/SG-049).

Activating Selun (HB/SG-049)

Access to the trail was via several train rides and a bus ride, then a short walk to the Selun cable car. This cable car is quite unique in that it is a homebrew design (see the photo below). We piled into the cable car and rode it to where the real hike started.

On the Trail

The bottom station of the cable car is at ~3000 feet (900 m) and took us up the hill to ~5000 feet ( 1500 m), so it definitely sliced off some elevation gain. The summit of Selun is at 7234 feet (2205 m), which gave us a moderate but not crazy difficult hike. My GPS app recorded a distance of 1.7 miles and 1900 vertical feet (one way).

The weather was excellent for late October with blue skies above and some clouds laying in the valleys.

Paul is an HF/CW enthusiast so that made sharing the bands very easy. He strapped his fishing pole to the summit cross and strung out an end-fed wire for 40m, 30m and 20m, making a total of 40 QSOs. Joyce and I took turns on 145.550 MHz FM using our Yaesu FT-1DR handheld radios with vertical antennas.

I made 13 contacts on VHF, including three Summit-to-Summit (S2S) contacts. HB9PMF was close by on SG-017 (Hinterrugg) another summit in the Churfirsten. I also stayed on the summit while Joyce and Paul hiked down out of the activation zone and worked me for chaser points, giving me a total of 15 QSOs.

My log is shown below. All contacts were on 145.550 MHz. Note that the calling frequency in Switzerland (all of Europe?) is 145.500 MHz. Joyce worked a subset of these stations.

Operating notes

I have to admit that it was a challenge keeping everything straight while making QSOs. I had to add the HB9 prefix on the front of my US callsign and “portable” on the tail end (local practice for activator stations). That’s “HB9/K0NR/P” instead of just “K0NR”…there is a reason we prefer shorter callsigns. All that along with the usual signal report, name, SOTA designators, etc. Fortunately, everyone we worked had reasonable English skills. Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut. If I sounded a bit confused, I probably was and at 7200 feet I can’t blame the altitude.

It was definitely a thrill to work the S2S stations and two other countries (Germany and Austria) on VHF. (I have never done that on SOTA VHF from Colorado…I rarely work anyone outside of the state.)

After we hiked back down, Paul suggested that we had to stop in at the local farmhouse restaurant (Selun Ochsenhuette) for a drink. It was all part of the Swiss SOTA experience!

Paul was a magnificent host for our short stay in Switzerland. We stayed two nights at his place and he guided us on a fantastic SOTA activation.  Without his help, we would have probably activated a small summit near Zurich and would have been in the low clouds all day. We would have left the city thinking “I bet this is a beautiful place when the sun is shining.” Instead, we had an excellent day hiking the Swiss mountains and playing ham radio. Thanks, Paul!

Joyce did find one small way to repay Paul’s kindness. Being an skilled seamstress, she sewed Paul’s prized SOTA Mountain Goat patch onto his pack. Nice job, Joyce!

73 Bob K0NR

The post SOTA Activation in Switzerland (HB/SG-049) appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

One question we often hear from new hams (and maybe some not-so-new hams) is “why can’t I get into the repeater?” They get their hands on a new radio, set it up to use one of the local repeaters and it’s not working. Now what?

There can be a whole bunch of reasons why you can’t get into a repeater so it is difficult to come up with a quick fix for all situations. However, in this article we’ll talk about some basic troubleshooting steps to help diagnose the problem. For this article, I am assuming that your first rig is a handheld vhf/uhf transceiver but the general approach will work with mobile or base transceivers, too.

FOT

Many times the problem is due to not having the transceiver programmed correctly. The key things we have to pay attention to are: Frequency, Offset and Tone (FOT). To access a repeater you need to have its Frequency entered into your radio, have its transmit Offset set correctly and have the right CTCSS Tone turned on. You might not need to check all of these things in that exact order but it is a good way to approach the problem. Using the programming software (and suitable cable) for your radio can be a big help.

