SOTA Report: New QCX-Mini, New PackTenna EFHW, and Pileup Insanity on Mount Mitchell! 

FB sticking with SA station. People, if you are part of the pileup you need to LISTEN and pay attention to what the “DX” is doing.

I’m really glad you posted this video because I just had this same experience today on my very first POTA activation. There was so much of a pile up that there was intermod and my radio was just squealing with no breaks between elements. I still got 20 contacts but it was HARD work. It’s comforting to see that a much more experienced op had many of the same problems I did. Thanks! 73 de WX0X

I don’t know if I’ll live long enough to get as good at this as you are. But, thanks to your videos, I’m recognizing letters and words a bit instead of counting those dots and says. Thanks for recording so much of you activations! K0PIG

Not the usual relaxing K4SWL video for sure! That pileup just wouldn't stop. It was educational seeing how you managed the chaos. The last SOTA activation I did before my foot disability was in the snow and fog on Santiago Peak. I've always loved the quiet and calm in those weather conditions. Sort of a contrast with the mayhem on the bands for this activation.

Nice work Thomas! I love my QCX(s) Just a thought for logging time. Turn on the clock function on in the menu and set the time to UTC before you start. This way you can look at the radio when logging time. It will go back to zero when you unplug it. Menu 7.9 to turn on the clock. Menu 6.8 to set time.

Wow, that forest can use a thinning! Well done!

For cold hands, try my old hunting trick. A lighted candle in a coffee can, positioned on the ground below your lap, gives enough heat to warm your hands a bit.

Heard the IK station have a whole QSO without you calling on him at all! People, listen, listen, listen! And call just once! If the station you call asks for a fill, only give what they ask for. You did great Tom, holding your own in a crazy pileup! AE2T

OMG Thomas! Boy you walked into a pile up! Well done mate you did well showed extreme patience, Im not sure I could deal with it. Just a heads up you can work split on the QCX, I think you would have done better. However, when Europeans hear you they just TX over and over regardless of who you are working or indeed calling. Very poor operating by some stations. But anyway well done my friend you did well and that QCX does not have an AGC so strong stations do sound rough, not the speaker as you thought. Thanks for sharing EXCELLENT video 73 my friend.

Thomas...you did great!!!

I have never seen anything like that pileup before.. it was just relentless! You are far more patient than I, I think I would have just sent QRT after the first 5 or 6 but my CW skills are barely anything. :)

That was awesome! You rocked that! That speaker was terrible! Lol

Eeeeks! That just looks cold. Love the mini! I built one for 40 meters, but the side-tone is MIA so need to do some troubleshooting. Fun vid as always! Buuuurrrrrrrr!

That makes me shiver just looking at your hands get redder and the ice on the trees! Just a few ideas to toss around, get a pair of extra extra large mittens, not gloves. Get it large enough that you can cut a slot near the seam and insert the paddles. With the one hand you can work the paddle, and with a gloved hand you can hold the key still from the outside of the mitten. Or, have something like a quilted tube about 12 to 18 inches long with an Inside diameter large enough for your hands. Put both your hands, one in each end, in there with the key until you need to use one to work the radio controls. These should keep the wind off your hands, and also trap a little heat in there too.

Tom. Another great video! Cu on the air.

WOW what a hornet's nest you had, Thomas thanks for great video !!

Great job! I love both off my Minis, It makes you wonder why you need a bigger radio out in the field if you have something this small that works, I use a little bit bigger speaker.

