That would require a larger case…definitely no space in this one. However it might come down to the original design criteria. Many portable operators like to use external batteries because you can easily take a size that matches your requirements and, when operating in extreme cold, you can pop that battery in a pocket to keep warm. That said, there’s something very convenient about internal batteries and I do appreciate that option on radios like the KX2.

The keyer manages the sending of the dots and dashes so your radio should be in straight key mode. I actually use a stereo plug and connect the WinKeyer to the tip and sleeve for my radio. If this doesn’t help come back and let me know. My email is good on QRZ so feel free to drop me an email for more support.

Yes, you absolutely could and, in hindsight, I think this would have been the best adaptation!

That’s odd that you’re unsuccessful even trying all that you have. I wonder if one of your polyvaricon capacitors is faulty or out of spec? I have a feeling that in 40m I’m right in the range of them. What length driven element and counterpoise are you trying?

the instructions were a little confusing with the two trimpots under the polyvaricon caps themselves, where you have to set them to the maximum position, the caps that was included did not match the diagram but while they did put a photo of the updated one its a page below and soldering world have taken place thereby preventing you from changing those. I wonder if your caps are out of trim as a result?

It’s a Kent straight key. A simple, robust straight key that is quite attractively priced. There are nicer straight keys to use but if you’re looking for a good quality starting point Kent keys are perfect.

I think I bought mine from Mouser but I know Digi-key and Rapid Electronics stock them too so hopefully there is someone in your part of the world who can provide them. I think the box in the video is the Hammond 1455C801 but check the measurements…I can dig mine out and check.

I think you're right, the SWR bridge circuit isn't grounded or shorted so likely it's picking up enough stray RF to light the little LED. Not an issue but every time it catches my eye I think I've forgotten to flick the switch back to 'Operate'!

@@g0pot On my most recent deployment with a 32 foot wire tuned for the 20m band I noticed the LED on my EFHW Mini-Tuner is now lighting when in Operate mode! It’s very dim but noticeable. Before the tuner was outside and now it’s indoors, so maybe I didn’t notice it before due to ambient light. It still tunes well. I often double check with a NanoVNA and the LED always gets SWR below 1.5. I’ve only had problems tuning if I was sloppy about deployment or had a poor counterpoise. It’s a good product.

Brian, simply power up your Wolfwave, press MENU and then turn the multiuse knob to highlight Utilities and select it by pressing the knob. One of the options here should be ‘Firmware version’. Highlight it and press the multiuse knob to get your current version.

@@g0pot Thank you

Similar to you. I’ve used coax lengths of about 50cm up to ~10m and it was OK. I’m sure I tried it on 10m…I’ll try and set that up this weekend and see how mine fairs and report back here.

@@g0pot kind of annoyed, I wanted to love this dopey lil thing. I'm using with my new Xiegu G90, maybe I'm asking too much out of my skillset at this point. I just got this radio and updated to the new firmware. Out of the box I got a ton of signals from far away places but I cant transmit for nothing!

@@ChrisGrazioli OK, ran tests this morning using 8.8m (vertical) radial and about 4.83m counterpoise laying on the ground. I'm only using 5W from a KX2 and I used about 50cm of coax as this should give me worse results than a longer length. Tuned perfectly on 10m and 15m too. Drizzle and a flat battery prevented me trying more at this time. Look me up on QRZ and send me an email and I'll share pictures and more info. Your G90 has an ATU built in I think so you do have other options. Make sure the G90 ATU is bypassed when using the UnUnTenna otherwise you may have trouble tuning.

@@ChrisGrazioli ...one other observation Chris, I think the G90 can put out up to 20W. The UnUnTenna Plus is really for QRP (those polyvaricon capacitors don't handle much power). I would recommend keeping power to 5W CW or 10W SSB when using this aerial tuner.

Further measurements using 8.8m (vertical) radiator and 4.8m counterpoise laying on the ground). This tunes with a good dip in LED brightness on 30, 20, 15 & 10m. 40m and below won’t tune with this short wire. On 12m I can tune the aerial but the dip in LED brightness is almost impossible to see. I can’t tune 17m but I think an 8.8m element is quite close to a half wave on 17m (8.2m?) so the feed-point impedance of the wire is likely too high for the matching unit. I don’t have 6m on my KX2 so can’t try this band. Hope that helps.

This transceiver is now at version 2.3 and can be bought (when in stock) direct from LNR Precision: www.lnrprecision.com/store/Mtr4b-V2-3-Mountain-Topper-p271367005

There is an online manual here: www.lnrprecision.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Mtr4BV2manual_12_16_20.pdf and I power my Mountain Toppers using 3s LiPo batteries…something as small as 1Ah is sufficient for many hours of operating.

I guess when this was first designed and built, the 7 segment display was a cheap and power efficient approach to providing visual info. To change it now would require a PCB change and enclosure redesign which maybe adds to the cost and risk. The humble 7 segment display is a bit basic but it does it’s job :o) Maybe there will be an MTR-3B mk2 in the future.

