So at last! Today I’ve finally bite the bullet and swapped locally my long time redundant TS-870S to a Yaesu FT-857
After almost 5 years activating VHF FM only I now have a strange feeling of starting everything from scratch. Having long reached my FM activations ‘no fail’ goal, I am now to realise I haven’t a clue about portable HF operation!
Looking at my VHF setup, it is all so staigth forward, just a radio, a photo tripod and a beam. 3 minutes to setup and same to take apart. High power, 6db of aerial gain, no issues if chasers are on air.
Now with HF - poles, wires, ropes, guys, tuners, matching, keys, loggers, you name it
So far it looks I’ll be a slow and messy starter on HF
But anyway, don’t be surprised if you hear EI4JY/P on HF in the next couple of month! It just means I am getting there!
It takes me just under 4 minutes to set up my HF station, and that is when I don’t hurry
see:
The trick is to buid a “go-box” with everything connected, ready to use : rig, battery, internal or external tuner if needed, key / mic / phones.
Only the antenna coax has to be connected in the field.
(the go-box in the video was built for a KX3, more details are in this blog post: ON7DQ (KF0CR) HAM Radio Blog: ON7DQ SOTA Trip to Friedrichshafen 2023 )
What’s next you ask ? Well, probably a lightweight setup, like a (QRP rig + battery) < 500g and a few hours figuring out how to build an HF antenna suitable for your needs (multiband + no tuner? lightweight? easy deployment? Compromised?)
It is all fun and games folks! So far, I am not ready to step out of that popular ‘comfort zone’ idiom and prefer to stick to a bigger radio, hence the reason of choosing 857 as an adequate balance for myself. The rig’s immediate availability has played a role as well. I’ve looked at various QRP options indeed, but it would be too much stress for a fresh start. Pretty sure I’ll review that after getting more comfortable with setup.
Likely, first step would be to figure out how to assemble an adequate HF/VHF manpack. I see it now quite different from my normal VHF FM setup. I suppose for my next few activations I’ll carry on in my typical VHF FM fashion, although adding some CW/SSB flavour to it for a start (at least I have a 3el V/H beam). Perhaps after a while I’ll venture upon carrying some wire with me
I am taking a break from SOTA now! Have activated most hills on the East Coast this year already Only Lugnaquilla left unattended, so might hike up whenever time and weather allows. Will need to make 857 ready by then or make a power cable to battery at least.
I love a kenwood rig i have the ts480 gathering dust at home. Would love a TS570DGE but cant say it would get used. I dont have any setup at home since moving into this house a fair few years ago. Have operated a ts870s for many Jota’s in the past. i find the audio much easier to listen to all day.
Yes, I’ve happily use mine for a dozen of years and only put it aside after getting my hands on FT-1000d and even then was reluctant to sell it for over a year
It is, a good old Soviet key Not sure if I can use a straigth key in a field though! I’ll try it for sure as have no field suitable paddle, but sending quality may likely suffer.
Returning to consumption, I was pleased to learn that on VHF/UHF FT-857 current is on par to my current Kenwood TM-V71. So at least I have a peace of mind there in case of sticking to V/UHF only.
FM modulation looks to be sligthly better as well.
