Welcome to my HAM RADIO VAN, Radio Outdoors Plus! This is Linas LY2H (aka LY2BHP, ex ON4BHP) . I'm a licensed radio ham for some 40 years now and I've always been involved in portable operations - outdoors in nature, like parks, field days or business trips from the hotels around Europe. I called my KZread channel a HAM RADIO VAN because I turned my tiny camper-van into a portable operations HQ! Portable HF and VHF antennas, radios, power supplies, batteries, other field setup - that's what I'm going to talk about most on the channel. But not only - it's a Ham Radio Outdoors Plus, by Plus meaning any other variety of ham-related, and not only topics, be it putting -up a new antenna on my house or getting my portable gear ready for preparedness exercise !
More info about me is available on a QSO TODAY , run by Eric 4Z1UG who kindly interviewed me for his great podcast platform at:
www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/LY2H
Let's have fun! 73! @Linas_LY2H
Пікірлер
Not a far stretch from FT8 xD btw CL is a prosign for shutting down the station.
Very informative. Many thanks for the video.
Thank you Sir, they are very much still being made. 73, Roger. By the way, I regret not using my call sign, but the internet is a dangerous place to show personal info...
Very informative. Thank you.
Very good video! I recently ordered a QMX+. Would you please tell us what kind of laptop computer you are using. It looks great, and I[d like to buy one. Thanks!
@@reodds Thanks for watching! The tiny PC is CHUWI Minibook with Win11. It's several years old now and I don't know if CHUWI still has it, or, probably, some newer version on the production line. Good luck with digi modes! 73! Linas LY2H
Great video and information
Interesting BUT NO politics in hamradio...
Great video. TNX 73
Try a 4 to 1 balum
@@davidfradley12 Thanks for suggestion, but the ZS6BKW does not need a 4:1 balun, it's a different type of antenna.
hello!! After more than a year of your video, I managed to operate with my yaesu 818 and my android phone in qrp, unfortunately the place we chose for my first outing turned out to be a valley with a lot of mineral in the mountains, the reception was perfect but it was impossible Please listen to us, even trying to use power, greetings and thank you very much for the video
@@leo2944 Please keep on trying, the contacts will follow!
Do you have a link to your Battery Load Tester.?? Thanks
@@4X4-RADIO Hello, it's off Aliexpress: www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003240525853.html?spm=a2g0n.order_detail.order_detail_item.2.110ff19cDZNfuK HTH, 73! Linas LY2H
@@Linas_LY2H Many Thanks...
Hey Linas, I always enjoy your videos. Great information. I really loved operating rtty and psk31 before ft8 killed them. What laptop is that? I’d like to add that to my small kit.
@@WaynePatrick Thanks Wayne! It's a CHUWI Minibook with Win11 running on it. I agree regarding PSK, but luckily, the RTTY community is still strong and RTTY contests are very vibrant! Not the everyday casual work , though :(. 73! Linas LY2H
After following your instructions the rig was working up front in the right manner. Congratulations for this very helpful video, it safed a lot of time for me. de DC1KWB 73
Great video linas, i hope to make some dx qso's with my qdx once i receive it here. I struggle with cw some days, so lets hope to contact you in the future with qrp qdx ft8. 73 zl3xdj
Great review, I have a small 6ah power queen I have have just over 1 year. I used it for field day this year to power my Yaesu FT817nd QRP radio. It again performed flawlessly.
How did I not know about this? Thanks!
@@ai5dd It seems, like more , actually, all QRPLabs radios are welcome to take part, not only QCX, since the QDX and QMX- series were introduced. Good luck! 73! Linas LY2H
@@Linas_LY2H Thanks Linas, good to know! 72 de AI5DD joe
Linas, I really like your Mobile videos... I often use my QRP field radios inside my Jeep. The battery provides ample quiet power. The setup is simple, using my passenger side desk. It provides a quick effective deployment. I have a various Hamsticks, but prefer a telescopic mast, an EFλ/2 Antenna, leaned into a tree. Thanks again Linas. 72. de W7UDT
Great loading coils, I use 80m one on a home made mast 2m long. Its great for portable ops from my mobile, too long to drive along the road but ideal for stationary portable ops. Regards vk5cz ..
I tuned my new HF rig into the ground shield on the coax going up to my 2 meter beam on the roof of my house, and was working several 20 meter sideband stations 1,000 to 2,000 miles away one evening. If you can load it you can use it.