Are you only having this issue when tuning on a specific band or do you get the same issue across multiple bands with these element lengths?

@@g0pot The LED refuses to dim on 20-30-40. However, I can change the apparent SWR on my MFJ analyzer when in Transmit mode.....not low enough that I'm comfortable using it, but it will change the SWRs a bit.

@@oldgiapetto OK, good that you could try that with the aerial analyser. The fact that’s it’s not giving you a low enough SWR in the analyser explains, perhaps, why the LED isn’t dimming. You might need to try some different wire lengths. I think for mine I have a 41’ element and a 17.5’ counterpoise (I went with an 1/8 wavelength for lowest band as a counterpoise). I’ll check my current wire lengths later in case I’ve modded these.

@@g0pot Yes, I also have a 41' wire.

@@oldgiapettoI’ve just remeasured my elements and can see I have a 29’ radiator and 16’ counterpoise. I did prefer the 41’ element but needed something sorter for operating from hotels. This will tune on 40m but is more effective for 20m and up. I think I reduced my counterpoise from 17.5’ to 16’ to tune more successfully so that maybe something for you to try.

Yes, in terms of the radiating wire I was using it in a vertical configuration but you can set it up however you like: vertical, horizontal, a sloper, inverted Vee, inverted L. As it has a counterpoise it does lend itself to using it as a vertical but you could operate from, say, upstairs in a house, run the radiating element horizontal to a tree and just hang the counterpoise vertically from the window. So many options!

@@g0pot - Thanks for the prompt response Michael. Very interesting - a versatile antenna for sure . If used horizontally do you know if there is a recommended height for best propagation ?

@@smellthecoffee5314 That is a really good question with a not so simple answer. Firstly, it depends on what sort of distance you want to work. Lower hight might make for a poor ‘take off’ angle but if you are trying to work stations in your region then this ‘NVIS’ setup might actually give you the best option. Typically to give a reasonably low take off for a horizontal dipole we aim to get it half a wavelength high…so the band you are working on influences that. Mostly people just try to get it as high as they can. If you want to know more about aerial performance and modelling hit me up on email. Look up G0POT on QRZ.com.

@@g0pot great answer - I’ll keep that info in mind - thanks

For portable, SOTA and POTA I try to keep things as simple as possible so I aim to avoid carrying additional stuff like SWR meters and analysers. That said, their are certainly some small and lightweight options out there now so it’s definitely an option.

@@g0pot True, every bit of kit counts when ascending a hill/mountain. Recently discovered your channel. Great stuff. 73, Kf7rcm.

@@g0pot I won’t take my NanoVNA in the field, but I’ve used it in the backyard to check my QRPguys EFHW Mini-Tuner to gain confidence it’s giving a good match and to give me an idea of the bandwidth around the tuning frequency. When the LED dims, SWR is always well below 2:1. When the LED goes out completely the SWR is always below 1.2:1. The matching circuit is much different from the Ununtenna Plus, but the absorptive bridge LED circuit is identical. I now have high confidence in it, since it’s never failed to provide a good match.

Yes, this can be a problem. For headphones I either use ‘over the ear’ style that I can nudge off my ears a bit when sending or, when using ear-bud style headphones, I have a short extension lead with built in volume control like this: smile.amazon.co.uk/Extension-PChero-Headphone-Control-Computer/dp/B08T1YW1JK/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=1V3FFVHHJ61HR&keywords=headphone+extension+with+volume+control&qid=1660979588&sprefix=headphone+extension+witj%2Caps%2C72&sr=8-3

You’ll be pleased to know that LNR Precisions only current offering in the Mountain Topper range (MTR4B v2) supports 5.5 - 13V. Still no good on a running car alternator or standard shack PSU but more tolerant of 3S LiPo battery packs and good for a simple PP3 9V battery.

The internet is trying to turn you into a Radio Amateur. Go with it :o)

Ha…that’s unfortunate. Most hotels now only allow windows to open a little to stop people falling out. This can make getting a wire out of the window tricky but also makes other people accessing it less likely. I confess I only do this after dark when people are less likely to notice.

A keyer needs to be able to switch the key input of a radio and I’m not aware of an app (which would also need an interface between your phone/tablet and the radio) which can do this. Good idea though for someone that wants to automate sending. You want the mobile equivalent of N1MM running on a laptop.

As a CW user the Elecraft radios take some beating. If you want to discuss options in more detail look me up on QRZ.com (G0POT) and drop me an email.

Yes, the Mountain Topper radios (MTR3B, MTR4B and MTR5B) are designed to send CW or Morse Code. The filtering is narrow, about 500Hz, so they are really only designed to receive morse code too.

I actually used it more on my short wave receivers than I do on my Ham radios. It gives a high level of flexibility in filtering on basic receivers.

Sorry for being so slow to respond. Let me point you to a resource like morsecode.world/international/morse.html which gives you the characters using the dit/dah format rather than showing you dot and dash representations (which we always want to avoid looking at). Hope that helps.