My TR-35 took a tumble coming out of the truck during a POTA activation, which broke the BNC connector from the circuit board. I tried to resolder it, but that connector is factory installed due to the heat involved. John offered to fix it for free if I send it to him. I was so impressed I put my reservation in for the new TR-45L Skinny! Cheers, Davey - KU9L
I got my TR-35 recently, and can't believe what a fantastic radio this is. My four other 'complex' transceivers have been silent ever since. With the TR-35 I'm taken back to my radio roots, where competent simplicity was the order of the day. Your highly informative videos clinched it for me. W3WJ
Thanks for pushing this video forward. I am really pleased with my TR-35, and addition of a memory keyer is the perfect upgrade. Yesterday I used my TR-35 for a quick activation on the way home from a family outing on a beautiful day. 25 contacts in 30 minutes on 40m. Manual keying of everything makes logging a real challenge at that rate. My only regret will be missing the radio while it is away for upgrade. 73 de Brian - K3ES
Nick, I learned Morse Code specifically to do SOTA and POTA activations. I so agree with your comment! I've only been a ham three years, but I think being able to operate CW mode is part of being a well-rounded ham. Plus, I love these little radios that you can put into a pocket, run with a small battery, and use a wire antenna to make contacts. With the uptick in sunspots, propagation is improving and QRP is working better than just a year ago. I hope to work you sometime. It would be good to have you in the log. 73 de AG7TX
Thank you for the POTA CW QSO! It was fun to hear myself in the video at 49:44. Im a new CW op and completed a CW Academy beginner class in February this year. Hunting POTA CW activations has been a fun and fantastic way to practice. I try and hunt POTA CW activations every day. Thanks for the activation and for posting the video. 73 de K4WSD
Sold! That was one of the minor things that kept me from buying this kit over a QRX mini (for the cost). I had to shrug and say #whynotboth. Alway enjoy your content, thanks Thomas.
Thanks for introducing me to the tr35. Had to have one after seeing the performance in your activation. Just received mine today. This thing is superb! Ordered it pre-built and it arrived this afternoon. Can't wait to take it out for a SOTA activation! 73 de N4AAJ
Great review and demonstration! I have mine assembled, but I need to hook up with my club this weekend for use of their variable power supply and a dummy load for the final steps. Can’t wait!
Thanks for such a great overview of the TR-35. I have had my eye on this for a while and I will be getting one at some point. I think having the 4th band be 17M rather than 80M was such a terrific idea.
I like the sound of that keyer on the radio. Sounds like some one punching a straight key. I just bought a 7300 so it may be a while before I look into getting this new radio. I love the look of that radio. Thanks for teaching me pota, even though I don’t quite feel ready for all that decoding .
I just happened to have the receiver on your frequency and noted that you were getting no replies on 40. Seeing there were no spots on the POTA site I came back and asked for you park#. Love your videos and happy to help out with a spot. 73, Walt NE4TN
The rxer on that rig sounds great. Hope to hear it agn soon in a better environment. Not a lot of line noise. Very pleasant rx om. Looks like many of my regulars that morning. Look forward to the next one brother. 72 jay
Yet again, another great CW decoding video. Thank you for my practice. Question of curiosity, Thomas - when you know that you are going to do a POTA activation, what is your decision making process about which of your (now 20?) radios to take? PS - largely based on your videos over the last year or moe, with a tip of the cap to LICW, I now have 20 CW contacts - mostly POTA - in the books over the past couple of months. THANK YOU, Thomas !!
Bravo, Dave! No doubt your CW numbers will climb even more over the coming weeks and months! Well done! Honestly, I try to rotate my radios around, so often don't make a decision until right before I plot the activation. :)
Thomas, I can't decide between the CW-3B and the TR-35. What a dilemma to have. As of today and your video, I favor the TR-35, but don't think I could go wrong. Don't worry, I am a QRP die-hard. My end goal is to do a POTA activation with my Tuna Tin 2 2.0-watt CW transmitter and I need a good receiver to make that happen. After seeing dozens of really decent used communications receivers sell for MSRP + 20% recently, I decided to get the best portable QRP rig I could. I built a Tuna Can TR-switch called Tuna Helper that would disconnect the external speaker from the TR-35 during TX of the TT2. At the age of 61 when I lost about 30 years of ham operating due to my former aerospace career, it is now all about having some fun with the hobby again like I did when I was aged 17-35, LOL. 72, Dave - KU9L
That's a tough decision. I am partial to the TR-35 because it has four bands, excellent controls, and 2 message memories. The SW-3B is also a brilliant little radio though. No bad decisions here.
