Hand Tool Renewal

Time for some new tools on the electronics bench!

I've been buying hand tools for over 53 years, mostly mechanics tools for car repair, small engine and  motorcycle repair, bicycle repair and other related mechanical work. Down through the years I've worked as a car mechanic, a bicycle mechanic, I've worked on my own motorcycle, some small boat engines, lawn mower engines, 2-stroke appliance engines, generators, and I've supervised dozens of mechanics during my Army career. I've turned a lot of wrenches in my time, and I've bought an almost endless number of tools (that's tool geek code for 'I've lost or damaged a bunch'). 

As I got more into working on electronic equipment, I focused mainly on electronics tools - soldering tools, scopes, meters, probes, cables, power supplies, all the things needed to set up a well appointed electronics bench. When I needed a mechanical tool to work on a radio - screwdrivers, wrenches, sockets, etc. - I dove into my pile of automotive tools and made do. I think the only electronics specific hand tool purchases I've made so far have been miniature Crescent/Excellite flush cutters and pliers and a set of JIS (Japanese industrial standard) cross-tip screwdrivers. Just about every other hand tool on my bench was originally bought to work on a gas engine. When I needed to dive in and work on those teeny-tiny nuts, bolts, screws and other fasteners, most of my tools were simply too big. In an effort to save cash, over the years I accumulated a drawer full of cheap tools. Most of those tools worked OK, but there were always some quality issues that annoyed me, and many of these tools just didn't feel good in the hand. My most recent struggle was with a cheap end connector crimper I bought years ago that didn't really put a good crimp on anything. But it was was what I had so I used it. I ended up mashing more than one lug connector all out of shape. It's at that point I decided enough is enough, and it's time to start investing in some decent small hand tools for the electronics bench. No more grabbing a greasy screwdriver, last used to tweak the carburetor on a leaf blower, to adjust the pots on a radio. 

In my youth, if you needed a good hand tool the choice was simple - go to Sears and buy Craftsman. Sears sold just about everything you needed, and the quality was very high. The Craftsman brand, along with Kenmore, were the two store brands with reputations that Sears went to great lengths to protect. They did this by making sure those branded items were always high quality. In the 1960s Sears even went so far as to establish Western Forge, a company dedicated to making Craftsman hand tools, so they could better control quality and standards. Alas, Sears and Western Forge are gone and the Craftsman brand was sold to Stanley/Black & Decker years ago. Lowe's Home Improvements signed on as a major distributor of Craftsman tools (along with Ace Hardware). While the name (and unique branding) of Craftsman lives on, Stanley stumbled for years to get things right. In its declining years, Sears had moved a lot of tool manufacturing to China, and Stanley kept it there. Almost no Craftsman branded tools on the shelves in Lowe's stores were US made. To be fair, everyone was doing this - cost pressure was forcing many tool manufacturers to move production to China. But Craftsman was an American icon - American made tools, made for Americans. Loyal Craftsman customers (and there were millions of them) signaled their disapproval by switching to other brands. The problem was, most of those other brands were also made in China, or other off-shore locations like India or Pakistan. Craftsman sales started to seriously suffer, so Stanley announced plans to bring Craftsman tool production back to the US. This included plans to set up a new state-of-the-art forging plant in Texas. For some reason that project fell through, and Craftsman hand tools are still manufactured overseas. To Stanley's credit they seem to be pulling a lot of production out of China and over to Taiwan. The Taiwanese made tools I've looked at seem well manufactured - good finishes, clean and clear stamping, and a level of execution that seems a few tiers above what comes out of India. Taiwan has a long history of quality tool manufacturing, plus they are a democracy, not a communist dictatorship. That means something.

No finer, indeed. An excerpt from the Sears Craftsman 1949 tool catalog.
The demand for quality hand tools exploded after WWII with the rise in car and home ownership.
Sears stepped into the market with their Craftsman line that offered high quality, an extensive
lineup, and an unbeatable guarantee
The annual Craftsman tool catalog was the real Sears Wish Book for teenagers of my generation

Today there's no good single source for a comprehensive lineup of reasonably priced quality hand tools. Nothing fills the niche like Sears Craftsman used to. Tool buyers now have to shop around and individually assess each brand, and the tools in that brand lineup. This has led to an  interesting explosion of what I'll call 'hand tool geekdom'. While hand tool geekdom was always a thing, the world wide web has given it a new and expanded voice. Blogs like ToolGuyd offer near real time reviews of new tools, discuss industry trends, provide information on sales and special deals, and often act as informal on-line counseling venues, as tool users vent their frustrations or share their joy over tool related issues, and seek solace among like minded tool geeks. Seriously. Some of the comments to posts on that site are positively... Freudian ("my tool is bigger than yours!"). I like going to a brick and mortar store and fondling the tools I'm considering buying (that Freudian thing again?). This means occasional trips to the Big Blue Box, the Big Orange Box, and the smaller but increasingly ubiquitous Little Red Box (Harbor Freight). I'll also check out auto supply stores, Tractor Supply, Wal-Mart and even pawn shops. And of course, Amazon. I don't have any strong all-or-nothing brand loyalties, but there are brands I'm partial to because they've served me well in the past - older Craftsman, Klein, Victorinox, Crescent, Vice Grip, Streamlight, Wiha, Knipex & Wera (three high quality German tool brands), Mitutoyo (a leading Japanese manufacturer of measuring tools), Wiss, Milwaukee, Vulcan, and a few others. 

For the kind of bench work I do, there's really no need for SAE (or Imperial) standard hand tools. The electronics industry long ago switched over to metric, so I can pull any SAE sized tools off the bench. A few will stay in reserve, squirreled away in the corner of my tool cabinet, but for the most part everything I work on these days, from cars to laptop computers, uses metric fasteners and connectors.

Let's have a look at what's on my bench, and close at hand in a nearby tool cabinet:

• 1/4" drive socket set - 4 mm thru 14 mm
• Box and open end combo wrenches - 6 mm thru 12 mm. This includes several thin flat stamped open end wrenches for getting into narrow spaces inside things like radio cabinets
• A wide assortment screw drivers, from miniature flat bladed screwdrivers for working on eyeglasses, to a large #4 Phillips head drivers. This also includes a set of JIS screwdrivers, to properly engage the screws and nut heads on Japanese manufactured radios and components. Most of these screw drivers are electronically insulated, rated to at least 600 volts. 
• Needle nose pliers, from small standard sizes to the miniature Crescent or Xcelite units for working on small hardware components
• Small smooth faced needle nose pliers for bending components that might be damaged by the grip pattern on normal pliers
• A complete assortment of wire and cable cutters, from coax shears to the miniature flush cutters made by Crescent or Xcelite
• Small standard pliers, both straight head and angle head
• T-handled hex (Allen head) wrenches - 2.0 mm to 4 mm
• An assortment of small Torx-head drivers 
• A small adjustable wrench. The one I have represents the only Snap-On tool in my collection, and to this day I don't know where it came from
• Set of 'Swiss pattern' needle files - round ('rat-tail'), triangular, flat, combo ('bastard')
• Wire strippers that can handle wire sizes from 8 down to 36 AWG. No one tool does everything, at least not well, so I've got a small assortment of wire strippers, to include a Vise Grip/Irwin automatic stripper that works quite well on a variety of wire gauges
• Wire crimpers. Like wire strippers, no single crimping tool does everything. My arsenal of crimpers includes a crimp set for Anderson PowerPole connectors, a couple of crimpers for small end connectors, and crimp set putting end connectors on coax cable
• A set of miniature scissors for cutting fine wire, plastic flashing, cutting out labels, etc. I use a set designed for use in fly-tying activities - very small, precise and sharp
• Cutting tools - a miniature box cutter with snap-off blades, and a Victorinox electrician's folding knife
• Pin vise. I've rarely needed to power drill something on my bench, but there have been plenty of times when I needed to enlarge or clean out holes to make sure there's bare metal for grounding purposes, or re-work a hole with a larger diameter drill bit to put a bevel on one side. These tasks are easily handled with a pin vise and a set of small drill bits
• For measuring things, a small stainless steel ruler marked out in inches and millimeters (can also be used as a small straight edge), a clear plastic ruler, a cheap vernier caliper for rough measurements, and a digital caliper for very precise measurements
• Large angle-head tweezers for fitting and holding components in-place during assembly (example - holding a small nut in an awkward location inside a cabinet while you drive the nut from the outside) 
• Straight and curved locking hemostat pliers - the uses are endless
• Small, inexpensive but infinitely useful 'third hand' clamp setup for holding components together for soldering, gluing, etc. Put shrink tubing on the alligator clamps to keep your components from getting chewed up
• A bench top circuit board holder. I've got a few, but the one I use most is my old Panavise with the small circuit board clamp
• Magnification is absolutely essential for working on any modern electronics gear, even if you have good near vision. I don't. I use a OptiVISOR system with LED lighting and a swing-away auxiliary eye magnifier, plus a whole range of hand-held magnifiers that can take me up to over 15x magnification
• A small penlight flashlight. I'll also use a head lamp if I really need to flood the work space with more light
• Small Vice Grips. I own a needle-nose set, and they are remarkably useful on and around the bench. They are the tool of last resort for getting a death grip on nuts or bolt heads that just won't come loose with any other tool, they make a pretty good substitute soldering stand (make sure you cushion the jaws), and if you really need to clamp two components together (like metal cabinet sections) to align or re-drill screw holes, these are invaluable
• An assortment of plastic, non-conducting pry and adjustment tools. This includes a 'spudger' set from the iFixIt folks, designed for prying open things like laptop computers, and a set of classic radio and TV alignment tools
• Small clamps and spring clips for holding components together for assembly or soldering
• Mechanical pencil and a Sharpie for marking things up and recording notes. For example, if I modify a radio I'll write on the inside of the case the type of mod, the date it was done, and my callsign, so future owners will know what and when something was done, and who did it

Ask a professional car mechanic which tools he uses most, and the answer may surprise you. Most of what he uses day-to-day likely fits into just one drawer of what is likely a very large tool chest. A 1/2" ratchet, a small collection of common sockets, some open end and box end wrenches, a few screw drivers, some Channellock pliers, Vice Grips, pliers, hex wrenches, and that's about it. It's the same for electronics projects. I sat down at my bench and pulled out the tools that get used the most. It's easy to do because these are the tools that are close-at-hand. The collection is pretty small.

A few screwdrivers, wire cutters, needle nose pliers, wire strippers, a couple of small hex and Torx
drivers, a magnifier and flashlight, a steel ruler and caliper, Sharpie and lead pencil for
marking things, scissors and a knife, and a locking hemostat and large tweezers.
Plus a Panavise and third hand. 
These are the tools that get used most often, and stay ready at-hand on my bench

The question I now ask myself is, what's missing? Honestly, not a whole lot. I've built a couple of amplifiers and tuners, done a bunch of radio modifications and tackled other small projects using the tools described above, so I feel confident I've gotten down to the essentials. I can think of just a few items I need to add:

• A set of non-conductive nylon or ceramic tipped tweezers for working around SMD boards
• A board-level chip extractor/puller. I rarely have to pull chips from a board, but when I do I'm prying with small flat-tipped screw drivers. That's an invitation to disaster. An inexpensive chip puller will make sure I don't bugger things up
• A small bench-top vacuum cleaner
• A magnetic or clamp mounted LED project light, so I can bring more light to the project rather than relying on overhead lighting

This wraps the discussion up for now. I'd love to hear about the hand tools you have on your electronics bench - maybe you've got something interesting or important that I've missed. Please feel free to comment below!

W8BYH out

Life In The Time Of The Cheap Battery

You young whipper-snappers don't know how good you have it. In my day (like, way back in 2020), if we wanted to power a full-sized rig in the field we'd have to lug around big old lead-acid batteries that barely dribbled out 12 volts for an hour or two, and then would quickly die. Lord help you if you let the voltage drop below 11 volts, or you'd start damaging the cells. Need to keep track of that voltage? Make sure you brought along your multi-meter. And you better have a bottle of distilled water handy to keep the cells topped off - don't want those lead plates getting exposed!

Sure, back in 2020 this new-fangled battery technology called Lithium-Iron-Phosphate (LiFePo) was available, but it was frightfully expensive, particularly large capacity units that could keep a full size radio operating for days. Think prices approaching $1,000 for a 100 amp-hour battery from a well regarded US-based company like Bioenno Power out of California. These sexy new LiFePo batteries offered amazing performance - very safe (LiFePo won't burst into flames like other lithium battery technologies), high energy density, excellent power discharge management, thousands of recharge cycles, built-in battery management systems (BMS), and extremely light weight. It's everything every field operator wanted, except cost. 

Like many, I started small - picking up 3 and 4.5 amp hour batteries to test with my QRP rigs. The performance was amazing. These little batteries effectively eliminated the dreaded battery angst that plagued us - 'do I have enough battery capacity for a long activation?' One local ham reported running his Yaesu FT-817 on regular POTA activations for almost a year before needing to charge his 4.5 Ah Bioenno battery! These small blue-wrapped batteries became ubiquitous at field operation everywhere. The phrase 'just buy a Bioenno' became the modern equivalent of 'just buy an IBM' - a pricey but totally safe purchase decision that came with great performance and manufacturer support

Bioenno makes great products, and they have bent over to support the ham radio community.
These batteries fundamentally changed QRP operations by providing stable, high current output
over incredibly long run times, all in a small and lightweight package.
Operators using radios like the Elecraft KX2, the Yaesu FT-817, the Xeigu G90  and the Icom IC-705
switched en mass to these batteries, and they became ubiquitous at POTA, SOTA
and Field Day activities. One of these batteries, the somewhat beat up 4.5 Ah one on the
middle right, is almost 5 years old and still holds 100% capacity

On a recent camping trip, a Bioenno 4.5 Ah battery powered my KX3 at 15 watts out, 
over the course of several activations

Yet, we continued to lug our boxes of lead and acid out to Field Day, because high capacity LiFePo batteries were beyond most ham's means. We're talking about batteries that cost more than some of the radios they were powering. Lead acid batteries soldiered on because the price/performance ratio was still in their favor, until...