Sure! I used to tune regularly my QRP rigs into metal water gutters in hotels in French rural areas ( in most modern hotels there is no way to get to the watter gutter from your room window :)). So, anything works, just we need to be inventive! Thanks for sharing your experience! 73! Linas LY2H
Great video my friend. Nothing on 80m here for years hi. 73 zl3xdj
I got my first hustler in 1969. I had a bumper mount and what you have appears to be the part that connected to the bumper strap. I am still using Hustler antennas for portable use on stake mounts or on my trailer hitch mount. I have new masts but my old 1969 mast is still good. It was a fold over mast. I now use the one piece 54 inch masts. All of my original resonators are still good but I have added several new ones. I also use the quick disconnects. I like the top loaded antennas. They have a better current profile that most of the other bottom loaded antennas. That means better radiation from the same length antenna. I have worked over 90 countries mobile with my Hustler on my truck.
@@dandypoint Thanks a lot for your comment, very interesting! I will google now for the possible pictures of the bumper mount, just of curiosity, as I’m not sure bumpers on my car ar suitable anymore for this type of set-up :) Respect for the 90 DXCC on mobile! CU on the air, 73! Linas LY2H
@@Linas_LY2Hmy 1964 Ford had a real bumper! The mobile mount had a strap with hooks to fit the top and bottom of the bumper. There was an adjustment screw to tighten it. There was a part that the strap went through that was held against the bumper and what looks like the piece you have bolted on to it. It was a very common mobile mount in the 1960s. It was very adjustable to fit almost all bumper shapes. It was also common for the CB whips of that day. There was one piece that was held tight against the bumper at a fixed angle depending on the bumper. The two bolts in your piece mounted to it and the angle could be adjusted so the whip was vertical and your two bolts were tightened to hold it in that position. 73, de N4DJ
@@dandypoint Fantastic! Great times, great cars! Thanks for sharing your memories! 73! LY2H
Thank you. I also have all the Hustler mobile whips. I like them all. I have tied (grounded) my mobile mount to my vehicle frame, via an 8ga heavy copper wire. Seems to have helped 40m and 80m after doing that. All I had before that, was 3 Stainless steel screws into the body of my SUV by my rear door. I also have the Hustler 4BTV ground mounted vertical, and have added the 80m coil to it and it works well too for HF ops. 73 WD9M
Love my truSDX, never even heard of the QCX-mini.
Thans for nice movie, I have FT818ND and its a great radio. 73 de sp9rl
Might be easier just to use guy/tent rope tensioners instead of the fiddly slide knots. Can buy or 3d print them. Another possible addition - put a peg partially in the ground and place the base on it to prevent the base moving, or dig a small hole or 3d print a spike with a receptical on top to slot in the base.
Absolutely, you can use whatever is at hand and most convenient, but just up to he point when you… lose your fancy tensioners or your 3D-printed ones brake. Then, the knowledge of the knots may be a difference between you have the antenna up, or you cancel your outdoorsy activation :) Wish you well! 73! Linas LY2H
sadly you cant get the DSP or the filter anymore
Sadly, yes, as it comes for the new parts. Luckily, the second hand market is still vibrant, these things, or an entire radio fit with everything, still might be found starting in small flea-markets, ending in big events like Friedrichshafen Ham Radio Messe (starting next week BTW :)) 73! Linas LY2H
That Zetagi dummy load takes me back to my very early days of CB before I got my licence. 73
Great video, thank you! I'll soon try this feature. This summer I'll go out with my IC705, and try some QRP POTA. Then this is a nice extra feature to do besides some old fashion talking with a microphone ;-) 73, Marco, PE3M
Thanks Marco! Hurry-up, it's almost mid-Summer! Have a good wx , hope to work you P2P, 73! Linas LY2H
I bought one of these a year or so ago for future use. Not used it yet and it does not have the eyelet. soon I will be in a position to finally use it.
Go ahead, use it! The eyelet is usefull but not essential :), the mast is just a perfect travel companion with realy meaningful erection hight of 10m. 73! Linas LY2H.
@@Linas_LY2H Thanks Linas. I am moving in September from UK to Italy and will have a lot more room to actually erect some form of antennas for my 705. 73 de G0LQP
Just built my QMX mini....D.O.A :(. I've built a QDX, QCX + and QCX mini all OK. My QMX gives me 7mA when I press the encoder button then nothing. I think my PSU board/s may be dead?? I will get there ...soon...hopefully?? 73 p.s. got on the QRP Labs site last night (OH NO!!!) bought the QMX +....a 60W amp for my QCX mini....the buck converters for the QMX....some receiver modules.....etc etc hee hee hee LOVE THIS STUFF!!!
