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