The QRPer Board

Hi Rob, I also have a TR-35, and love to run it. I use it for POTA activations, and it is central to a light-weight kit that I put together for activating parks. I have not looked for or found a TR-35 user's group. I have followed posts and videos from Thomas - K4SWL and John - AE5X on use of the ra...

When arborists use a throw line for tree work, they deploy the line over a limb, then use it to pull up a larger line for the heavy work. You can tie the end of your antenna wire to the throw line, then use the line to pull the wire over the tree limb. This creates a risk of getting the antenna wire...

Use of arborist throw lines to deploy antennas has been discussed as part of other topics. Having a dedicated topic for questions, answers, and general discussion might be useful. Let me start with this: I use a compact throw line kit for my operations. Stuffing line back into a small sack was slow ...

Thomas's last field report and video motivated me to take my TX-500 Discovery out in the woods over the weekend. I paired it with a linked 40m EFHW wire antenna set up as an inverted V with the apex at 40' (12m). A 6 Ah Bioenno LiFePO4 battery powered 5 hours of CW activation at 5 watts, with no sig...

Bravo, Kurt! Good luck with your test. Have fun with Morse Code, because fun produces motivation. The TR-35 will help with the fun. I think you will really enjoy what you can do with that little rig!

Best 73 de Brian - K3ES

Hi Jim, My operations are POTA in the Pennsylvania woods, so I know exactly what you mean about tree branch snagging. My preferred setup is to avoid putting wire over branches. I use inverted V and pull the wire up with the throw line over the branch. Lately, I leave the throw bag attached to the li...

Thanks to all for their thoughts on the subject. I started my QRP journey with a homebrew linked dipole set up for 40, 20, 17, and 15. It works great, but has two drawbacks. It takes longer to set up than an end-fed antenna, and requires lowering, fiddling with multiple links, and rehoisting for any...

Hi Bob, I have no experience with the SW-3B, but can offer some thoughts on your other questions... Easiest first. Bioenno sells LiFePO4 chemistry batteries. They are more expensive than some similar chemistry batteries, but I appreciate the consistency and support that comes from a brand name. LiFe...

I use wire antennas for my portable activations. Over time I moved from dipole to 49:1 EFHW and 9:1 random wire, because of ease in changing bands. I'm still experimenting, and would be interested to hear about others' experiences and preferences. How important are quick band changes to your field o...

I have used wire antennas for all of my field activations to date, including purchased and homebrew dipole, 49:1 EFHW, and 9:1 "random wire" varieties. Living in the wilds of Penn's woods, I almost always have a tree available, so a throw-line is my preferred support system (almost always ...