A few years ago, offshore battery manufacturers (i.e., 'China, Inc.') spotted an opportunity, and stared to flood the US market with inexpensive, high capacity LiFePo batteries that offered very good quality and performance. Overnight they broke the lead acid battery lock on the price/performance ratio. There was no longer any reason to choose lead acid over LiFePo. While LiFePo batteries are still more expensive than equivalent lead acid batteries, the price gap had shrunk, and the improved features and performance of the LiFePo battery more than makes up for the price difference. These LiFePo batteries are clearly the better value.

Tracy at Outdoors On The Air lays out the arguments nicely in this video:

So let's look at a current example. The Power Queen (the brand I buy) LiFePo 12.8 volt, 100 Ah battery is on sale right now for $219 direct. Something to point out here is that these Chinese manufactured batteries are always 'on sale'. An equivalent generic lead acid 100 Ah deep cycle battery from Wal-Mart currently sells for $159. That's a $60 difference, but the Power Queen offers considerably more - up to 4000 recharge cycles (vs. hundreds for the lead acid battery), has a built-in battery management system, has a flatter discharge curve (more rated power for a longer period of time), has built-in Bluetooth to monitor battery performance via a smartphone app, is IP67 rated, and is much lighter (by at least 50%) than the lead acid battery. Plus, the LiFePo chemistry is much safer than lead acid. Based on recharge cycles alone, the Power Queen is the cheaper buy. All the other features are free candy. 😊

Power Queen is one of five or more Chinese-based battery manufacturers that do direct sales in the US, and they all offer LiFePo models with equivalent capacities and features. I bought Power Queen based on a personal recommendation from another ham, but I've also heard good things about the LiTime, AmpereTime and other brands. There are a number of YouTubers who revel in tearing these batteries apart to see what's inside,  and they all appear to have the same internal components. Some reviewers claim the manufacturers all buy their battery cells from the same factories in China, and there are only slight differences in the BMS and Bluetooth boards, internal component configurations and construction methods.

In this video, Will Prowse at his DIY Solar Power channel tears apart two LiFePo batteries (one of them a Power Queen) and compares the interior components. I wouldn't be at all surprised if both of these battery brands were owned by the same company, and the batteries came out of the same factory.

BTW, Will's channel is an excellent resource for anyone looking for answers and advice on batteries and solar systems.

There is but one caveat to all this lithium love - LiFePo batteries don't do well in very cold temps, and the cells can be ruined when charging in sub-freezing temperatures. In fact, some LiFePo batteries have built-in heating systems to warm the cells in low temp conditions. This is usually not an issue in the south where I live - if I'm out in the field in sub-zero temps, I'll be in a camper or a tent with a heater going. The BMS in many batteries will also shut the battery down in very cold situations, to protect the cells.

So where does all of this lead us? To me, the clear lesson is that lead acid batteries, in the amateur radio use case, are dead, dead, dead. Say it with me now: 'lead is dead'. There simply is no justification for choosing a lead acid battery over an equivalent capacity LiFePo. These new batteries are an amazing leap in power technology for ham radio, and there's no reason to stick with now obsolete lead-acid batteries.

(Time for a hypocrisy alert? Anyone who knows me, or reads this blog, knows that I loudly state that I do not buy Chinese manufactured products, unless there's no other option. I still stand strongly by that rule, and I practice it daily. The caveat here is 'unless there's no other option'. There are no US-based manufacturers of LiFePo batteries that offer all the features the Chinese manufacturers offer - at any price. There are US-based 'assemblers', like Battle Born Batteries and Dakota Lithium, but the key components - battery cells, BMS boards, etc., are sourced out of China. As far as I can tell, there is no LiFePo battery cell manufacturing taking place in the US - everything comes out of China. So in this case, I feel we're in the 'unless there's no other option' category.) 

W8BYH out 

Wee Beastie

My Irish grandmother, and Scotts/Irish grandfather used the term 'wee' to describe anything and everything that was small - from lightning bugs to babies. I think I understood the term 'wee' before I understood what the word 'small' stood for. The radio connection? Well, I've reached the conclusion that none of the major manufacturers will be making my ideal field radio any time soon. I needed to take matters into my own hands and build something that came as close as possible to my vision. I started with the Elecraft KX3 platform because it offered the most potential. In pursuit of this ideal I've stuffed every available add-on into a KX3, installed a few firmware updates to extend capabilities, and bolted on a few key after-market components to improve functionality. What I ended up with was a beast of a little rig - a 'wee beastie'.

I've discussed this KX3 a lot on this blog, so this post will be something of a wrap-up on all the things I've done to get the radio to just where I want it. To note, I've been singularly unimpressed with most of the Big Three (Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood) and China, Inc. offerings over the past few years. I desperately want a small, light, HF only field radio that offers true portability, good SSB and digital performance, low power consumption, and 20 watts output on internal or connected batteries. I own an IC-705, but that rig is has a number of issues that keep it out of serious contention. I've taken a quick look at the new Yaesu FTX-1 and, well, no thanks. While the Xeigu G90 once looked promising, I don't buy China, Inc. products out of principle. There are several contenders on the used market, such as the Icom IC-706 or 7000, but good used examples have gotten pricey. One of my many regrets was not paying more attention to the IC-706 when it were still in production.

After reviewing all the options, and leaning on my experience with the Elecraft KX2, I decided to find a good used KX3 and give that a try. The KX3 has been on the market for over 15 years, it's still in production, is well supported by Elecraft and a large user community, offers an impressive array of options, and gets me as close to my 20 watt output goal as I'm likely to get with a modern field radio. The KX3 provides 15 watts of output on most bands when connected to an external battery, and up to 10 watts on internal batteries. It also offers very impressive receiver performance (it's rated in the top 11 by Sherwood Engineering). Yes, Elecraft's KX line is an acquired taste - the controls, settings and firmware options are unlike any other rig and, to be honest, some of the technology built into the radio is old - like its built-in NiMH battery charging function. Why Elecraft hasn't moved beyond this to develop a modern lithium battery capability, like they have with the KX2, is baffling. But at least you can run the radio on internal batteries for a few hours at reduced output power. Overall, the KX3 platform offered the most potential.

Rather than yelling at you for opening up your radio, Elecraft actually encourages it. 
Virtually every board, wire and cable in this photo can be purchased a-la-carte from Elecraft 
and is user replaceable. 

A fair number of KX3 rigs come up for sale every month, on QRZ.com and the Elecraft Groups.io discussion site. After hunting around for a bit, I picked up this radio at a fair price. It was part of a package deal that included the KXPA100 amplifier and tuner (that clever piece of gear is a story for another day). The KX3 came with the internal tuner and roofing filters, but oddly did not have the internal battery charger board installed. This means it was an early model (mine is in the 10,000 serial number range), since Elecraft now includes the battery charger and real-time clock board in current production units. As it came, it was a very good radio, and with a little effort could be improved.