Congratulations on your new purchase! And sorry for the QMX probs :(. There could be any reasons for it , but my own experience is that the SPS blocks are not so easy to kill :). My first intuitive move would be check and re-solder the encoder's legs with really powerfull soldering iron. I had a problem with my QMX right-hand encoder as it was tuning the VFO somewhat strangely ... Resoldering, esPecially of the ground leg, fixed it. I'm now in the QMX+ building process, and I need a 100W soldering iron with fine tip, as ground points are even more difficult to solder than in QMX, as in PLUS the multilayer ground plane is much bigger. Good Luck! 73! Linas LY2H
Hi Linus, any chance of you repeating this but with a QMX ? So comparing SDR vs SDR.
Hi OM, sure, why not :) But not because of "comparing SDR vs SDR". In my experiments, I compare the performance of radios, independently of technology, employing the parameters that are universal for all, thus, comparable, like sensitivity of the receiver, or ability to cope with strong signals nearby etc. BTW , the radios in the Sherwood's list are ranked exactly by their performance, independently of their technology. And it's only natural to do so , IMO, otherwise , what should I compare the hybrid radios with if following the principal of "comparing sdr vs sdr"? Hybrids to hybrids, as they are neither pure analogs, nor pure sdrs? :) Comparing the performance , independently of technology, IMO, is the only way to get more or less objective picture of the radio and it also helps a customer to make a choice between the technologies. Like, I see nothing wrong in comparing , for example, the performance of digital filters in my FT-710 to a crystal filters in my Elecraft K3. They, obviously, are incomparable by their nature , but they both do the same job- digging out for me these weak signals out of the noise, so I can hear the difference, if any , and I can make a comparison. Analogy in the automotive world, for better understanding, would be a perfectly legal comparison between the mileage on one charge of an EV car and the mileage on one petrol tank of an Internal Combustion car. Thanks for watching, stay tuned for more! 73! Linas LY2H
Nice. I am aiming to build an old school regenerative receiver followed by a direct conversion receiver. I like the QRP Labs kits but my old eyes like the big components of old school construction.
Great! My first ham radio receiver was exactly a home-built 4-transistor direct conversion 40 m band receiver. It was more than 40 years ago but I'm still missing the sensitivity of it :) Paradoxically, the simple SDR receivers of nowadays also bear the same simplicity and clarity of old days, just in different, digital technology. Wish you lots of fun! 73! Linas LY2H
The QCX plus rigs are all thru hole components (the surface mount stuff is already installed). The mini same BUT very tight and easy to wreck stuff! If you buy a QCX plus and go slow with a magnifier on your head it is OK and the instructions are very detailed and thorough. 73 de VK2AOE.
I only do CW, so no need for linear amplifier, non linear amplifier are more efficient , IRF 510 cost less than US$1 each AG6JU
I agree with you. CW makes life so much simpler! 73! Linas LY2H
Also looking forward to future updates. I'm curious to find out what you think of its CW performance on air and how it compares to the commercial radios.
Me too! Thanks for a hint for future QMX+ reviews! 73! Linas LY2H
You always give me a smile Linus. Just started my QMX+, Fun!
Once Hans gets SSB implemented the QMX and QMX+ will end up being the penultimate inexpensive QRP Transceiver. Though if he does get that working i hope he can also add some more control over the filter since its an SDR Transceiver.
Absolutely! What is best, SSB and digital filtering are high on Hans's priority list! At least, that's what he was writing in one of his recent posts in the group. Let's wish him good health and us be patient! 73! Linas LY2H
@@Linas_LY2H I'm not gonna rush him on this one because he solved the thump which was my main gripe. I spoke with him at four days in May (I am designing my own QRP CW transceiver) and we discussed the firmware at length. Made me less worried about designing an SDR in the future though
@@JonathanKayne Fantastic! Would love to see your SDR design! Linas LY2H.
These days, my favorite packages arrive from Turkey.
thank you
Just started assembly of mine QMX+ 😁
Good luck! Let your soldering iron be hot! 73! Linas LY2H
Hi Linus you have bought what I intend to buy. Looking forward to your next episode.
Awesome, thanks for sharing. I think I want to build this.
