@G4TGJ Richard it depends on the definition of minimalism.
FT817 with an easy EndFed.
KX2 with tuner and a Whip
FT891 100W, a whole bag of batteries and an EndFed
hahaha
3 Likes
My thoughts were the KX2, KX3 (no panadapter), and 705 can do voice, digital, and CW at a minimum and all have internal batteries, so between that and a tuned whip or wire and the ATU in the KX line, that would have the lightest weight and the minimal amount of gear. The 705 needs an external tuner, which means a battery, but it can also do DSTAR and has the built-in waterfall.
The 891 isn’t really that minimalist, but with a battery and a tuner it’s not much different than the 705 in terms of setup. Obviously no waterfall or DSTAR and you’d need a distribution block to power the rig and the tuner. The only question is the battery size and output power. Anything above 50w on a 6ah or 10ah battery would be a very short activation, I’d imagine. QRP should last a while though. Heavy usage of my 6ah battery with my trusdx gave me many hours of use on FT8 in September while powering a tuner and a Pi4.
1 Like
The pure minimalism is the Mint Tin Radio from @K6ARK and his small EFHW (Antenna + Radio under 200g)
every thing else is lightweight and cool but for sure not minimalism haha
4 Likes
Having built and operated the same ‘mint tin’ radio (Pixie)… NO. It’s a terrible radio! You CAN make QSOs with it, but believe me when I say it is the worst receiver I have ever used.
We are talking about minimalism, not masochism 
My money is on the KH1. Everything you need including your log, pencil, antenna, paddle in one small package. Just add some earbuds and off you go. Obviously only for the CW crowd. For the best all-rounder, hard to beat the KX2!
7 Likes
Yes Josh you’re right hahha. I’m just kidding.
2 Likes
Yes indeed. And before I created this thread I searched “minimalist” on this reflector’s past postings. I can’t say I did an exhaustive analysis but until the last few years, bloggers were using this term to refer mainly to physically-small, low-weight HF rigs (and often, the smaller and lighter, the better). That’s important (up to a point) but it’s not sufficient.
Yes, that’s the new element. More recently the postings (e.g. on KX2/AX1, KH1) have added this dimension which enables quicker deploying and stowing of the radio gear.
Focusing solely on reducing weight or volume – as some of the earlier bloggers did, quickly reaches a point of diminishing returns as the weight / volume of other necessary items in the rucksack - especially in winter – dominate the totals.
Even for an old bloke like me (in my 70s) the weight and volume of my KX2, EFHW and 6m pole are nothing. As some wit said (I think it was @MM0FMF), if you want to lighten your load even more, it’s probably easier to lose some belly fat.
For me, the more-modern usage of minimalist appeals because it leads to being QRV quicker and get packed and walking again quicker.
Erecting a wire antenna on a pole or putting up a vertical especially on the rocky summits in my region, and taking them down afterwards completely dominates those total times. For me the game changer is not KH1 vs KX2, etc but using short HF whips (with counterpoise) so I can drastically shorten my time on summit in adverse weather, etc.
Andy G8CPZ / M0ALC
2 Likes
I was thinking about times to setup etc. this Sunday. It was sunny but windy/blustery and around 5C without windchill. 45mins to the top then I had to put up the pole using a yoke and 3 guy lines. The lines are attached always and the yoke slides over the partially extended pole. 3 tent pegs hold the guys in the ground, the fixing loops are always in the lines. I’ve done this 700 odd times so I can guestimate where the pegs will go. The ground was about 4-6cms soil then rocky. So every tent peg took a minute or so to seat. Then find the gizmo that goes on the top of the pole. (I have several poles and each pole has its own gizmo that the antennas attach to.) Then attach the antenna whilst unwinding it enough to fully raise the pole. Then walk out the antenna, insert the end support (more faffing with the ground) and tension the antenna. Then connect antenna to match box, match box to radio, battery to radio, Palm Paddle to radio having got the bits out of the bag. Get out the sit-mat then power up radio, scratch head, find phone, tune briefly about bands, decide on band, tune up antenna and hit MSG 1 to start CQing. I reckon I wasn’t in a rush and it took around 15mins to do that. Pack up is the reverse 
But the fact I’ve done this 700 odd times means I have a routine and following the routine is paramount to ensure we don’t get a visit from Mr. Cockup during setup or take down. Everything has a place and place for everything in the bag. Things are wound up in the same order, disconnect everything from radio. Pespex top onto radio, radio into padded bag, lower pole, remove antenna, windup antenna, collect far end support, pack paddle etc. into its box, battery(s) and radio into bag, remove tent pegs and put in back, windup guys, pack every into bag, have a drink, remove excess layers and put in bag. Scratch head put on bag. Look for missing gloves, put on gloves, take photo, scratch head again, walk off hill in right direction. Another 10-15mins
So that’s 30mins every activation of setup/take down. Plus the walking. Plus the activation time. You can see why doing many summits in a day is hard. Not the walking but the sheer amount of faffing about before and after the radio part of the activation. 4 activations in a day means about 2hrs of faffing 
My interest in minimalist HF though is not to reduce the time but to be able to operate where a pole and wires is awkward because no space, unsuitable ground, too many people wandering about, grumpy hilltop restaurant owners, big RADAR stations cooking my innards, possibility of someone in a peaked cap on a power-trip telling me to stop etc.
