WRYS709

Glad you’re enjoying the HF-009. Keeping the rod with the coil installed, even if the coil is bypassed , it gives you some extra elevation. I had another good Late Shift Activation tonight with the HF-008 exclusively this time. It is getting easier to change bands, even in the dark with my Cheap Chinese Flashlight. Funny how in my last Late Shift Activation, 80 meters was the drag and 40 meters exploded on me. Tonight, it took me two hours to get my first 3 FT8 contacts on 40 meters and then when I switched to 80 meters, the squeal of FT8 just boomed from my G106 and I made 9 more contacts in one hour! I am preparing for my first CW Activation soon! Watching some YT videos there is a common format to be followed Hunting or Activating, which removes much of the anxiety of sending CW for me

With or without the coil?

I am surprised how much I love my Xiegu G106 for QRP POTA including FT8

Oh: I looked closer at the marketing materials: Quad Band; yes! Quad Mode: Receive only!

Wait: Quad band: AM/FM/CW and SSB -- $99??? How long has this unit been available?

What freq is FT8? VarAC? MIL?

Im lazy and plan to have the untuned radials just follow the surface after they hit the ground. Proper procedure?

Tell us more about 60 meters!? Ive never tried it.

Remember: the Signalink requires you to set internal Jumpers when you change radios; and of course use the proper cable. They now make Jumper Boards which makes the process easier and faster and more reliable I just purchased 2 sets of each.

I recovered the 51’ 6” counterpoise I left out in the rainstorm and until the Winders I purchased on Etsy arrive, I wound it around a cardboard toilet paper tube! Even with silicone wire, I don’t want to have to untangle it again! i am building up the nerve to try out my HF-009 on the tripod!

YouTube is your friend here. I can’t remember which one got my 7300 up and running on WSJT-X two years ago. Not realizing that WSJT-X can run on a Mac, I set it all up in Windows 10.

I think my Late Shift Activations on 80 and 40 attract attention and response when they see "CQ POTA" on FT8 at that hour.

Radioddity includes 3 - 5 meter radials with their HF-009, so how did they compute that length?

How did you decide on 8.6 and 4.33 (ft?)?

Note: the 3mm banana plugs fit into my 4mm banana PLUGS, as if they were a wire I then screw down to tighten down. The choke I purchased was pricey, but it works!

I used my 25' tape measure to mark off 25 feet and then 9 inches on my front fence. I then double looped it with my 26 gauge BNTECHGO spool to give me the 51 feet 6 inches needed and then a little more for error. I banana jacked it (4mm) and plugged it into a Desco 09780 Ring Terminal that I installed on a Mueller Electric Heavy Duty Steel Clip and clipped it on the Etsy Choke that I installed on my Tripod Mount and operated tonight on 80 meters with the MFJ 1880-T whip. Not any success SSB or FT8, but I could see on one of the WebSDRs that 80 was collapsing. So I swapped it for the 40 meter Thai-Whip and kept the 51/6 counterpoise on it and started operating 40 meters. Had a successful QSO over to W7ASU Arizona State University's college station operating on an ARRL School Club Roundup tonight! Then got an FT8 to Wisconsin and then the sky opened up!!! I got pretty wet collapsing the whip and tripod and disconnecting and getting the coax inside. I left the 51/6 counterpoise outside; maybe it will shrink the extra inch or two I cut it for! hahaha Next project to cut some 5 meter and 10 meter lengths from the BNTECHGO spool and putting banana jacks on them; maybe putting 3 counterpoise to one banana jack and add more Desco's to my antenna mount, so that the Mueller Clip becomes my go to for POTA. By the way, the smaller banana jacks from my Radioddity HF-009, easily slip into the 4mm banana jacks I purchased so as to be able to use them as well on the HF-009 and my tripod as needed.

I just couldn’t resist purchasing one of these Ukrainian 28 MHz to 144/440 all mode Transverters: https://ebay.us/m/u4t6GK The price has increased since I purchased mine. It sits in its original box and some day I will play with it, but added to a rig like the Icom 7300 or Yaesu FT-891, it does give you the missing functionality! Here’s an informative article about them: https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product/14939

Thank you both for these clarifications! I just assumed my preference for Late Night Activations were the basis for the harder work involved! I am also motivated to helping promote a more egalitarian approach on Late Night SSB/AM on 80 meters!

I have had a Signalink for many years to get my Yaesu FT-857d into digital modes. I purchased the DE-19 sound card for my Xiegu G106 and my Icom 705 has its own internal sound card. But since I want to do POTA FT8 without a laptop, I have been experimenting with the iPhone App iFTx and it does not work out of the box with either radio, due to iPhones not allowing CAT control. So I have dusted off my Signalink and purchased two sets of Jumper Module/Cables for each of these radios in the hopes that I can make iFTx work automatically with each radio using Signalink. In the meantime, I CAN get iFTx to work with the G106 and DE-19, if I manually hit the PTT mic button on each part of the the FT8 cycle that requires transmission.

Yesterday, I did a Late Shift Activation at a new Park starting later than usual. I started with 40 meters FT8 with the Radioddity HF-008 and the Xiegu G106 using my iPhone with iFTx. I like to get close to the minimum 10 contacts before switching over to SSB. Last night I seemed to hit a wall at 6 contacts. I moved over to 40 meters SSB on my 100 watt Yaesu FT-857 and after calling CQ POTA for about 40 minutes, I finally heard a "VA7" in the mud. I asked him to wait 10 minutes and try again and sure enough, the band improved and I not only logged him in, he was kind enough to Re-Spot me on POTA. He was in Victoria BC. So I moved over to 80 meters but instead of recalibrating the HF-008 in the dark (I am thinking about purchasing extra "stingers" to have already calibrated for multiple bands), I went over to my MFJ 1880-T HT-style monoband antenna on the Radioddity M916 Triple Mag-Mount. I already know from experience to collapse the bottom two extensions for good SWR that my AN-100M Pro can tune. I called CQ again for about 40 minutes on various frequencies around 3750 - 3850 but was unable to get a QSO. Moving back to the G106 for FT8, I could receive many different stations, but was unable to complete any FT8 QSOs. I discovered part of the problem may have been transmitting on 3574 instead of 3573. I wanted to end the night with the minimum 10 QSOs, so I put the HF-008 back on for 40 meters and returned to FT8 there. After starting slow, the band must have changed as suddenly I was knocking them out one after another including about a half dozen Japan calls that lined up for my CQ POTAs! I ended the night with 16 QSOs. My point is that when band conditions are frustrating, there is much satisfaction to completing FT8 QSOs.

How do you measure your wire for exact length radials before cutting it? My MFJ 1880-T 80 meter whip requires 51 feet 6 inches.

This guy goes into depth about the difficulty of tuning the JPC-12 in general and goes band by band He does add more radials and points out that if the Radials O-Ring connector is installed upside down, it can possibly knock out the value of the radials

I think there are 3 separate contests this weekend too.

HF-009: Keep the coil mounted for 10 meters to gain the elevation, just run the coil slider all the way up, to effectively bypass the coil.