• The first thing to tackle was the battery charger. Elecraft sells the charger/clock board as a user installed option (in fact, just about every KX3 add-on is user installed). Just plug it in, change a few firmware settings and the NiMH charger is up and running. I stuffed a set of Tenergy high capacity NiMH AA batteries into the internal battery tray and was up and running. Elecraft recommends reduced output power of between 3 - 5 watts when on internal batteries, but you CAN push it up to 10 watts for short operating periods. 

• MARS mod. I wanted to be able to use this radio on SHARES frequencies, which meant I needed to remove the amateur band restrictions. With other amateur radios this means either yanking something off the main board, or soldering something on. With Icom rigs it's removing a teeeny diode or two. With Yaesu rigs I've worked on, it means closing a solder bridge on an open pad on the main board. With the KX3, it's a simple firmware update. Just email Elecraft tech support and they'll send the file to you, and it's a reversable mod.

• The KX3 is known to run hot, and the frequencies can start to drift when the rig gets too hot. The factory heat sink - just a big piece of folded metal - works, but not as good as some after market solutions. I installed one of the heat sinks made by Pro Audio Engineering.  Yes, the heat sink adds weight to the rig, but that's a necessary trade-off.

• The front face of the rig needs some protection, and a company called Gems Products makes an excellent set of replacement side panels that provide raised 'rails' that will protect the knobs if the radio is placed (or falls) face-down on a surface. In addition, they make a snap on polycarbonate cover that mates with the side panels to provide full front panel coverage. This is such a popular option that the majority of KX3 rigs I've seen have these panels installed. They are so ubiquitous that many think they are a factory original product. 

• 2 meter capability. OK, this is an 'icing on the cake' add-on. Elecraft makes a 2 meter transverter mod that installs inside the radio (it mounts above the internal tuner), and provides a separate SMA connector for a 2 meter antenna (hear that, Icom?). It works on all modes - FM, SSB, AM & CW, and you can set repeater offsets and tones. I don't really need 2 meter capability, but hey, why not if it's available. I installed it yesterday and got good audio reports from other hams one of our local repeaters.

Look Ma, Two Meters!

• Digital modes. Elecraft didn't build a sound card interface into the rig. To be fair, they didn't put a sound card interface into any of their rigs until the recent release of their high end K4 radio. But there is a digital mode built into the firmware. I'll be honest and admit that I struggled for a long time to get this radio running right on digital modes. It turns out I was just using the wrong hardware. First I tried a SignaLink unit, but for some reason the KX3 didn't really like that. Next was a DigiRig. Again, I was having all sorts of configuration issues with that. Eventually I took the advice of a majority of KX3 users on the Groups.io site and tried a simple and cheap Sbarent USB sound card dongle - $13 on Amazon. Success! There are a few settings you have to play with on the radio, like turning off the microphone PTT option, but once you get those sorted out, it runs like a champ on digital modes. Yes, there's a bit of a cable mess and you have to run an outboard speaker to monitor the receive audio, but it works and works well. 

To recap. I started a search for a lightweight, portable all-mode 20 watt HF rig with a built-in power supply & tuner. None of the Big Three are making what I want. The only radio that seemed to offer the potential to get close to what I'm after is the KX3. In going the KX3 route I was able to get closer to the ideal than with any other available HF rig:

• 160 - 2 meter all-mode RX & TX
• Low current consumption - as low as 150 mA on receive
• Wide-band TX (MARS mod)
• 15 watts TX on external batteries, 5 - 10 watts on internal
• Excellent RX performance
• Easy to view front panel
• Roofing filters
• Internal wide range tuner
• Good digital performance
• Easy to service & maintain
• Wide support from software developers
• Well supported by the manufacturer, user community and after-market suppliers
• An entire field kit - radio, external battery, antenna, microphone, cabling, documentation, can all be carried in a small waterproof Pelican case

Camping with the KX

So what's next? Well, into the field I go! Time to run this wee beast hard in various field environments. My go-to antenna is the Chameleon tactical delta loop - fast to set up and very effective. I'll be using that as a baseline for testing. One test goal is reliable connections to Winlink RMS nodes at least 500 miles from my operating position. Stay tuned!

W8BYH out

Hot Stuff

I had a chance to play around a bit with a new Yaesu FTX-1 rig during Field Day this year. One of our club members brought his and we hooked it up to an end-fed antenna just to monitor. Here's a few quick observations.

• Audio is excellent. Yaesu really did a neat trick with the 'front firing' speakers, which really are not front firing, but downward firing, but into a resonance chamber below the radio that directs the audio forward. I found the audio was loud, clear and distortion free. Good job there, Yaesu
• The screen is very good - clear, crisp and bright, and well laid out
• The configuration soft menu system appears to follow the FT-710 layout, which I thought was pretty good
• The main VFO knob is too big - it gobbles up too much front panel real estate, space that could have been put to use for other purposes like a dedicated sub-VFO knob
• The whole Field package seemed very sturdy. As many have commented, it's not light - it's very brick-like

But...

The radio was running just on receive, and it was running hot. I mean, HOT. There's a small area on the back of the radio just above where I think the PA board is located, and it was hot to the touch. The radio was on receive only because we didn't want to interfere with Field Day stations operating just a few yards away. I was astonished at how hot this thing was running. Compared to its #1 competitor, the IC-705, well, there is no comparison. Both operate at the same power levels (10 watts max), but even running heavy digital modes like JS8CALL the 705 never gets above moderately warm (less than half of the built-in heat indicator scale, and never near the danger level). One YouTuber reports that his FTX-1 gets up to 110 degrees F. when running FT8. Of course, Yaesu has always stated that the optional fan is necessary when running digital modes, and I don't really have an issue with that, but they should include the fan as a standard item with every radio sold.  

Heat management is an issue all radio manufacturers face. Some do it better than others, but more often manufacturers get it right with some models, wrong with others. Even Icom. The IC-705 and the IC-7300 are well known as 'cool-runners', but their higher end commercial HF rig, the F-8101, is infamous for its heat issues and the need to run its noisy clip-on cooling fan even when just working SSB. Elecraft's small KX3 and KX2 field radios are notorious hot runners on digital modes, which has spawned an active accessory market for heat sinks and clip-on fans.

Nobody I know of has yet to open up an FTX-1 to take a look at how the PA board is built, and what components Yaesu spec'd. It may be that the engineers knew heat would be an issue, and they over-built that part of the radio to handle the heat. Equally likely, we may see that Yaesu ends up replacing a lot of boards under warranty because they just couldn't handle the heat. Either way, we'll know in about a year. Stay tuned.

W8BYH out

Bust

My lovely wife and I recently returned from a 2,100 mile road trip that took us from Atlanta, GA, to Mammoth Cave, KY, to Benton Harbor, MI, to Oregon, OH to Cincinnati, OH and then home again. The objective was Benton Harbor, to attend her nephew's wedding, but the other stops were for pleasure. For example, we both grew up in Maumee, OH, and wanted to visit relatives and old haunts, so we booked a campsite at Maumee Bay State Park in Oregon, OH (a great park, BTW). 

