They don’t have CW or SSB though.
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Never say never. 
The clue is weak in this one Obi-wan. MCW != CW
Like an old AN/GRC-9 
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Regarding HTs with CW/SSB …
Today on Brittas Bay, Co. Wicklow. EA CW contest at around 2pm. RX only naturally 
The antenna was Sony AN-71 4-5m wire plus couple of meters counterpoise was required too.
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I’m not sure about other activators, but I have separate rigs for base use and activating. The only exception is when I put my Icom 703 on the bench to work 6m. For me there’s even a split between manufacturers. Kenwood (Trio) at home and FT-817 / IC-703 / KX3 (with 2m) with amplifiers for portable. The main downside is that I have to have a refresher on how the portable rigs work before I go out as there are no menus on the home station equipment. 
The FTX-1F does not excite me one iota.
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Nice video. Even better it started to autoplay another one of your videos. Talk about an earworm!
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The copyright owners, although usually allows many older records on Youtube, get some of them blocked occasionally from time to time though, so be aware, it may be gone at any time Offtopic big time, Ian! Let’s wrapup with this
Off-topic.
That’s a different programme @G4OIG 
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What would suit me best for SOTA, Urmmm…… the FTX-1F or @G0UPL Hans QMX with the new SSB FW option.
When we are on a summit, do we monitor our waterfall, and stare at our good looking radio? Maybe some do, but for me, deffo not.
I would purchase 1 x QMX when the SSB FW is fully released, 1 x P50M linear amp, and the accessories. I would then be able to afford a nice holiday for a good week to a hot country, and do some SOTA summits, with a very light weight radio kit, money in the bank after booking my holiday for a few pints after my activations. And I can then continue using the QMX on my return!
I think I’d still have money left in the bank on my return. The FTX-1F doesn’t do it for me!
73, Ben
GW4BML
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I would have agreed completely with you till using my 705 on a 13cm activation. I knew Jack GM4COX was calling me but he was a difficult path. Also all of our 13cm transverters are slightly off relative to each other so I was not pointing at him and was on a slightly different frequency. Rotating the antenna and checking the waterfall I could see something about 1kHz higher than me. Tweak tuning to get “something” into centre of screen tweak antenna and Jack appeared as a 51/52 SSB signal.
The waterfall display made it easy to net and peak the antenna. Without the waterfall there were enough of us on frequency to QSP info back and forth between me and Jack to get aligned but without the waterfall and without 3rd party talkback it would have been very, very much harder. So I can see the benefit for some conditions but, you’re right, most of the time for SOTA it’s not needed. And a lot of the time I hit the button on my 705 to blank the screen to save power.
There are going to be many more people doing ?OTA and not SOTA so the radio can appeal to an entirely different market segment where absolute weight and size is not paramount and still be a success.
Do I need one? No. Do I want one? Well yes as I’ll be dead a long time so I may as well spend some money on having fun with more toys whilst I can. Though the cost is high enough to pay a chunk off a nice holiday for me and the KX2 I’ll wait for a few software updates first anyway.
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I would purchase 1 x QMX when the SSB FW is fully released
Ben, SSB firmware IS fully released. Beta testing closed 02-May-2025 with the official 1_02_000 firmware release supporting SSB, CESSB, parametric equalizer, compression, etc
73 Hans G0UPL
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I can confirm, I ran my QMX on a POTA / WWFF activation today. 80 in the log including 14 on SSB. 4 QSO’s with 59 reports. Longest distance with 59 was Norway to Italy. 1601km (994 mi) . Pretty good in todays band conditions.
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Yes, but can an FTX-1F do it on a cold, wet Tuesday night in Stoke? 
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Nah, the Yaesu will likely fail, but the QMX should cope, it’s designed by a native after all
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That confirms I will not be looking at the FTX-1F at all 
thanks for the update Hans.
73, Ben
GW4BML
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Decent vid here for anyone wanting a 705 and FTX-1F comparison:
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Learnt that there’s a bit of a flaw with the fidelity of the CW sidetone with the release firmware. Seems it would be wise to wait a bit for the ‘beta testers’ to do their work first
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I brought my FTX-1 up a little Minnesota SOTA yesterday, probably more as a novelty. It is a nice radio but more than I’d normally carry while hiking…think I’ll stick with my Elecraft
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Hey Mike, the usual question when a new radio gets released: can you hear the T/RX relay clicking?
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