Linas, I missed this one when it came out. I've had limited success with the AX1. Thomas K4SWL, has had excellent success. I love your videos. Being a minimalist myself, I find your ingenuity and insights fit my operating style. Even your mobile videos have helped me in the field. You are my Elmer! 72 de W7UDT
Wow I almost brought a digipi back in the fold to use with my soon-to-arrive QMX+ which still requires a phone or tablet…. I can save an entire device any eliminate complexity and points of failure using an abandoned android phone and skipping the raspberry pi intermediary.
Thank You very much! I am going to use it to work the RS-44 satellite with FT-4 and I need to be able to hear myself when I am transmitting. I tried installing twice and it would not let me but I think your solution should take care of me. THANK YOU for your video. DE K8OCN
Thanks for watching! Please let us know how was your experiment going! 73! LY2H
Enjoy your videos very much. How did you calculate the length of the wires for the capacitance hat you used - 1`1 cm per leg ? Tnx in advance
Thank you very much Robert! I don't use the capacity hat in this video. If you are asking about the capacity hat to the AX-1 antenna in order to use this antenna with IC-705 and other tunerless radios, it's in this video: kzread.info/dash/bejne/hXlmp9aPp5zSmNI.htmlsi=sqYEAaVFWf8jHUEW My answer to a similar question is in the comments section there: "One rule of thumb reads that the capacity hat electrically lengthens the antenna 2 or 3 times its diameter. It's like, the hat 10cm in diameter should lengthen the electrical length of the antenna by 20-30 cm. In my case, 1 needed to electrically lengthen my whip for 40 "electrical" centimeters (from resonance at ~15.3 Mhz, calcualted electrical length of 1/4 quarter wavelength ~ 466cm, to the wanted resonance at 14.1 MhZ, calc 1/4 wI ~ 506 cm. 506-466=40.). So l chose the diameter of the cap ~20cm, which turned to be pretty much in tact. But again, the size/geometry of the hat is not critical, it gives a big room for experimenting. " Hope, this helps. 73! Linas LY2H
@@Linas_LY2H Linas - Thank you very much. Yes, cap hat with AX1. I've watched several of your videos and learn a lot. They are very helpful. Hope to work you sometimes. 73 de K4RLC Bob
QCX-mini (40 m) was delivered yesterday. I am excited about working with this little rig. I'll have to get my Morse skills back up to speed, but I'm looking forward to that, too!
Thanks for watching! The QCX-mini is a perfect tool to have your goal achieved! Good luck! 73! Linas LY2H
Nice! Have you tried this configuration with the app iFTx for iPhone?
Thanks for watching! As it comes to the iFTx , I'm afraid, this software does not allow to pair your iPhone with an IC-705 via bluetooth like a headset, nor to arrange a stream via the wi-fi, like in the FT8CN. But: the iFTx allows you to physically put the phone near the radio speaker/mike and have a sound/microphone link in this most simplistic way! I've tried it on many radios, it works, it's fun! :) 73! Linas LY2H
@@Linas_LY2H Linas, you are a HERO! After read the IC-705`s manual and did not understand I came again to this video and finally I was able to synchronize the iPhone with the IC-705! Thank you so much!!!
I was able to get this working using my Samsung s23u as a hotspot, and access point on my 705. Thanks for the video.
Wish you lots of DX contacts! 73! Linas LY2H
Linus, After seeing your video, I ordered a QDX transceiver, and 6 months later, I received it! Wow, what a backlog! Anyway, I'm trying to duplicate your connection from the QDX transceiver to the PWR/SWR meter. Is that SMA to BNC connection from the PWR/SWR to the transceiver something you made, and if so could you share the process, some photos, and the parts needed. Thanks! Mark_KB3VTY
Great video. I have a question. In the log display, 16:22, what is needed for a contact to appear confirmed? Maybe upload the log to a website? I have been testing this application for a few days and I thought that the QSO had not been completed. Also, I can't find a good complete manual. In the FT8CN github, there is a english manual, but it says "if you want the complete manual, download the Chinese one". Thank you in advance for your time.
Hello Angus Macgyver ! You can be inventive and do whatever you want to :). The log within the FT8CN just offers you a way to organize your log. You can mark the contact as "confirmed" manually by just sliding it left (not right, unless you want to delete the contact). This might be practical if you use paper QSLs and want to mark every single new contact confirmed in the FT8CN log. Alternatively, you can export all the contacts to a file, upload all these qsos to a LoTW ( or wherever else), get them confirmed by the service and then import them back into the FT8CN after which these contacts should turn into green "confirmed". In theory :), as I don't use this option, because I export all my logs from different devices into one big file in some other logger and then send in one piece to the LoTW. HTH, 73! Linas LY2H