We were moving fast - a day or two here and there - and the objective was to visit people and see interesting things. In that sense we weren't really 'camping', we were just hauling our hotel room around behind our F-350. What also worked against us was the heat. Just as we left Atlanta, a near record setting heat dome settled in over much of the eastern US. Here's the temperature in Benton Harbor, on the shores of Lake Michigan, on June 21st at 2:00 pm:

It should be noted that at the same time the temperature in Atlanta was only 95 degrees. This heat dome followed us from Kentucky to Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, and it made any outside activity an exercise in heat stroke prevention.

I took along a compact radio setup knowing operating opportunities would be few and far between. I was right on that part. The only chance I got to set up was at our campground in Benton Harbor. This was a KOA, nicely run and well maintained, but campers were stuffed in cheek-by-jowl. This is a 'feature' of every KOA and private campground we've ever stayed at. The owners want to maximize profit, so spaces are tight. Stuff as many in as you can. This arrangement also highlights another problem with camping - RFI from the power inverters, converters and solar charge controllers built into every camper made in the last 20 years. It's a literal RF soup in these campgrounds, and many bands are simply unusable. Your only real defense is to use a radio that has strong filtering, and maybe bring along a set of bandpass filters.

I was using my Elecraft KX3, and much of the 40 meter band was unusable due to RFI (and the KX3 has strong bandpass filters built in), but I did find segments of 20 meters that were usable. Alas, my antenna setup wasn't good enough. I tried two vertical antennas - the desktop Elecraft AX1 you see in the photo, and a larger Chameleon 17' vertical. Alas, I wasn't able to make any Winlink or JS8 connections. I don't blame the campground RFI for this - it was really an antenna issue.  

Which brings me to a major point of this post. I'm a big supporter of the 'AM radio in every car' initiative. Both because I do feel AM radio is important, but also because having to incorporate a working AM receiver into vehicles means car manufacturers will have to take the time to 'clean up' their electrical systems designs to minimize RF noise. This goes double for electric vehicles. Then hopefully there will be a trickle-down effect, where the FCC gets off its ass and does its job and starts forcing manufacturers of things like inverters, switch mode power supplies, solar charge controllers, etc. to clean up their products. Then maybe ham radio operators will be able to set up next to their campers and only have to deal with a light sprinkle of RF noise instead of the flood we deal with now.

W8BYH out

ARES Southeastern US Situational Awareness Map Updates - 12 June 2025

Before diving in to the discussion about changes, I think I'm going to start using this blog as the notification outlet for the Situational Awareness Map. Normally when I do updates and I need to get word out about key changes, I'm cross-posting between a couple of Facebook and Groups.io sites. It gets clumsy, and I have to keep my comments short to fit the various platform restrictions. Using this blog allows me to be a bit more 'expansive' in my comments and discussions about changes.

Now, on with the show!

Yesterday I pushed out a few key changes to the map that wrap up some content updates and a few minor layout changes. Let's have a look.

Since the 2025 Hurricane Season opened on 01 June. I set the NOAA Active Hurricanes layer to on by default. This means any NOAA-released hurricane & tropical storm information (tracks, probability polygons, etc.) will automatically appear and update as NOAA releases information. This layer will stay on by default all the way through hurricane season

Under the Situational Awareness layer group, I added a Current Wildfires layer. This data is hosted by the Department of the Interior, and provides basic information on current wildfires across the US. This layer is off by default:

Let's spend a moment discussing repeaters. After a few years of hosting Repeaterbook.com info in the map, and getting very little feedback on Georgia repeaters (good or bad) - and zero info on repeater data from other states - I've decided to take a different approach. I've dropped the Repeaterbook.com coverage, and have gone back to an internally managed repeater database for just Georgia. This new data can be found in the Georgia Amateur Radio Repeaters layer. What you see in the map today is a slight update to the old Georgia Repeater Database Initiative information. I can take direct updates to repeater information, and can make quick changes - new repeaters, off-line repeaters, changes in repeater location, etc. I will likely put up an on-line form to capture this info, and link it in the map, but that's still a few weeks off. I'm also using a data clustering display tool, which is why you see a bunch of large dots when you turn the layer on. As you zoom into the map, the repeater data will 'dis-aggregate', and  you'll be able to get all the way down to individual repeaters. This layer is turned off by default:

Next up... PSAP boundaries. This one caused a slight stir a few months ago when I put out the word that the Dept. of Homeland Security pulled down the national PSAP (Public Service Answering Point) boundaries layer, and I had to take the layer out of the map. Not that anyone actually used the boundary info, they were just incensed that DHS took it down. Conspiracies, and all that. Folks, it happens all the time with this cooperative mapping platform, not just with national level datasets, but with very innocuous local datasets like local bird sightings, or community-level Girl Scout Cookie sales point layer (yes, someone made a cookie sales point map layer). I do it in my regular job as a GIS program manager at a very busy international airport. Data layers often age-out, security restrictions get imposed, or we just come up with new ways to display the data. So we pull down the old and (usually) put up something new. It's not just me and the DHS doing it - NOAA does it, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency does it, local governments do it, DOT does it, FEMA does it - everyone does it. The real issue is that there's no built-in notification system that lets map authors know a data layer is no longer available. The map just throws an error when you try to open it and a data layer is no longer available. So, back to PSAP data. Yesterday I discovered that the State of Georgia has published its own PSAP data layer, and I've added it into the map. You'll find it under the Borders, Operational Boundaries & Geographic Features - Georgia layer grouping. This layer is turned off by default:

Let's wrap this up. The last thing I want to talk about is finding layers in the map. There are over 50 individual data layers in the map, and the layer structure is complex. It can be tough finding the exact layer you want to take a look at. Heck, even I get lost in the layer stack! That's why I've incorporated a search tool in the Data Layers window, to help you find what you are looking for. It's the little search icon in the upper right corner of the window:

Let's say you are searching for a layer that shows lakes in Georgia. You heard the layer is in the map, but you don't know where. Just open the search tool and enter 'lakes'. The search tool will find the layer group that 'lakes' is nested up under. Simply expand the layer grouping to find the Georgia Lakes & Ponds layer and click the check box to turn it on in the map (it's normally off by default):

That's it for this update. As always, if you have any questions, feedback, or would like some instruction on how to use this map just let me know. There is a feedback button in the map, and it's the best way to get my attention.

W8BYH out

Making Up My Mind

The XYL and I are planning for a long road trip - winding our way north to Michigan to attend a family wedding, then wandering back down towards Atlanta and visiting family along the way (many of them helpfully live just off of I-75). Normally when we camp, ham radio is a big part of the trip. Hours and hours of tinkering and making contacts while my wife reads or naps. This trip is different. It's like a military campaign. Get to Michigan as quickly and efficiently as possible, hang out with long-lost relatives and friends, head back with stops along the way to visit other long-lost relatives. We have a 22' pull-behind camper, but our overnight stays at any one place will be brief and, again, the focus will be on visiting with relatives, not stringing wire.

And yet, ham radio must play a part, even if it's a small one. On this trip the focus will be on back-up communications. I intend to take an HF setup that is small, efficient, easy to deploy, and I know works well on Winlink. The whole package - radio, antenna, power source, cabling, etc. needs to be as small and light as possible.

