Is anyone using the Magnum 1012 HT for SOTA? It looks ideal, maybe paired with a dipole or at least a bigger better whip. My question is, does it hold up to repeated outdoor use?
73
Eric
KB3UYT
In reply to KB3UYT:
If you haven’t got an FT817/IC703/K2 etc. then it looks a cheap way to get 2 hamd bands and SSB.
This solar cycle is a bit odd in that it’s taking its time to really get going. Things are better than last year and 10m is open a lot more often now. I’m still not sure how viable an activation would be with just a few watts of 10m/12m SSB.
You’re right to question the antenna. It will probably be worse than useless! A bigger whip should make a huge improvement but watch out the extra leverage doesn’t break the set top BNC. A 1/4wave GP for 10 or 12m will fit easily on a 20ft fishing rod and will give much better performance.
I watched a video on one of these sets and it was a bit QRPp when powered by the battery pack. It wasn’t clear if the cells were NiMH or disposable. I had a Yaesu that had a battery pack you could stuff with your own cells. The handy did not give the same power with that pack compared to a normal pack. This is due to the difficulty of using springy steel to make good contacts with the cells when you start pulling some current. The same happened with this set and only when fed from an external supply was there any real power from it. It’s not clear if the set has an external DC input. If it does, then you’d probably want to use it with an external battery.
Check you can cover 10 and 12 at the same time. You may have to fiddle about to swap it between 12m/CB/10m and that may be hard on a summit. Also the tuning step sizes may be a bit coarse for the ham bands. It may only do 10 or 5kHz steps. Fine for when you pick a frequency and call CQ but you may not be able to tune to someone operating anywhere on the band. Check the clarifier will tune the TX and RX.
Finally there is build quality. I’ve got some typical ham quality handies… Alinco DJ-G7 triband and an Icom IC80 dualband. They nice, solid and well put togther. I’ve got a Yaesu VX-170. That’s a hamified version of a Yaesu radio sold to professional users. The improvement in build quality is stunning. Both the Icom and Alinco feel well made till you compare it to the Yaesu. One day the sun will go supernova and destroy the earth. All that will be left will be thousands and thousands of VX-170s with slightly charred cases! Then there’s not quite ham quality. I’ve fixed a few of the mobile 26-30MHz multimode radios in my time and they’re built to a price and that price is cheap! Endurance may be an issue.
Will you be able to have SOTA QSOs? Yes, especially with a proper aerial.
Will it last the being carried up and down summits and bad WX? Maybe.
Would I buy one? Not new. Maybe secondhand for the right price and if I knew I could sell it on 6months later for little or no loss.
Hope this helps.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
Julian G4ILO has one and he has written something about it here:
Like Julian I also have the Intek H-520 that I use for 10m FM, currently hooked up to an Inverted Vee in the Loft which has given me a few contacts into Europe and has received well from the States. As Julain said, the problems with FM have been competing with the Higher Power stations. I have found that using an external Battery Pack solves the Power problems, so will probably be taking the H-520 up a few hills this year with a portable version of my Inverted-Vee to see what contacts I can get, I did manage a few local contacts last year with a Centre Loaded Telescopic Whip (which has since died) in conjunction with a counterpoise but nothing of any great merit.
73,
Colin.
In reply to MM0FMF:
One day the sun will go supernova
and destroy the earth. All that will be left will be thousands and
thousands of VX-170s with slightly charred cases!
Too right! Geoff 2E0BTR’s VX-170 flew off the roof of the car (where he forgot he had placed it!) coming back from WB-004 Titterstone Clee. The handy hit the deck at 40mph and Geoff saw it skittering down the road in his rear view mirror. Some scuffs were all that resulted! I think as handies go they are perfect - single band so a more robust front end than the multibanders, and a matching build quality.
73,
Dave M0MYA.
In reply to M0MYA:
I wish D-Link PSUs were made to the same quality Dave. My router PSU failed sometime early this morning. It’s a 5V 2A switcher. Searching the net shows tale after tale of this model of PSU failing. 
I have two PSUs actually. The original one and the one that has failed. The original one has an intermittent issue with it in that it trips out the breakers. I had a spate of trips every 2-3 months that I narrowed down to this PSU. As soon as I stopped using it I’ve been OK. I found an indentical one in the slummy box in the office and have been using that for about a year till it shuffled off its mortal coil and joined the choir invisible this morning.
I’ve been using the original one today until I could get home and find another 5V 2A PSU and get that in service. I was expecting it to pop the breakers as I had a day of meetings and conf. calls. But it managed to see out 9hrs with outing being naughty. I found another 5V 2A PSU and hacked off the original power lead and chocolate blocked it on to the new PSU. All lights now flashing.
Andy
MM0FMF