Frequency –First you need to program in the frequency of the repeater you want to access. The actual key strokes or knob turns will depend on the particular model of radio so consult your operating manual. The frequency you enter is the repeater transmit frequency which will be your receive frequency. Repeaters are always referred to by their transmit frequency, which can be found in an online or printed repeater directory.

Offset – Next, we need to make sure the proper transmit offset is programmed into the radio. This is the difference in frequency between the repeater transmit frequency and its receive frequency. Your transceiver will automatically shift your frequency when you transmit, if you have the right offset programmed. In most parts of the US, the standard offset is 600 kHz on the 2m band and 5 MHz on the 70cm band, and can be either in the positive (+) or negative (-) direction. Your repeater directory will list the offset and direction. Most radios will default to the standard offset but you may have to select + or – offset. Usually a + or – symbol will appear in the display to indicate the offset selected.

As an example, my repeater is on 447.725 MHz with a – 5 MHz offset. So you would enter 447.725 MHz into your radio, make sure the offset is set to 5 MHz and select – as the offset direction. You can verify that your radio is programmed correctly if you see 447.725 MHz displayed during receive, which should change to 442.725 MHz when you push the transmit button.

Tone – For most repeaters, you will need to transmit a CTCSS tone to access the repeater. (CTCSS is Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System.) Repeaters with carrier access do not require a tone, so you can skip this step. This is normally a two-step process: set the tone frequency and then enable the tone. Sometimes this is done with one selection (with “Off” being an option for the tone frequency). Some radios have separate settings for the transmit tone and receive tone. For now, just leave the receive tone off, since it can be a source of confusion. The tone that you need to set is your transmit tone. Most radios display a “T” somewhere on the display when the tone is enabled. Again, check your operating manual.

Kerchunk

At this point, you should be ready to try accessing the repeater. After listening on frequency for a minute, transmit and identify using your callsign. On most repeaters, you will hear a short transmission coming back from the repeater along with a courtesy beep. A courtesy beep is just a short audio tone or tone sequence that occurs after someone finishes transmitting. If you hear the beep, then you accessed the repeater. Congratulations! Go ahead and make a call and see if someone will come back to you.

Troubleshooting

What if you don’t hear the repeater coming back to you? Then we need to go into troubleshooting mode. If the radio is new, you might wonder if it is even working properly. The quality level of today’s equipment is quite good, so most likely your radio is just fine. Still, you may want to check it out.

First, you can check to make sure your radio is receiving properly. In the US, a good way to do this is to tune into your local NOAA weather transmitter.These transmitters are on the air continuously, operating on 162.400, 162.425, 162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525 or 162.550 MHz. These frequencies are outside of the 2m ham band but most ham transceivers are able to listen to these frequencies. You’ll want to set this frequency as simply as possible…use the keypad or VFO mode to enter it directly. In most cases, you can just try the short list of frequencies until you hear the transmitter in your area.

Next, you might want to know that your radio is able to transmit a signal. The best way to do this is find a local ham nearby that can run a simplex check with you. By nearby, I mean within 5 miles or so, because we want someone so close that there is no question about whether they should be able to contact us. Program your radio to a 2m simplex frequency such as 146.52 MHz (the National 2m FM Simplex Frequency). For this test, we do NOT want the transmit offset turned on…the radio needs to be set to simplex. You can double check this by looking at the display when transmitting—it should show 146.52 MHz (transmit frequency is the same as the receive frequency). For this test, we don’t care about the transmit tone…it can be on or off. Have the other ham give you a call and see if you can contact him. If you happen to have a second transceiver, you can try this test yourself – just see if each radio can hear the other one. One warning: do this on a simplex frequency. Trying to go through a repeater can really confused things because you may not have the offset and tone set properly. Even more confusing is that one radio can “desense” the other radio, which means that the other radio’s receiver will be overloaded and not able to receive the repeater’s signal. Using simplex keeps things simple.

The final thing to check is whether your signal is able to reach the repeater. Well, that is a bit of a challenge! For starters, are you sure you are within range of the repeater? Have you ever heard a signal from this repeater, and was it full scale on your S meter? You may want to ask local hams about whether you should be able to hit the repeater from your location with the radio you are using. For that matter, you might want to check if the repeater is actually on the air – they do go down from time to time.