And whilst I have a lighter pole than I used to use, a lighter radio than I used to use, I’ve still got 18kg too much lard around my waist
4 Likes
[In Monty Python Yorkshire voice] 15 minutes! Luxury! Would take 'oos 20 minutes if we were looky. And when we got 'ome, our daad would …
4 Likes
You’re not really trying, are you?
With my perennially bad back, which makes every single bodily movement a potential source of disaster (read immobilized on the ground and in too much pain to move), my antenna setup takes at least 1/2 hour. I usually reckon with 45 minutes after reaching a summit before I can put out my first CQ - I get by with that, and I’m OK with that. Count yourself lucky with a 5/10/15 minutes setup…
4 Likes
That right @IN3JIB Julian, when I clicked on a ‘minimalist’ thread I was expecting Rockmites and Pixes, or at least one mention of something by Peter VK3YE.
I now understand the ‘minimalist’ distinction is not about reducing the number of active devices in the transceiver (transistors, ICs) but reducing the number of carried items and the setup/pull-down time.
The KH1 release has debunked my long-standing belief that such an antenna would even be worth trying and not a total waste of time. Clearly it is (worth trying). So I’m keen to try a 1.3 to 1.5m loaded whip at some point soon. But I will first have to by one. Sourcing the telescopic whip to homebrew such a piece sounds like a mechanical challenge, well before you tried to mount the BNC connector, and tune it up.
I do resonate with comments by @ZL4NVW Matt about interrupting 80m nets to get the final one or two contacts to qualify a summit. I think this is an antipodeian thing Matt.
About three weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon I sat on a windy Grampians summit for over an hour, 6PM local time, endlessly calling CQ SOTA on 40m, looking at the time and calculating the hours and minutes required to get down and back to the car before darkness. Using my phone I could see and hear my s5 to s7 signals on an Adelaiede SDR. Why no chasers? Some regulars were in a conference at a Parks weekend. Others? Maybe having dinner.
In the end I got the four, but one was a first time CW QSO from an operator who had probably listened to be CQing for 15 minutes and felt sorry for me. Never mind, we got there in the end. But If I had been on a whip I would have abandoned the activation, blaming the inefficient short antenna.
73 and ‘whip it good!’
1 Like
Hi Paul,
I was also skeptical about such small verticals, having heard a number of conflicting stories about e.g. Buddipoles, until I heard about the HF-Pro-2-Plus-T antenna from Ed DD5LP, who was very enthusiastic about it. I purchased one, tried it out and was instantly converted - as a lightweight, easily set up alternative to a long wire setup, covers all bands from 80 meters through 2 meters, and can take 130W SSB, it has a lot going for it.
Using it, I have no problem at all in getting Europe-wide contacts, 10W to 20W SSB, from summits. I use 8 radials of about 4 1/2 meters, but it also works fine with just two. Like all verticals, it’s not suited to use within a forest, but out in the open, set up on a small tripod, it comes into its’ own.