The antenna decision has already been made - Chameleon Antenna's excellent Tactical Delta Loop. It's fast and easy to set up, and versatile. If there's no space for the full delta loop deployment it can be configured as a simple vertical. The back-up antenna is a Par End-Fedz trail friendly EFHW.

But the radio selection process is more involved. I have something of an embarrassment of riches when it comes to rigs. I'd normally just toss my IC-7300 into a Pelican case and be done with it, but on this trip that radio (and case) would be too big. Something smaller is in order. Here's my options:

• Icom IC-705
• Elecraft KX3
• Elecraft KX2
• Yaesu FT-818

The IC-705 would seem, to most, to be the logical choice. It may well be, but the radio with all of it's necessary out-boarded components (like the AH-705 tuner) fits into a very chunky box. I'll admit though, in that chunky box there's a LOT of capability, and the 705 is a proven performer. In past write-ups I've called it a 'digital mode beast', and it is. Once you get it set up using a wi-fi connection between the rig and your computer, the thing will loaf along all day on digital modes and get only slightly warm. Icom did a remarkable job with heat management on this rig. 

Next, the KX3. This is the excellent Elecraft K3 desktop rig squeezed down into a surprisingly small package. What got left out was TX power. The KX3 puts out only 15 watts compared to the K3's 100 watts, but it retains all of the K3's world-class receiver performance. The KX3 overall is about the same size as the IC-705 but includes a built-in tuner and battery pack (although on internal batteries it only puts out between 3 - 5 watts). The radio requires an external soundcard for digital modes (I use an inexpensive Sbarent USB soundcard), but it's easy to configure and at moderate digital activity levels without getting too hot. I've installed an after-market heat sink, which helps. The KX3 with accessories fits into a Pelican case that is about 20% slimmer than the case the IC-705 fits into.

The KX2 is Elecraft's SOTA/POTA focused rig. They took the KX3, dropped 6 and 160 meter coverage, included a built-in tuner, lithium battery, internal charger, a built-in microphone and made it smaller and lighter than the KX3 by about 15%. Max output is only 10 watts, but you can actually achieve that for short periods on the internal battery. Yes the controls are cramped, but that's a reflection of the size of the radio. What Elecraft did retain from the KX3 is the large high contrast display. The display on both rigs is excellent - logically laid out, easy to read, and if you turn off the backlight, the radio sips just milliwatts on receive. No waterfalls, though. Like the KX3, this radio requires an external soundcard. The digital configuration is the same as for the KX3, but because of the smaller size of the KX2 it doesn't handle digital modes quite as well - it can get hot. But, for emergency Winlink use it's just fine. The KX2 doesn't get transported in a hard case. It travels around in a small soft bag.

OK, the Yaesu FT-818 is not a serious contender for this trip, but it IS available if I'm thinking of something for a back-up rig. My 818 has the Windcamp lithium battery mod, and that turns the radio into a viable emergency use rig. Plus, the little thing is so easy to use - it's probably the last honest radio Yaesu released, honest from the perspective that all the controls are logically laid out, the small display shows you everything you need to know, and not a pixel more, it's easy to configure, doesn't throw any surprises your way, and runs remarkably well on digital modes with an external soundcard. In fact, compared to Yaesu's later offerings like the FT-891 or the FT-991A, the FT-818 is a simple joy to use. 

So which is it? At this time I haven't made up my mind, so if you have any advice or suggestions let me know in the comments below!

W8BYH out

Getting To Know The Motorola Micom

 'Getting to know you, getting to know all about you'

Fans of Rogers and Hammerstein's 'The King and I' will remember the song. I first heard it when the impossibly beautiful Deborah Kerr sang it to the King of Siam's kids in the movie version of the musical. OK, Ms. Kerr couldn't sing, or couldn't sing good enough, so the undisputed queen of 1950's & 60's female musical over-dubs, Marni Nixon, turned Ms. Kerr into a musical star. I've been smitten with Deborah Kerr (and Marni Nixon) ever since.

Nothing to do with ham radio, but with a look like that, who cares?

'Getting To Know You' is a tune I often sing to any new radios or accessories that come across my bench, particularly if the device falls outside of what I describe as normal ham radio operational protocols. That would be just about anything not made by Icom, Kenwood or Yaesu. And so it was with a radio I'd had an interest in for years, but didn't know where to start when looking for one - a Motorola Micom commercial HF transceiver. These were (and still are) in common use in the MARS, CAP and SHARES communities, and unlike their L3/Harris, Barrett or Codan brethren, they were relatively affordable on the used market. Motorola stopped manufacturing the Micom line about 8 years ago, but there's still an active user community, swapping advice, radios and components. Good working examples pop up regularly on eBay. So, in terms of availability and price, they are pretty accessible and have a very good reputation for ruggedness and long service life.

I found mine, a 2E model. on a Groups.io site devoted to commercial and military HF rigs. According to the seller it was in excellent condition and had been used in a test environment at a small radio accessory development company he used to own. The radio came with an external long wire tuner (similar to an Icom AH-4), microphone, power cable, programming software and some documentation. On arrival it was clear that the rig really was in very good condition. The microphone was the only real iffy item - it had been in a lot of hands, and it was a bit 'sticky'. The seller dug a new one out of his box of parts and sent it to me for free.

The biggest issue was a programming cable. Motorola did a lousy job of documenting just how to connect this thing to a computer to get it set up. All the instructions say is, 'connect programming cable'. What programming cable? What does it look like? Where do I connect it? There's a 25 pin accessory connector on the back of the rig and, like the rest of the radio world would, I figured that served as the radio programming port. But no. I found out through the user community that programming takes place through the CAT6 microphone connector. What this means is, there's no CAT-like radio control that lets you do voice ops while managing frequency or settings. There are no original Motorola programming cables to be had, at least none I've been able to locate. There is a guy on eBay selling what he claims is a home made programming cable, but what he sells doesn't work. I was saved by an instruction sheet issued by the Civil Air Patrol back in the early 2000's that showed how make a programming cable using CAT6 cable to a DB9 serial connector. 

The Motorola software is old, but pretty good. It allows you to set up the channel frequency memories and settings, and configure the radio for ALE. It was written to run on Windows 2000 or Windows 7, and has a distinctive 32 bit Windows XP look and feel, but runs just fine on Windows 11 in compatibility mode. Earlier this year I got the radio programmed with a swath of Georgia ARES, SHARES and other public service frequencies, played around with it a bit, then got distracted by other rigs. The Micom sat unused for months. 

A few weeks ago I came upon a Micom video on the LifeIsTooShortForQRP YouTube channel. The host reviewed a Micom 2E - the same model as mine, except his is the remote head version. Other than that, it's the same radio. He reviews and repairs a LOT of commercial and military HF gear, and had nothing but praise for the Micom. The video renewed my interest in the Micom, and I decided to get it back on the air and spend more time learning its capabilities. 

I now see why the Micoms were (and still are) so popular. They are a mil-spec chunk of metal that just works. I have mine connected to an LDG Z-100 tuner so I can use to my MyAntennas end-fed in the back yard. The speaker audio is excellent - designed to 'punch through' in noisy environments, and I get consistently great audio reports whether I'm using the hand mic, or the Motorola handset I found on eBay. 