My QCX-mini for 30m just arrived and is ready for the first SOTA activation. It outputs 6W on a 12,8V LiFePO4 battery. Great to seeing you working the pileup, and EA2IF and F4WBN calling you from Europe. 73 de Chris DL1GKC

Quite a pileup you had! Thanks for the video, nice to hear what I sound like on your end. 73, NJ0Q

Pile ups scare me…. It’s like taming lions… a whip and a chair just don’t seem adequate. I do love my QCX Mini though… my clipboard station is comprised of the QCX Mini 20m, a Bamatech TP-3, a EFλ/2 PackTenna 20m, a 12v 3aH DC Pack & Earbuds… all Velcro’d down to the Clipboard. I must confess… I still struggle with my copy. My logs are a ‘mess & best guess.’ I use a QCard to aid in my keying. I use the Keyer memories. And Thank you Hans for the awesome Decoder! Everything a amatuer’s Amatuer would need to make contacts! Pile ups would eat me alive! Great video Thomas! 72 de W7UDT (dit dit)

Hi Thomas, another great activation video. You did a phenomenal job with the pileup. That's something that I still fear in my CW journey, but QRP SOMETIMES keeps things to a slower pace, hi hi. 73 de Brian - K3ES

Got the 20 and 40 QCX minis. My 15m is scheduled to be delivered on Dec2. Ordered it in August but it’s worth the wait

I'm surprised that pileup didn't call some thought to be extinct bird onto that summit. How you managed to pull anything out of that pileup is beyond me.

Wow Tom! What a pile up. At one point you exclaimed, "What?!" and I felt that for you 😂 great display of patience though. That antenna configuration seemed to do a great job too! Well done all the way around. 73!

Wow, at time stamp 11:20 ……. Y’all became popular. 🙅🏾 way to hang in there.

Whaw! What a pile-up, next to going running split! I'm surprised by how strong the European stations were coming through at your side. Obviously, the near vertical EFHW antenna makes its work! And it was very interesting to listen to another than my own QCX-mini! Congrats! 72! Linas LY2H

Thank you for telling me about this video. Do you have the automatic gain control on the Qcx?

Cool video. Did you have to adjust the length of the EFHW antenna or did you use it as delivered? Also, would it be possible to create a linked halfwave from that antenna similar to the packtenna linked dipole?

I ordered a QCX mini a few days ago! I might suggest using the semi-ask mode. I always use it with my K3. I also use RIT a lot when running in a contest. I have only done one activation but I used it then also. Not everyone is zero beat. While waiting for my rig I am reading and re-reading the manual! 73, Don N4DJ

Hi Thomas, Do you have review about QCX mini? I'm very curious about what you think about this RIG (taking in account price of this radio).

My favorite radio

Enjoyed your vedios! And try our SW-3B sometime.

Hi. My question is not related to your video. Tell me are you planning to compare the panasonic rf-b65 with modern Chinese receivers ???

I just back home from a 28 hr and 1600mile road trip. I stopped at 2 parks on the way and called cq for over 30min with 20 watts and nothing! Good job!!!

Tim, I have often wondered if running RIT in those pileups would get a little separation. They are usually too hectic for me to try. Just a thought

Daughters and i have one on order. Wanting to order the amp just to have built one, and at the cost it's inexpensive enough, but really like qrp CW. Do you wear headphones if your not recording the speaker for youtube?