This brings us to an important point about the use of handheld transceivers. They are really, really handy. How else can you carry a complete ham radio station in your hand? Well, the tradeoff is that an HT operates with relatively low power (5 watts or less) and has a compromised antenna. (The standard rubber duck antenna on an HT is a very convenient crummy antenna.) You may need to add some extra umph to your signal by improving the antenna. Some good dualband choices are a longer whip such as the Diamond RH77CA, SRH77CA, or SRJ77CA  or a magnetic-mount mobile antenna placed on a vehicle or on other metal object.

Summary

In this article, I’ve tried to provide some assistance in figuring out why you aren’t hitting the repeater. The most common problem for newly acquired radios is getting them programmed (remember FOT: Frequency Offset and Tone). Once you have that right, it is usually just making sure that you have enough signal to make it to the repeater.

73, Bob K0NR

Note: this article is adapted from Hey, Why Can’t I Access the Repeater? on hamradioschool.com

The post FOT: Frequency, Offset and Tone appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

In my previous blog post, I listed four barriers to getting on HF:

• antenna restrictions
• radio frequency interference (RFI)
• cost
• the fiddle factor.

Fiddle Factor really represents how multiple issues can come together to dramatically increase the complexity of an HF installation.

Now I’d like to propose some ways of dealing with these barriers.

Antenna Restrictions

A lot has been written about this problem and there’s enough material to write a dozen books about this topic. The remedies that come to mind fall into two main categories:

• Hide your antenna
• Change your location (temporarily or permanently)

Common strategies for hiding an HF antenna include: attic antenna, low profile wire antenna, flagpole antenna and temporary antenna. I recently came across this fabulous guide to stealth antennas from The Villages Amateur Radio Club. It was developed based on practical experience in an HOA-controlled community. One interesting point they stress is that the mode you use interacts with the capability of the antenna. Simply put, if you are using a compromised antenna then it really helps to use a more efficient mode such as CW, PSK31, JT65 or FT8. Good advice!

I received quite a bit of feedback via twitter that a solution to antenna restrictions is change your location.  One answer is to permanently move your home to a new location, typically out in the country with wide open spaces and no restrictive covenants. This is easy to say and often difficult to do.  I am going to assume that for the most part you are stuck with your home location (for whatever reason) and not spend much time on it here. But keep this in mind when the opportunity to move happens. Every time I’ve purchased a house, I always evaluated the property for antenna options.

Another option is to change your location temporarily, as in portable operation (can you say Summits On The Air?) I like portable HF operating and have operated from a number of islands while on vacation. You don’t have to do a DXpedition, you can always just go to a local park and set up a station there. Heck, you can always “go portable” in your backyard. Set up  a temporary antenna, operate and take it down before anyone has a chance to complain.

Another “change your location” strategy is to use a remote ham radio station. Many clubs have established a remotely-controlled station (usually controlled via the internet) for their members to use. Or you could use one of the commercial remote radio systems (such as Remote Ham Radio).

Radio Frequency Interference (RFI)

RFI generally occurs when a device creates radio frequency energy on frequencies that you want to use.  One very discouraging experience is to turn on your newly-installed HF station to find the ambient noise at S5 across your favorite operating band. Frankly, this can be a really difficult problem to solve. Many books have been written on this topic, too. One of the best is The ARRL RFI Book. The ARRL RFI web page may be helpful, too.

The source of interference is either under your control (something in your residence) or it can be from external sources (your neighbor’s house, the AC power lines, …)  RFI sources are easier to find in your own home. A good first move is to go around and unplug everything electronic in the house to see if the problem goes away. Or you can go through your circuit breaker box flipping all circuits off until the problem disappears. (Of course, you need to keep you HF radio powered up so you can listen for the noise.)

If the problem is outside your home, things get a lot more difficult. You’ll have to track down the source and engage the owner of the device in a conversation about correcting the problem.

