This past week we did a backpacking trip to Mont Valier F/PE-031 with food, water, tent, dog food… around 15-16kg and +1500m elevation gain 
QMX worked GREAT
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11kg for 3 day trek across the Cairngorms, incluging tent, food, water, HF and VHF radios…
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If the dog is young and fit, you should strap a saddlebag on him/her to carry the dog food … maybe even your rig.
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Hola Alberto!
I think it depends on several factors.
In my case, and until last year, the vast majority of my activations were made with the extremely heavy, battery-killing, but INDESTRUCTIBLE FT-857. When the 4th QSO didn’t appear, I simply increased the power to 25 watts and that’s how I achieved the summit points.
In 2023, I loaded the 857, VenusSW-3, and a QCX 18MHz into my backpack. I started calling with QRP rigs, and the conditions weren’t good for 5 watts. Here again, the old FT-857 saved me.
Last year, I acquired an IC-705, and when the propagation conditions aren’t good, I hesitate to consider whether to carry the FT-857 or the 705, since the power is what has helped me achieve the coveted 4th QSO on several occasions.
For these reasons (Surely there are much more), the weight can vary from just a few grams to several kilos on my shoulders.
73 de JP3PPL
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I don’t know what antennas you use for HF, nor do I know the reasons for using the FT-65 when using the IC-705.
With the 705, you have an SWR reading and could tune the antenna (if it were a link dipole or a telescopic vertical), and with an “L” connector, you could use the 770 antenna on the IC-705.
This way, you could reduce the weight by 647g.
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Agree there is a lot of gear that I probably don’t need to carry, but I do for redundancy and flexibility. For example I now generally carry a my home brew EFHW that is resonant on 20, 40 and 10m, but also an AliExpress 20m telescope whip. The telescopic whip is quick and easy to setup and I feel it’s better to use on a busy summit, but it’s a compromise compared to the EFHW, so I take both just in case 
Yes the SRH770 (BNC) is a great combo with IC705, I connect it directly to to IC705 and turn the transceiver on its side. However I still always carry a 2m HT. I have arrived at some very busy summits this year and opted to activate 2m FM only using a HT, even though I have HF gear with me.
But to be honest my x6100 is my HF transceiver of choice for longer activations, as much as it pains me to say after forking out to buy an IC705 
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The weight of SOTA equipment always depends on what I want to do… and which summits I’m climbing. I can keep it very light.
With QMX, 0.14mm² antenna wire endfed, a lightweight Eremit battery, palm key, and earphones, it weighs well under 1 kg… especially if I use my hiking poles to fix the antenna.
If I take the KX2 and the PA, an oblong and an HB9EAJ antenna, a 10m mast (equipment for a S2S party),
or the KX2 with endfed and transverter for 2m with PA and Yagi (equipment for better 2m conditions or Alpe-Adria contests), then things look quite different.
SOTA is such a big field to play…..
73 Armin
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I am still a rank beginner, and I expect that what I carry will diminish as I get more experienced, but currently I am carrying all of this in a UK army surplus rucksack:
- KX3, with cover, in a protective case
- End fed half wave antenna, home made, using a 49:1 balun from QRPGuys which I modified to be able to use a counterpoise (for experimentation). ( QRPGuys Portable No Tune End Fed Half Wave Antenna - QRPGuys )
- Random wire antenna from SotaBeams. I haven’t used this for a long time, but it isn’t that heavy and I could use it if I have a problem with the EFHW
- Carbon 6 pole
- RiteintheRain notebook and pencil. I have installed a couple of different apps to log on the phone, but at the moment I prefer good old pencil and paper for logging.
- Helinox Zero chair.
- If it’s cool, I wear my (old) Berghaus raincoat, but if the weather is good I have a rain cagoule in my pack to keep the wind off on the summit. I also have a rain hat in the bag.
- LiFe battery. I can’t remember the capacity, but it is not too big. I recently made up a much smaller pack out of 18650 cells, and will use this once I have confirmed the capacity is sufficient.
- I used to carry a tuner, but this is no longer necessary as I bought and fitted the tuner board in the KX3. With the frequencies I generally use, and the EFHW, it was not necessary anyway!
- Feeder - currently about 10m long, which is probably far too long. It does give me flexibility with the set up which does sometimes prove useful.
- Depending on the summit, a flask with coffee, and a bottle of water.
How will this improve? First of all, I have a QMX kit which I will be building soon. This will be significantly lighter than the KX3, and now the SSB software is available I can use it straight away. I am also (very slowly) learning morse. I guess this opens up more options in case of transceivers, as well as improving the likelihood of a successful activation. Seeing @K6ARK ‘s (and others) work, I think everything else will reduce i weight with incremental improvements over time as I become more competent. At the moment, I don’t mind carrying the weight, because it’s good exercise, and my first priority is to become competent and experienced at operating. I have a tendency to accumulate gear, which I am resisting!
(edit: I will weigh the pack when I get home on Monday)
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As another beginner, I’m in a similar spot as you are @MW7PAJ. After getting my license last May, purchases were made… mistakes were made…
Too many kilos. I don’t even want to weight it. Currently using EFHW, but carrying a tuner too because it saved the activation when I had my antenna mishap on Mullaghanattin. Similarly to yours, my feed line is too long probably.
So now that I am on a forced hiatus from SOTA, I’m working on bringing the weight to reasonable minimum.
- Ordered a QMX.
- Need to order some small battery for it.
- Need to order a light mast or fishing rod.
- Probably will replace the Chameleon EFHW with a home-brew center-fed thin wire dipole (pictured), but need to make sure it works on SSB (for now it worked well on FT8 for me).