Here's one way you might compensate for the lack of AGC in the QCX. Take the audio that you are going to feed to your external amplifier and speaker and build out the hot side with a series resistor. You'll have to experiment to find the right size but my guess is that a few hundred ohms would do. Then shunt the audio (far side of the build-out resistor) to ground with a pair of diodes, one with cathode grounded and the other with anode grounded. When peak audio voltage exceeds the breakdown voltage of the diode (probably several hundred millivolts) the diode will clip and the level will not exceed that value. The two diodes will take care of positive and negative sides of the signal waveform. The build-out resistor gives the diodes something to work against; they aren't dead shorts but have a finite resistance when conducting (but until then they are in effect open circuits). Then continue on to your amplifier. You'll need another gain control after the clipping diodes to set the level that comes out of the amplified speaker (unless the amplified speaker has its own built-in gain conrol). No signal, no matter how strong, will be any louder than what is set by the clipping level, but weak signals below that level will stay weak. So you'll have to set the gain control on the transceiver appropriately, so that moderately strong signals begin to clip. Too much gain and everything will clip and it will sound horrible. Too little gain and only extremely loud signals will clip and you'll get way too much variation in perceived loudness. Play with the two gain controls, the one in the transceiver and the one after the diodes, until it works the way you want it to work. But you should be able to set those two controls once and then forget about them ever after. I'm surprised that transceivers without AGC don't have such simple circuitry built-in; the resistor, two diodes and additional gain control would be pretty inexpensive. However it might not work all that well if used with low-impedance headphones instead of with an external amplifier. You want the diodes, when they conduct, to have a much lower impedance than the useful load connected across them. I used something like this when many years ago I used a Hallicrafters S20-R receiver whose AGC only worked for AM and not for CW, but I used it with high-impedance headphones instead of with an external amplifier, and with a 6AL5 dual diode. I biased the two diodes with a pair of 1.5 V cells, since the 6AL5 diodes would conduct at very low signal levels, and you don't want the diodes to conduct immediately, only when the signal level exceeds a certain value. Solid state diodes will have a built-in minimum conduction voltage so you don't need to bias them. This will work for CW. For 'phone, it will make the audio sound awful. David VE7EZM and AF7BZ

Just received my two mini’s (20 & 40m) today. I realized that there’s not a power cord with it. Just ordered some 2.1mm cords off Amazon and I’ll install Anderson connectors on them.

Oh never mind the bear stole the car. Can’t make this up😂😂

Nice area and great video! - Thank you. W5SWX

Hey, very very impressed how you handled the pile up!! The QCX Mini is a great little radio. Was that the speaker I told you about? Mine never sounded that awful. Perhaps you could run a splitter and use the speaker audio for the audience when recording and wear a headset at the same time. Perhaps that would solve the issue and still be able to record the activation. I just got the spark plug EFHW and used it on Sunday and it passed with flying colors. 73 de KN3A.

Burrrr ! Too cold for me to work portable. I hope you did not freeze. Do you have any YouKits QRP radios in your collection? I had the two band 20/40 and loved it. Sold it and now have the 4 band covering 40 to 15 meters. I love that little rig. Barry, KU3X/QRP PS.....Enjoyed the video.

Wow! talk about a pile-up. one thing I forgot, my buddy Pete WA2JMG worked you, and so did I on this one, And I could see your hands getting redder and redder from the cold. and also the paddle was loose and I kept waiting for it to fall off ha ha. So on behalf of my buddy Pete and Myself I thank you Tom for another great video and qso!! 73 agn de Ellis WA1RKS

Strange fact... the Boeing 727 that was high-jacked by DB Cooper was sold later to Piedmont Airlines, who gave it the name "Mount Mitchell Pacemaker"... wonder if its the same Mount Mitchell? I am amazed at how well the QCX-Mini works, incredible such a small unit can be used so effectively with the EFHW. W8DSX

Hahahaha omg kind a pile up!!!!! Hahaha Nice, 73. Dit dit Lu6edg murdock

You needed a hot cup of coffee.

Tom, can that rig work split? The pileup might have been a little more manageable if you could spread the calling stations out a bit. Nice job staying “cool” under pressure. 73 de K2ZA

I’m halfway through the video and can now appreciate the fact I spent so much on the kx2. I really expected you to get attacked by a bear during the beginning to add to that mess. 😂😂😂😂 btw Thomas , most of your powered speakers from China will inject that hash into your rxer. Ask me how I know hehe. Ok I’m going back outside to finish watching so I can appreciate this in the 24degree wx 🤣

Looks like you hit the jackpot there. Good job, Steve KM4FLF/VA3FLF

😮 wow❗️what a pileup❗️When its like that by brain just stops working, my wife tell me i have a one track mind but I prefer to say that I am extremely focused. 73 KV5P

Looks like Pogonip.

Those limbs stacked like that……Bigfoot!! Man you weren’t kidding. Maj pileup. I guess the only way to handle that is do what you did. Just work one at a time. What else can you do?