Yaesu FT-891 POTA: Breaking in my new-to-me transceiver during a chilly activation! 

I bought one last month and I'm wondering why it took me so long. 73

Thank you so much for the kind note, Thomas. I'm honored to have even played a small role in your CW journey! Keep up the amazing work! Cheers, Thomas K4SWL

Morse code ninja podcast is the place you need to check out.

I tend to think that learning CW may be more difficult with subtitles since I find that I end up reading the subtitles instead of copying the CW. POTA and SOTA activations may not be the best for learning since they are very formulaic and the QSOs are very similar, which would make the effort of creating subtitles even less necessary. Having said that, other videos and channels do exist which provide subtitles.

My goto is K2175. 10 minutes from home.

Hi, Sebastian, If I had time, I would add Morse Code translations in Closed Captioning so it could be turned on/off. I simply don't have time to do it, unfortunately. It would at least double the amount of time needed to produce a video and field report. I try to place my log in such a way that it can be viewed as I work stations.

Guilty! :)

I'm in love with my 891 bought last month

Thank you, Jim! You do such a superb job managing pileups on your end! Always great to work you!

So very kind of you, Don. Thank you so much. :)

Yes, I really wish I had the time to add them. Sadly, I don't. :(

Excellent, Peter! Thank you so much for the kind comment. :)

Yep! I've already done this since that activation. Very handy!

Excellent! Best of luck on your Tech and General exams. You've got this! :)

I now have my tech!! KQ4HTX

@@Mechanics.Life80 WOO HOO! Well done, KQ4HTX!

Good luck with your license and ham radio journey! You've got this! Cheers & 73, Thomas (K4SWL)

It would be an honor to work you P2P! Great job on the CW journey! I suppose full break in does cause a bit more mechanical stress with radios that use relays, but I've never had one fail me and, frankly, I doubt I ever will. Perhaps someone with more knowledge can comment, though, about relays in QSK.

Woo hoo! Foreshadowing! Great to work you, OM!

I may very well do a 100W activation someday just for the fun of it. Actually, I'd like to do a 100W activation on a summit. :) I work EU DX quite often at QRP levels.

I felt so, too, so I sweetened the pot for him. :)

For sure!

I use RG-316 cables 90% of the time. The one I used in this video is RG-174--I prefer RG-316. They're lightweight and pretty efficient (if properly constructed) on HF bands pushing QRP power. I tend to buy mine via ABR industries and usually order them aroun 15-25' in length. Ideally, the least amount you need, the better. 20' is a good compromise. Here's a link (it's affiliate, and with the coupon code ABR10QRPER they'll give you 10% off: abrind.com/shop/qrp-pota-portable-cables/abr316-with-bnc-males/?sld=twitherspoon If you're pushing more than, say, 20 watts and you are using an end-fed antenna, in-line toroids are a good idea: abrind.com/shop/qrp-pota-portable-cables/abr316-with-bnc-males-with-5-ferrites/?sld=twitherspoon You can also call ABR if you need something slightly different. They have great customer service. Of course, you can build your own! I do this, too, but I'll admit that I love supporting ABR. PackTenna and Tufteln also make high-quality assemblies, but pretty much only RG-316 (to the best of my knowledge). You can't go wrong with any of these options! :)

I will certainly try to do one in the near future!

Great tip! Yes, the sidetone was a bit low during this activation. Chalk that up to my inexperience with the FT-891. I took it out before I fully explored its feature set via the manual.

Part of the problem I didn't realize at the time was that I had the RF gain set higher than needed. Just my inexperience with it at the time.

@@ThomasK4SWL Yes this is a strange behaviour on the 891 - if you reduce the RF gain the S value display will increase. Something I never understood.

I will try. I think much of the noise that day may have been atmospheric. In truth, this particular park is actually in the middle of a neighborhood, so not the quietest of parks I activate.

Its a Begali Traveler. Wonderful key.

I typically tune off an activator's frequency by about 400 Hz or so. That usually keeps me within their filter range, yet vary my pitch on their end. Keep in mind, this isn't necessary if there's no pileup.

Not yet, but I have the L model on order. Not sure when it'll be ready for Prime Time.

No. It's not needed unless you're doing a Park-to-Park contact and even then it's not required. Typically if the other park doesn't send the designator, I don't either. Else, I default to sharing my park ID.

A Begali Traveler

Thanks for the info! Will do, Frank! :)

G90 or FT891 for a new ham I am from Canada and I was looking at the g90 but what do you think

@Geartheif 204 the problem I had with the g90 was probably the antenna more than the radio. I had a wolf river coil and it didn't work for me