I've only used it on sideband for local, state and regional nets. It MAY do digital, but I'll need to work on figuring that out. As far as I can tell Motorola never produced a digital modem. Discussion on the topic is very... unclear. One recommendation is a digital mode interface made by XGGComms out of New Jersey, built with a 25 pin connector specific to the Micom. Reportedly it will also allow the 25 pin port to serve as the programming and radio control connection. One's on order, but it'll be weeks before I'm able to give it a comprehensive test.

The Micom has ALE built into the firmware ALE 2G, and apparently does it well, so that'll be the next thing I get it set up for. 

Overall, I'm finding the Micom an interesting example of a commercial HF rig, and it's helped me better understand what the commercial HF hardware world looks like. Customers aren't interested in spinning dials and waterfalls. They want a radio that's easy to operate, holds a few channels, has a long mean-time between failure, and when one of their personnel keys the mic, it works with no fuss or muss. They are business tools, not hobbyist toys.

I'm sure I'll be writing more about the Micom, as I get deeper into digital modes and ALE. So stay tuned. 

W8BYH out

Fanboys Report!

It's been just a few weeks since the Yaesu FTX-1 Optima and Field models have started to ship. We've had the usual silly and pointless unboxing videos, and only a few in-the-field-making-contacts videos have come out. But there have been enough of those videos to show:

• the firmware is still buggy
• the field version with just the battery is pretty big and heavy; it ain't no Elecraft KX2
• the radio addresses some of the issues that linger with the very good FT-710, such as waterfall display averaging
• audio quality and volume are both good
• the radio naturally 'sits' at a good viewing angle (something Icom blew with the IC-705)
• something I never thought of, but Yaesu botched the placement of the two BNC connectors - the UHF/VHF connector should be at the top of the stack, making it easy to mount a whip antenna for local repeater work and still connect an HF antenna cable
• like all field radios that have come before it in the Yaesu line, it's about as water resistant as a submarine with screen doors

There have been no reports on Bluetooth or GPS performance yet. And no discussion or evaluation of the performance of the 'snap-on' accessories like the external tuner or cooling fan.

For me there are few huge wait-and-see items, and this post is a request for someone to specifically address them.

First, does the radio have back-lit buttons? Internet chatter indicates that, yes, the radio does have some back-lit buttons, but I'd love someone to do a short video in low-light conditions to show just what buttons are back-lit, and show the menu item that controls the lighting level (assuming there is one).

Next, how well does this rig perform when running digital modes? In the recent past, Yaesu's digital mode configuration settings on their HF field radios were an unholy mess (FT-891, 991A and a few others of the same generation). My sense with the FT-710 is that Yaesu spent a lot of time cleaning up their menu structures, but I never got to work the radio on digital. Since this rig seems to borrow a lot from the 710 interface, I'd like to see someone do a video on configuring the rig for something like FT8, and then running an extended session outdoors to see just how cool the rig does, or doesn't, run.

Last, and most important, how well does the FTX-1 do when running digital modes over a USB-C cable? This is the Icom IC-705's biggest design flaw - Icom badly botched the RF shielding in the rig, and it's unusable on digital modes over USB. I want to know how well the FTX-1 works on digital when controlled by a USB cable. Did Yaesu get it right - did they incorporate proper RF shielding? If yes, this radio has the potential to grab the majority QRP radio market share from Icom.

So Yaesu YouTuber Fanboys, here's your mission - I want a comprehensive, focused video of the new FTX-1 covering all the things I list above. Get it posted by the end of the week. Move out.

W8BH out

The Radio As A Box Of Legos

The new Yaesu FTX-1 started shipping this week and the ham radio world is all a-flutter. The Yaesu fanboys are squealing with delight, the Yaesu haters are harumphing, and folks in the middle, like me, are taking a 'let's wait and see' attitude. 

One of the FTX-1 issues I did gripe about on Facebook is the lack of built-in GPS and Bluetooth, and no wi-fi capability. In this day and age, and particularly at this radio's price point, leaving out these features seems kinda' dumb. 

However, someone responded to my post with a strong argument against GPS, Bluetooth and wi-fi integration, and his argument made sense. Now I'm not so sure stuffing all this technology into an HF ham radio is such a good idea.

Bluetooth and wi-fi are perishable standards. This means that the standards are always advancing, and backwards compatibility can be iffy. Over the course of a few years any radio with these features will become increasingly out of step with the latest standards. As the radio ages, it becomes harder and harder to sync it with Bluetooth devices like wireless headsets, or get the radio on a working and secure wi-fi network. I'll admit, it's more likely that the radio will fail for other reasons before the Bluetooth and wi-fi features become obsolete, but it does make me think about a radio with obsolescence engineered into the box.

GPS is a bit different. The GPS data standard is stable and has a lot backwards compatibility. There is an installed base of millions of GPS devices in critical applications (like aviation) that can't be messed with. This means GPS, by its nature, is pretty 'future proof'. But GPS integration by ham radio manufacturers has always been half-assed. I've written about this in the past. What this means is that owners who want GPS info for uses beyond DSTAR or C4FM integration will get only a fraction of the potential out of the GPS receivers built into the radios.

So let's look at what a modern HF radio must have to be relevant in today's world. The list is actually pretty short. It needs to be able to transmit on all bands from 10 meters through 80, and should be able to tune continuously from  1.5 mHz to 30 mHz. The radio has to do AM, SSB & CW, and do them all well. It must have good filtering and bandwidth adjustments. And of course, some sort of audio output (speaker), a physical control interface (knobs, buttons & switches) and a virtual control interface (CAT or CI-V) via serial or USB. 

Yes, Lego does make a radio! (OK, it's not a real radio, but it's still cool. Check it out!)😄

A radio with these features, and just these features, is a very viable and a very future-proof rig. It carries no technology that will cripple it due to obsolescence. Plus, by adding external components (that 'Box of Legos' thing), you can add relevant functionality without endangering the radio's basic resistance to obsolescence. The transceiver is the core of a system to which you add functionality by dipping into the metaphorical Box of Legos.

The IC-718 has been in production for a quarter century and lacks most bells and whistles
available on current rigs, But it's still a very viable HF rig that has survived 
precisely because it lacks technologies that could have aged-out, forcing the radio from the market.
Using the Box of Legos concept, it can be easily built out to match the
capabilities of more modern rigs 

The Yaesu FT-891 is a very good basic HF rig. It lacks a lot of modern features
such as a soundcard interface, antenna tuner and GPS. Its simplicity is a strength - there's
little with this radio that will 'age-out'.
Using the Box of Legos concept, it's easy to expand the rig's capabilities to
match more sophisticated units that are packed with technologies that
will age-out.

Want to be able to match a variety of antennas? Grab an external tuner. The beauty of an external tuner is that you can match it to the mission. Just want a basic 100 watt tuner for rag chewing or low power digital modes? There's plenty of them on the market. Need to run higher power level digital modes for SHARES or MARS nets? There's a few tuners available for that. Want a battery powered tuner you can run on a POTA activation? Those are available, too, in max wattage ranges from 20 to 100.