What a neat little radio. I just checked his web site and as you already know, he has a TR-45 coming out. I like the added internal speaker that's on the 45. I am waiting with baited breath for the 45 to come out. I may get one? Barry, KU3X
Have you considered adding APRS to your field kit? You might be able to get a message out to a friend to spot you. The TR-35 is a great little radio. Thanks for the video!
Thank you! I do have a Yaesu FT-2D with APRS. I've yet to use it for messaging, though. One of the troubles here is being within range of a digipeater. On a summit, it's easier, but at parks--at least the bulk of them I visit--it's almost impossible.
Nice video, Thomas. Nice to see the upgrade in practice. I appreciate your videos, and have a production question. How do you connect your radio audio and your voice to your recorder? Thanks.
Thank you! I hook the headphone output to the mic input on the recorder. I then simply use the audio recording from my video for my own voice. In post-production, I merge them together.
Hi Thomas, I love your videos, and your activations.. BUT.. Can you also sometime try to come online at home or with some more power? We in Europe love to work you also.. with only a few watts it will be very rare to do so. Greetings Martin PA0KGB
I may try that. I've thought about using a 100 watt radio on a SOTA activation sometime. That would give me the best possibility to hit more of Europe.
Someone mentioned that on occasion RU-vid's algorithm will mute out portions of audio if it can't determine copyright. Maybe this was the issue? Anyway, it's working now and did all day yesterday from my checks. Really makes no sense. :) The source video works perfectly, but sometimes the audio is gone on RU-vid--sometimes not.
FYI I couldnt hear the CW either and did some experimenting. Apparently, the CW track doesnt play on Android or iOS devices using the RU-vid app, if the output is through a monaural speaker. It wont play through a Monaural blootooth speaker either. To hear the CW, I have to plug in stereo headphones, or play on a device that has stereo output.
Thomas, thanks for you cool videos! makes me want to learn CW aswell! What neat fusion cable management box are you having in use there? Looks interesting!
Good question. That might be difficult. Recorders like this--in fact, pretty much any of them--expect electric keying. You may be able to make it work if you set up your cootie to be a single lever electronic keying paddle (meaning one side dits, the other dashes). Would require re-wiring.
Thomas I am watching this video for the 2nd time a I still cannot hear the code. I know you said that you fixed it. Not working for me. I really wanted to hear it since I made a 20 meter contact. Wanted to hear how I sound. I really enjoy your videos, they have spurred me on to improve my code copy and also sending. 73 John. AA9SK
Try it now, John. Someone mentioned that on occasion RU-vid's algorithm will mute out portions of audio if it can't determine copyright. Maybe this is what's happening? Anyway, it's working now and did all day yesterday from my checks.
Very favorable--especially since it has message keying now. The Mountain Topper has three memories as opposed to two and is still much smaller (thought the TR-35 is very compact).
A lot of LIDS on frequency at the end of this video, holy cow. Those TEST people do that to me quite often, it's infuriating when you're in the middle of a QSO.
Funny part is the ones that seem to annoy me most lately are digi mode operators that quite literally start transmitting on top of you. I'm sure this is because they're just picking a spot on the dial and aren't listening to the audio. I can usually work around it, but it makes it a bit more challenging for sure.
Try reloading the video in another browser. A few of us CW people on RU-vid have noticed that they sometimes mut out the CW audio perhaps thinking it's copywritten? It really makes no sense. :)
Yeah...that's just not how I roll on RU-vid. :) I don't edit my videos--they are what they are. It's not to everyone's taste for sure, but it's what I have time to do.
@@ThomasK4SWL Thank you for your comment. My comment was not meant to be negative but just an observation. I have never posted a RU-vid video so I am ignorant of what goes into editing. Again, I liked the video and I learned a lot for my planned first POTA activation with the TR-35.
