CW POTA with the Penntek TR-45L 

Evan, I was able to duplicate it on my TR-35, I will try it on my TR-45L Skinny when I get a chance, too much QRN at this RV Park. When I put my TR-35 in SSB receive mode the IF is wider, but the CW will still transmit in that state. Yes, you can attempt to go to narrow mode, but you have to go to the narrow CW IF in order to narrow the bandpass, then the CW wide or narrow won't feel quite as wide. John discovered this when I sent in my TR-35 for repairs after it got dropped to the pavement and cracked the BNC connector. John offered to replace the connector for free, but when I asked about him checking the alignment he stated the issue is that you can save the VFO settings and I accidentally saved the VFO in SSB mode instead of CW mode. I discovered I was doing that on my TR-45L as well but did not know that those settings could be saved as I passed over that part in the owner's manual. Cheers, Davey - KU9L

Good video and assessment of the radio man! I look forward to trying it out myself 😁 and yes Ed is an awesome dude!

Great assessment Evan, exactly what I expected from you. A fair, to the point review. Good stuff. Hopefully in my future, I will be trying to get on foot with the skinny and do a hike in. I do not have any summits remotely close me. Really great points you bring in on the TR45L. I am glad to hear another point of view on this rig. One of my points, you were able to program your CQ message without having to resort to a book. Once you figured out it plays a #1 or #2 it was a very easy learning curve. I find that to be true with the rest of the radio too. My 1st time out with the KX2, I had to use a backup radio because I did not have the book, and I could not figure out how to make it TX.. Great Review Evan! Thank you for doing it.

Exactly, nothing buried in menus. QRS is a knob, always at the ready to show mercy to a new CW op. The battery on this lasts forever and a day, so no recharge anxiety.

I love the way it looks. If it was all mode I would buy it just to look at. My KX3 does all the things I need.

I’m a firm believer that when you turn your radio on, it should return the favor.

Another observation. The speaker on the original seems to be on the side while on the Skinny it is on the rear panel. I have noted that on some videos in the past of other YTers, the speaker rattled a little at higher volume levels. I have not noted this on the skinny, only listening to the two models I got to hear. The underneath tilt bail angles the chassis about 45 degrees so the rear-mounted speaker is at an ideal location. The Side-tone monitor has an outside volume control on the right side of the chassis of the skinny, compared to inside the chassis of the original. This has worked out very well for me as I get migraines that require frequent volume adjustments that are semi-independent of the main volume control. It hasn't been much of an issue on the TR-45L for some reason, but on my TR-35 I am constantly confusing the CW Speed control with the main Volume control. Maybe I need 100 more POTA activations over my 11 to keep my brain trained? My wife is coming along strongly in her physical therapy, but my father-in-law has been in and out of the hospital along with being in Rehab now learning how to walk on a walker and a cane. We leave FL in a month so may not get to do an activation before we show up in the burbs of Chicago for a couple of weeks prior to going to Buena Vista, CO for the summer to work. Being hourly, I will get my POTA time then. Cheers, Davey --KU9L

Great video! I was just looking at that radio! De K2SCH licw#670

The Skinny version does have the same speaker, but it is at the back of the regular TR-45K. My TR-35 has no internal speaker but has good sound through my Sony BT speaker that I plug in my spare 3.5M cable. The TR-35 has a mono jack so a non-mono headphone only has sound in one channel, but that isn't noticable on the Sony BT portable speaker. The audio on the TR-45 is a little bit better, but since I am doing CW I love both rigs equally & I agree that the TR-35 is great for SOTA even though I have only done hard POTA where I had to hike in to avoid setting up in a canyon. Just like you, I switch radios every few Activations so i stay good at all of them, including my Icom. I even have QRPme Tuna Can radios whenever I want a 500mw challege if 5 watts doesnt get me frustrated, lol. Cheers, Davey --KU9L

I couldn't see exactly but it looks like the RF gain was about 60%. That could affect hearing weaker signals. --n1bs

I find the narrow filter setting to be very pleasant & rejects adjacent signals very well. It appears to feel like a 400-500Hz filter compared to my 250Hz filter on my Icom IC-718 where the station answering can't be heard at all if I am not tuning my RIT looking for them, lol. I have the Skinny version of this radio & love it to death. The main difference between mine and the original difference is the side-tone audio has an adjustment on the right outside instead of inside the chassis. The skinny version is about half as thick with the speaker on the rear with a bail setting that angles the radio for an optimal viewing angle. I don't miss the manual tuner option since I use an ATU-10 that I run on my 9:1 Packtenna. At risk of getting the brush-off from the creator of this great radio I have been begging John for a 15-10M version. So far I have heard crickets, but at least I have that desire! Cheers, Davey -KU9L

The TR45L seems like a trophy purchase. If you have the budget, why not, and it certainly looks cool. (XYL approval is likely). Maybe someday I’ll be the old guy having a convo in the LazyBoy with coffee in the left hand, a key in the right and TR45 on the side table. 😂

Evan, I saw the note you put up about the contact station not zero beating you and "that is how you do it". We are taught and tested that zero beating is best practice to minimize bandwidth consumption so that we are courteous to others seeking to use the band. Why are some POTA activators saying that we should not zero beat? I am confused and curious. 73 de Gordon (KO4AYC)