If the problem is power line noise, the electric utility is supposed to be able to correct it. However, the technical capability on RFI issues at electric companies ranges from none to quite competent.

Cost

What can we do about the cost of getting on HF? I’d say, not a lot. Your best strategy is to look for used equipment which can be less than half the price of new. However, if you are comparing an HF station to the cost of a $30 Baofeng handheld transceiver, you will probably be disappointed. In my previous blog post, I estimated that a used HF station could be on the air for ~$500.

One comment I received via twitter is that the cost alone may not be the issue. For some folks, the issue is spending that much money and not knowing how much success they will have on HF and whether they will truly enjoy it. Good point. One way to deal with this issue is to operate from someone else’s station to try out HF or to borrow some equipment. This will defer the cost until you know more about HF operating and judge whether it’s right for you.

One idea that might look attractive for saving cost is to buy an inexpensive, low-power (QRP) transceiver. I would avoid that option as it increases the fiddle factor.

The Fiddle Factor

The fiddle factor represents how multiple issues can come together to dramatically increase the complexity of an HF installation. When the complexity increases, the probably of success decreases because there are just more things to go wrong.

So the remedy is to avoid a high-fiddle-factor installation. Ideally, you would use a simple antenna (dipole, end-fed halfwave, etc.) hung in the clear with no obstacles around. Real world constraints may come into play here and require you to make other choices. Just be aware that each complication drives complexity.

Find a Mentor (Elmer)

The one universal strategy for success with ham radio is find a mentor, also called an Elmer. Having an experienced radio ham to answere questions and bounce ideas off of is extremely valuable.

How do you find a mentor? See Dan/KB6NU’s suggestions on the topic. You may have to settle for mentoring via the internet but it is way better to have someone local that can actually see your house and antenna installation options.

Anything else?

Those are my suggestions for how to deal with the barriers of getting on HF. I am sure there are more ideas out there.
What do you think?

73 Bob K0NR

The post Getting On HF: Some Remedies appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

There is a SOTA (Summits On The Air) summit just north of Tincup Pass with an elevation of 13,538 feet. The SOTA database (W0C/SP-127) says the name is Mount Emma but all of my maps indicate that it is Emma Burr Mountain. (I contacted the W0C Association Manager and we’re working it out.)

Joyce/K0JJW and I did the first activation of this summit in late September. The weather was wonderful except for the wind that pounded us anytime we were exposed on a ridgeline, which is to say it happened a lot. We started our ascent from Tincup Pass, which is at 12,154 feet on the Continental Divide (see photo). I’ve seen trip reports of people hiking this summit from the northeast (Mineral Creek area) accessible by South Cottonwood Road (FS 344), so that may be another option.

At Tincup Pass, there is an obvious trail leading off the the east. We followed this trail uphill for a while and then diverted off to the north towards the north/south ridgeline and Tincup Peak. Tincup Peak is not a SOTA summit and is not shown on all maps. It is a13,345 foot bump on the ridge heading north. Our entire hike followed the Continental Divide, always a real treat.

We followed the top of the ridge for the most part, occasionally dropping down a bit on the west side to avoid obstacles. Occasionally we followed a faint trail but for the most part this was off-trail hiking, often with significant rocks to climb over.

Once we got on top of the ridgeline, we could see our actual objective of Emma Burr (see photo below). The saddle between Tincup Peak and Emma Burr dropped down more than I expected from viewing the topo map, so we soon realized that we’d have to lose substantial elevation and then climb to get it back. Oh, well.

Once on the summit of Emma Burr, I pulled out the 2m FM station and started calling CQ on 146.52 MHz. We had no mobile phone coverage at Tincup Pass but once we got on the ridge, Verizon was working pretty well so I spotted us on Sotawatch. Our best DX was Dave/N0KM near Center, CO for a distance of 70 miles. Other stations worked: W0BV, W0RW, N1TEW, K0MGL, K0TG, KB0QEP, KL7GLK, N0EVH, KD0VHD and W0DLE. Lots of stations on 2m FM that day. I tried working W0RW on 1.2 GHz FM but we could not quite make it. I definitely heard him right at the noise floor but my 1 watt signal was not readable on his end.