Cheers, Rob
3 Likes
Thanks @DM1CM Rob, interesting report. I was at a hamfest a few years back and someone had a Buddipole on the lawn, I just remember looking at it and thinking, lossy lossy lossy, what’s wrong with 20m of wire? Of course short antennas have their place, namely, where you can’t or don’t want to stretch out all that wire.
And their time, which is just right about now, and for the next few years, as we ride the magic of a solar cycle peak. Make the most of it, it is a great time to be operating in the open air, with a wire, stick or wet piece of string!
1 Like
I too often wonder just how much of my 10W/20W TRX output is actually being radiated when using the little vertical. But then I get good reports Europe wide, so enough is getting out.
For forested summits, I take a linked dipole for 40m through 10m, but I’m currently building a 40-meter OCFD for no-tune 40/20/15/10 which may well replace the LD, and have my eye also on a 10-meter Moxon. As you say, a short antenna does have its’ place…
2 Likes
I find the Buddipole to be “less lossy” as the coil is wider and is a center loaded vertical. More current radiates than the the narrow coil base loaded designs.
Again my preferred antenna is my PackTenna 40/20 linked dipole up 18 ft and it’s perfect for driving to a POTA location
For minimalist SOTA a low gram count vertical telescopic whip antenna that’s usually 4 ft long will work. I suggest the MFJ 1820 or the shiny Elecraft AX-1. I have made DX contacts on it when bands were open but also have several failed activations due to these short whips
I now also have the JNC Radio MC-750 that’s a full quarter wave on all bands and a base loaded coil for 40m. It comes with an integrated spike. No losses there.
I used a Buddistick on a tripod on a vacation and it worked like a champ for me
They work but others work better.
The goal is for a dipole or 1/4 wave vertical for less loss but if you can’t deploy it then you choose a compromise antenna
Even though the fashion is to use these end feds I prefer a dipole or vertical.
Those baluns are lossy too
The Elecraft KH1 is the ideal full featured minimalist radio available for credit card operators. Charge it up and go. The big question is now how to add end feds to it in place of the 4 foot base loaded whip
10 hams will hit the summit and each one will use a different set up.
Keep experimenting with different antennas but two is one and one is none so a dipole made from #26 wire and a short whip will provide both options
10m Spiderbeam Mast or 5m fishing pole or 2 hiking sticks lashed together
John VE3IPS
10 nicads or a LiPo battery?
MTBR shirt pocket radio and 2 16.5 wires on a RCA jack…is minimalistic…no coax needed and use a 9V battery.
3 Likes
With my SOTA experience of short HF whips so far limited to ‘once’, the fear of a failed activation was at the back of my mind. So, in the short term, I’ve decided to pack my (12.5m long) 40/20/10 EFHW & 2m coax (~325g bagged) and 3.5m glassfibre pole (~270g) as backup insurance in case the short whip fails to do the business or until it proves to be consistently good as it is was this first time.
I’m probably being overly cautious as I can’t recall an activation when my favourite band, 30m, wasn’t open during the day even when 80m, 60m and 40m were wiped by a Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance.
3 Likes
I first became licensed in 2019 when sunspot activity was nil. But I do remember being on Josephine Peak (W6/CT-025 in California) in 2020 with my KX2 and and AX1 and having a little rag chew session with someone in Colorado. It was thrilling for me at the time. I seems that even in RF “drought” a lot is still possible if people care to try.
4 Likes
Very interesting Andy,
I too suffer from lack of circulation and 1 hr on summit is my max in winter.
Your RST records tell the story.
With an inverted V dipole at 6m and 50W most of my 30m reports are 599 on the summit and 589/599 at the chaser. So about 30db above your successful QSO’S.
The magic of radio. Clearly this is very useful information, however when it comes to cross-pond, my results average 449 reports suggesting I need all of my 50 W.
I am however experimenting with a Vee beam for 10/12/15m (with 5dBd gain) to take advantage of improving propagation.
David G0EVV
4 Likes
I am new to SOTA as an Activator (long time Hunter) and my first solo activation with the KX-2 & AX-1 didn’t go so well. However my second activation went much better. Here is a small video clip I recorded from the top of Bear Mountain W2/GC-077 doing a POTA Park 2 Park with my good friend Dom NC4XL in North Carolina. Not bad for QRP !
Brian N2BTD
7 Likes
What a pleasant looking operating position!
1 Like