But another problem is the above is only the radio gear. I carry a ton of photographic gear. I love my 200mm lens. But it is so heavy, I need to think of a compromise and buy some kind of pocket camera with a reasonable quality zoom… that’s a totally different topic though.
Not to mention food, water, first aid kit, etc., etc.
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I’d be interested to hear your choice of pocket/zoom camera when you get one.
Andy
MM7MOX
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All roads seem to be leading to Sony RX100 VII, and the only reasons I still haven’t bought it are a) it is expensive, and b) the new version VIII is highly anticipated but nobody knows if/when it arrives.
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Good choice. I highly recommend this lightweight portable chair, mine weighs 660g (including anti-sinking ground mat) and has a packed volume of a large fizzy-drink bottle (35cm x 10cm x 10cm). It’s very comfortable, quick to deploy and pack up, and I no longer suffer from leg, foot or backside aches or cramps [I keep telling Andy @GM4LLD to take my advice]. The best ones aren’t cheap but then my health shouldn’t be either.
Before buying one a couple of years ago, I read a few reviews before making my choice. It was a close call between the Big Agnes Skyline UL (~699g) and the Helinox Chair Zero (~500g without anti-sinking mat), both similar price but the Helinox won on weight.
Me too - after, years ago, my pencil log faded to nothing like invisible ink after the paper notebook got soaked in the rain. But, it’s too expensive to use it every time, so I keep one in the rucksack for - literally - a rainy day.
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In the absence of some better shelter (e.g. my tarp, a drystone wall or big outcrop), I use a longer coax feeder in wintry weather to get me (and the dogs) hunkered down in a hollow or the heather on the leeside of the summit but still have the antenna pole up a bit with all-round take-off. In nice wx I use 2m of coax to run to the bottom of my inv-L EFHW (and I’m sitting close enough to act as a bit of a counterpoise).
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I think a big bearing on weight is what are you trying to achieve on the mountain top. If it is just an activation, a QMX and a EFHW is probably going to get you 4 QSOs. However it is a compromised antenna and compromised radio. It is horses for courses. My own challenge is S2Ss so sometimes I will be on a summit for a few hours or more. Also to give myself a fighting chance I prefer to use a little more power and a band specific antenna. For normal activations:
Xiegu G90 (1620gm) @ 20w
Switched dipole 20/40 - If I need to be more flexible I will take a Super Antenna
If weight is an issue:
Xiegu X6100 (872gm) - If I want to cut the weight down even more I can leave the external battery and just use the internal one. That cuts the power to 5w from 10w (with the battery).
The antenna is a EFHW. If 20m is good I will just take a wire vertical.
I am completely happy with the Xiegu G90. it is an awesome radio and serves my purposes well. The extra power punches through.
The X6100, I have certain reservations about. It is not as polished as the G90. It feels not finished. I have tried a KX2 in the past (thanks Dave) and for light weight that is obviously very popular, but if I am doing a serious S2S activation the G90 works for me.
Martin
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That gold-coloured BNC-SMA adapter is the same one as I use on my Yaesu FT1D 2m FM HT with my trusty Diamond RH770 ½-wave whip. In gusty wind the waving about of the RH770 can put a strain on the adapter and lesser brands have failed on me (3 times) mid-activation [the SMA pin snaps] but this adapter has lasted for many years (to date). I use a fibre washer between the adapter and HT case to ensure the connection is rain resistant.
Utter tosh!
At CW your G90 is 20W and a QMX is 5W, so theory says the G90 is 1 S point louder. As the QMX uses CESSB for its SSB generation at 5W of RF the effect is it sounds like 10-12W is in use. 12W compared with 20W from the G90 is about 2dB, so the G90 is less than 1/2 S point effectively louder. And weighs a lot more and is thirsty for current.
And if you take the X6100 with its internal battery then the QMX will micturate on it from a significant height for SSB operations.
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I get the point about CESSB giving the QMX a bit of extra talk power, but let’s not pretend 5 watts is suddenly 12 or that 20 watts doesn’t matter. An S-meter might not be a lab instrument, but in the real world those extra dB can be the difference between making the QSO and not. The G90 also brings an ATU, a waterfall, full HF coverage and voice compression — things you can’t efficiency your way into.
No matter how clean or efficient your signal is, the receiving station only cares about signal-to-noise ratio. A 5 W CESSB signal might sound clearer than a 5 W “normal” SSB signal, but if the band noise is high or the path loss is big, the absolute signal strength (set by watts out + propagation + antenna efficiency) dominates. In other words: if you’re buried below the noise floor, efficiency tricks won’t pull you above it — only more watts or better antennas will.
For a 5 W radio, CESSB can make it sound like 10–12 W of conventional SSB in terms of perceived loudness. This is sometimes called “effective talk power,” but it does not literally create extra watts.
Raw RF watts are a blunt tool, but they give you headroom when conditions are marginal, as they have been recently.
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Martin, when in a hole, don’t get out a JCB 
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The KX2 is much, much more than just light weight.
Outstanding receiver, simple to read display, easy to use with gloves, no buried menus. 5w, 10w, 12w depending on battery chemistry and charge. It also has the best internal ATU in the business.
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Obviously. The point I was making was that it is much lighter than the G90. The topic of this thread is the weight of people’s set ups. I was talking about why I choose to use a heavier radio.
“I think a big bearing on weight is what are you trying to achieve on the mountain top.”
SOTA is different things to different people, weight will be one consideration when choosing a radio. I can well understand why both the QMX and KX2 are popular radios.
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