My GPS app on the smartphone says that the one-way climb is 2.4 miles with 1600 vertical feet. The elevation difference between Tincup Pass (12,154) and Emma Burr (13,538) is 1384 feet, but the saddle costs you another 300 vertical feet of climbing.

Overall, it was a great day in the mountains. We knocked out two 13ers in one day and did a first SOTA activation. However, the wind pounded us quite well so we were plenty tired when we got back to our vehicle.

73 Bob K0NR

The post SOTA Activation: Mount Emma or Emma Burr Mountain (W0C/SP-127) appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Black Forest, Colorado
Sat Oct 13^th, 2018 (8:30 AM to 3:30 PM)

Location: Black Forest Fire Station 1
11445 Teachout Road, Colorado Springs

Come to our one-day ham radio education event.

• Improve your radio knowledge and skills
• Learn from informative presentations on amateur radio topics
• Have your handheld radio programmed with local repeater and simplex frequencies
• Have fun messing around with ham radio stuff!

Lunch will be provided.

Sponsored by the Tri-Lakes Monument Radio Association

Check the website for updates: www.w0tlm.com
(some details may change)
There is no registration, no fee, just show up, learn and have fun. Contact: Stu Turner, WØSTU, stu.turner@comcast.net

Download event flyer: Tech Day 2018 Flyer

The post Tech Day – Ham Radio Education Event appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

We’ve had a steady stream of new licensees come into our radio club driven mostly by our highly-successful Technician license class. Many of these licensees have gone on to get their General license so they can have fun on the HF bands. I’ve given advice and aid to a variety of people as they get their HF station set up and I’ve come to appreciate that for Average Joe Ham this is a big step. I’ve also noted some recurring problems that get in the way of success on the HF bands, which I’d like to explore here. Recently, I asked my twitter followers for input and got some great ideas from them, too. Thanks!

Here’s what I came up with as the four main barriers to success on HF.

Antenna restrictions

The first barrier that pops up are antenna restrictions which can come in the form of zoning regulations, protective covenants (homeowners associations), spouse’s opinion, potential objections from neighbors and your own sense of aesthetics.  Any of these can limit the type and size of antennas you can or will install. More to the point, this can be a showstopper for some folks. They may decide that they simply can’t have an HF antenna on their property.

Of course, HF antennas tend to be large due to the longer wavelengths used (compared to simple VHF antennas). But there are some compact antenna designs that use magnetic loops, loading coils, etc.

RFI

The second issue that often pops up is radio frequency interference (RFI) from sources such as power lines and consumer devices. These issues can be very frustrating because you have to do two things: identify the source of the noise and eliminate it. If the problem is power line noise, your local utility is supposed to be capable of finding and correcting the problem. Some are better than others. Consumer devices are a huge problem due to the common use of high-speed digital circuits. If the interfering device is in your home, that makes it a bit easier to deal with…if it’s somewhere in the neighborhood, then its harder to diagnose and fix.

My twitter followers mentioned that solar electric systems often radiate RF energy (and they are a growing trend). Here in Colorado, we are seeing more problems with cannabis grow operations that use RF-ugly industrial grow lights.  But Part 15 consumer electronics are a big and growing problem…too often they are little RFI generators.

Cost

I hesitate to add cost to the list but I do think it’s a factor. A starter HF station costs something like this (your mileage may vary): $750 for a new transceiver (think Yaesu FT-450 class), $100 for a power supply, $100 for wire antenna (homebrew) and coax => ~$1000.  Yes, you can buy used gear and get this cost down…maybe to half ($500)?

Comparing this to a Baofeng HT purchase ($30), it is a lot more money. However, it is on the same level as other significant consumer electronics purchases such as a high end smartphone or mid-range notebook PC. As someone correctly pointed out to me, the utility of a notebook PC is very clear…you will get value out of it…but success with HF is still a gamble. What if you spend $1k on an HF station and never have any success with it?

The post Getting on HF: The Fiddle Factor appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.