Dear all,
today I took the QMX for a hike and did a short SOTA activation
of HB/BE-110. The aim was to test a very minimalistic setup for
use on summits, which I otherwise would not activate (eg. limited
space + too many people around):
- the (low band) QMX fixed to a hiking stick (zip ties do the
job)
- a small loaded vertical for 30 m, around 120 cm max. length
(made from stuff I had lying around)
- 2x 3.5 m counterpoise wire
- a USB-Powerbank for power supply (with USB-C PD trigger board to
get 12 V out, works like a charm)
-CW key/earphones
Then I stopped thinking to much about antenna efficiency and just
gave it a try....and was pleasantly surprised: I got 6 QSOs within
the first 10 minutes of the activation...that's very OK for me.
The RBN spots also looked quite decent, so I'm pretty sure this
setup will do its job in the future.?
The QMX itself performed well, except the SWR protection kicked
in unexpectedly several times and I had to restart. Next time I
will only use the SWR protection feature when tuning the antenna
and turn it off after. Let's see how this will work...
Hope to see you on air soon, maybe also with your "QMX on a
stick" ;).
Best, Matt (HB9HWI)
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