Want to run digital modes? Virtually every radio made in the past 30 years can support digital modes. If the feature isn't built into the radio, you can easily out-board the digital signals to an external soundcard device. There's lots of good options. Amazon will sell you a very nice external USB soundcard for under $20, or you can go for a more expensive but more capable dedicated unit like the SignaLink, or one of the manufacturer-specific soundcard interfaces. Any of these options will get you on digital modes with little fuss.

Think your rig is old? Here's a picture of N6CC's field setup, running Winlink using a 70's-vintage
military AN/PRC-174 radio. and a SignaLink as the digital interface

Is  your radio's volume output a bit weak? There are plenty of small, lightweight and cheap battery powered speakers on the market. 

Two small battery powered speakers designed for use with devices like smartphones with 3.5mm
audio output jacks. These work well with radios that need a bit of extra audio 'oomph'.
The small red one in the foreground (about $12 on Amazon) actually provides better sound,
but the battery only lasts an hour or two before it needs a recharge

Need access to GPS to time sync your FT8 session? Remember, the radio doesn't care a wit about a time sync for FT8, it's the WSJT-X application running on your computer that cares. For less than $20 you can buy a USB GPS receiver to plug into your computer and get highly precise location and timing information. There's free software available that will sync your computer's system clock to the GPS timing signal. This is a far more useful solution than a GPS signal that stays locked up inside of a radio.

Here's a nice looking GPS receiver that gets good reviews and uses the ubiquitous uBlox receiver chip.
Cheap and effective 

Just add one of several free GPS monitoring applications to your Windows device, and you'll be getting far more useful GPS info than you could ever hope to from a GPS receiver installed in a modern ham radio.

To sum things up, don't be afraid to buy into old or low(er) tech radio solutions, as long as you can bring the core transceiver up to snuff using add-ons that extend the radio's usefulness without endangering its resistance to obsolescence. Have that Box of Legos filled with useful add-ons that keep your radio running - and relevant - long after current Bluetooth and wi-fi standards are no longer supported. 

W8BYH out

Powering The Starlink Mini

The Starlink Mini is one neat device. How could it not be? Little bigger than a pack of printer paper, but lighter, with a built-in wireless router, IP67 rating and (drumroll please) - it'll run off of any DC voltage between 12 & 48. Plus the little thing delivers. I routinely get between 100 & 200 mbps when set up under open sky. Of course, much less when in a wooded area with only a limited view of the sky, but still usable (between 50 & 100 mbps). Plus Starlink has gotten aggressive with their plan pricing. Right now I pay a monthly $10 'reserve' fee that gets me 10 GB of data, and I can buy additional gigabytes at $2.00/gig as I need it. Or I can upgrade to a more expensive plan - $50/month and 50 GB of data, with add-on data billed at $1.00/gig. Full-time users can go with the $165/month unlimited plan, and that can be paused when not needed. All things considered, it's a bargain if you find  yourself in places without internet or cell coverage. 

When the Mini hit the market, discussions about power options started almost immediately. The standard Mini package includes a wall-wart that converts 120v AC line voltage to 30 volts DC, but right away folks noticed that the minimum 12 volt power requirement was well within the ranges of some small & lightweight battery power supplies. These include small power packs designed to charge phones, tablets and laptops. YouTube hosts a number of videos of Mini owners using these power packs to run a Mini for a few hours or more.

I've given some of these power packs a try, and my experience is that they don't work well. The Mini will power up, connect to the satellite constellation, sync with the Starlink system, then disconnect, reconnect, disconnect... it's never a stable or usable connection. After a few days of testing I concluded that the problem is likely that these small battery packs are not providing enough power for the Starlink antenna to negotiate and maintain a stable connection with the satellite constellation. The receiver will draw up to 35 watts on initial power-up and while connecting to the Starlink network. These power packs may be able to provide over 13 volts at full charge, but 35 watts is a hefty load to put on one of these devices for any length of time, and my suspicion is that the voltage drops close enough to the 12 volt minimum that the receiver can't maintain a stable connection. This isn't a knock on these power banks. They are actually pretty good little devices, and mine are now relegated to recharging our phones and tablets while on the road. 

So, I went looking for a different portable solution. I want to be able to power the Mini for short periods of time at things like field activations, family gatherings at parks, or when taking short breaks while traveling. All I'm after is a few hours of  run time. At the recommendation of one Australian YouTuber, I decided to test a device that sits on top of the very common Ryobi 18 volt tool batteries that are found in every Home Depot. These batteries are available in a variety of amp-hour ratings, from 1.5 up to 12. I've tested the 4 amp hour batteries, because that's the largest capacity I have (I own a lot of Ryobi cordless tools). What's great about the Ryobi batteries is their 18 volt capacity. This means they will stay well above the minimum 12 volt requirement, even as the battery runs low. 

But how to get that 18 volts out of the battery and to the Mini? The answer is a 'hat' that sits on top of the battery and allows you to power the Mini. Manufactured by a company called SYMIK, it snaps onto any Ryobi 18 volt battery and provides two USB C ports, one USB A port and an LED light. Depending on the connection, the SYMIK hat can either charge the battery or provide up to 100 watts of power through one of the USB C ports. Plenty of wattage to meet the Mini's power needs for short periods of time. Unlike other power hats (including Ryobi's own version), this neat gizmo provides an OLED display that shows what's going on with the battery - state of charge, output voltage and amps, and more. While not a particularly rugged or weatherproof device, it is well made and reasonably priced. It came on the market in 2023, and seems to have been designed for the hobby drone market, as a portable charging station. 

The SYMIK battery 'hat' set up and powering my Starlink Mini

The Starlink is waterproof, the connecting cable is waterproof, but the SYMIK and battery aren't. 
I need to find a smaller waterproof box to put the batteries and the SYMIK into

How fast? I was getting over 200 mbps within 15 minutes
of setting the system up.
Admittedly, this is on the fast end of what Mini users will see, even
under a fully open sky

My initial testing shows that one 4 amp hour Ryobi battery will power the Mini for about 2 - 2.5 hours. This is for casual use - some internet surfing, some video watching, occasional small file 'pushes' up to the satellite constellation - emails, documents, pictures, etc. The connection stays reliable all the way to the end, and the SYMIK hat will shut down when available power drops to just below 10 amps. Heavier usage for things like video streaming will reduce battery run-time, likely by at least half.

Of course, you need an appropriate USB cable to connect the Mini to the SYMIK power supply. They are readily available from several online vendors, and from Starlink directly. It's just a USB C connector on one end, and the standard waterproof Starlink canon plug on the other end.

This brings us to the last consideration. Water resistance. The Mini is waterproof - it's IP67 rated. The power connection at the Mini is considered waterproof, too. Everything else in this power chain isn't. Not even remotely. The Ryobi battery and the SYMIK power hat need basic environmental protection. Right now I'm thinking about an inexpensive plastic water resistant ammo can that can hold two batteries, the SYMK power hat, and cables, Route the power cable thru a makeshift water resistant port on the ammo can. If ya'll have any thoughts or ideas on this, I'd love to have them!

I'll be posting more about this topic, and other Starlink topics, as I do more testing and actual field use, so stay tuned!

W8BYH out