XT 60 on ft817

I like XT 60 connectors. They are rock solid, work up to 60A and impossible to pair the wrong way. 

I always cut the original power cords in the middle and insert a pair of XT60. That is the standard connector in my system for 12V.

I found it on thingiverse https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3551608 .

A good friend of mine Gabor HA7AST printed it out.

I used some hot melt glue inside... (it was too hot, so I had to put the whole stuff into the deep fridge for a while.
The result is something I really like.
I do not have to struggle with the original connector, I can use my standard XT60 plug.

Z-817 mod

I live in a suburban area, where no antennas allowed. I need to go stealth, just under the radar.
I mainly work from the park, or hilltops, but sometimes it is good to make few contacts from home too.
Small vertical can help a lot, but on the lower bands it is not so effective.
I recently got a Z-817 from LDG. I had it before and liked it so much. It is an L match tuner, works up to 600ohms. In fact it is only effective up to 300ohm. Of course it works in the range of high impedance, but only with compromises.

My mod helps it to be a bit better.

I installed a 1-4 and 1-9 un-un into the box. They are selectable with the two switches on the back board.

The difference can be several dB on the field meter.

I also changed the GND connector, because I use banana plugs.
There is an RCA connector for remote and a switch to prevent it to drain the batteries in the backpack.

The transformer is a standard one with 42 material core.

An easy battery idea

Battery is an evergreen topic in QRP world. It should be cheap, light-weight and high capacity...

FT817 eats av. 1A/h. (SSB or CW mode) Hence 6Ah battery gives you 6A fun.
It is more than enough for a long walk.

I made a 6Ah 3s Li-Ion Battery pack using 6x18650 cells. Soldering is a bit tricky, but not a rocket science.
Isolation is done using hot-melt glue and some tape.

You can see the balancer connector and my standard PWR supply connector (XT60).

For more than a day one can build a bigger pack using 18650 cells.
I still use the internal NIMH battery of the radio. I keep it charged. In case of FMing with 0.5W it still gives one-two hours. It is also handy when I need to hunt for noise sources.

6x18650 ->6Ah 3S battery pack for Ft817 and others...

Go green

Sun is for free. I like renewable energy even if I have a chance to carry extra batteries with me. It simply makes me feel good :).

I found this tiny solar panel walking around the market few years ago. It gives just a bit more than 5V, hence it is perfect to charge 5V USB powered devices.

I charge my UV3R using this.

UHF/VHF handy for hiking

I love hiking. Playing with ham radio on a top of a hill, far from noise sources is a great fun.
It is always a good question what to take with you... The answer is: The smaller the better.
As I often say: "size and price" counts.

The smallest and cheapest FM rig is an old UV3R from China.

I prefer the older one. It gives 2Wtts only, while other rigs do 4-5W. What is the difference? Nothing. between 4 and 1W there is only one "S" value on your meter.

To make it way better, I do not use the original antenna. I have a small, more flexible rubber duck and a full size telescopic whip. Both are connected to the radio via a BNC-SMA adapter.

It is also easy to connect external antennas to the rig, such as coax colinear or small yagi.

The other big dear is the external PWR supply connector. For some reason that is missing from the radios nowdays. Most radios can be charged using a so called "stand in charger" which I do not want to take with me... This small creature needs 5V, so an everyday USB powerbank or my small solar panel can charge it quickly. NP6 batteries are cheap on the market, one can pack few spare batteries as well.

The rig is probably not the best, but sensitive enough, voice quality is perfect and the size is ideal.
And at the same time it is cheap. Very cheap! In case of a driving rain on your hiking day you do not have to worry if it gets a bit wet :).

I have been using mine for almost ten!!! years. It is one of the most reliable chinese handy. (honestly I would not give more money for a Chinese radio ;) )

If you meet one of this radio on a ham fest, I recommend you to buy one and drop it into your hiking or surviving bag.

UV3R with BNC adapter and rubber duck antenna.
The red reflective sticker on the front helps to find the radio in the dark. It is bright red in the light of a flashlight. If you lose it you will find it easier. 

Easy to charge using a powerbank.

External PWR socket... a forgatten idea

Full size antenna with no loss.

...even tilted...

Short antenna for stupid situations...

I rent a flat in a small city. It is a big house with small heart, so goodwill is missing sometimes. People are engaged with meaningless things, hence I don't want to be a target with my hobby. All I can do is to use some hidden stuff.

First I tried using random wire. It was OK, my X5105 tuned it quickly with its atu. Now Xiegu is far away, and my uBITX and the FT817 does not have atu. What to do?

I tried my magloop. It is very effective. In the previous house where I lived before this one I made contacts from the room in SSB 5W. Here I have got buckleys... The building is full of steel. I live on the first floor, so I have three more above my head.
The balcony does not work, because it is also full of steel. I tried the magloop, and even the reverse beacon network was unable to copy my signals.
I did not want to buy an expensive atu... what to do?

My new toy seems to be helping me out. It is a D-original antenna. Not a mobile, because it is not waterproof and not strong enough to stand strong wind. It is some kind of pedestrain mobile whip.

D-original pedestrain mobile whip. It is tuned to 40m. You can see the counterpoise rolled up at the bottom.
It is stealth as much as it can. After making contacts it is easy to remove hence no curious eyes will see what I am doing on my balcony...

It works from 40 meters.

I tested it yesterday evening. In CW mode the first station was not a DX, around 500miles away from here. He gave me 549. I was happy... I had time just for a short test, so I quickly packed the stuff back to it's case when I realized that the radio was on 0.5W. Ups... it is not too bad... not 5W, it was 0.5W.

The antenna passed the test. Today I tested it again. SSB 5W 1000miles and 55 report. Actually I received the station with the same strength.

I am always hacking things. I have a 2.2m long telescopic whip. It is a treasure... I asked a good friend who has some turner experiences to make me a coupler, so I can use the telescopic whip insted of the original. This way it will be much longer (all together around 3m). I belive also more effective as well. At the same time it will be easier to carry. Just a 45cm long pack on the side of my backpack.

Idea two: I can connect a wire antenna to the end of the coil of the antenna to make it longer. This way If I use a 5m long fishing pole, I do not have to take a tuner with me. The coil makes the whole thing electrically longer, this way I am able to achive perfect SWR at the feed point of the antenna.
I can't wait having time to test it in field situations... maybe tomorrow.


PS:

I found a blogpost on the net. The guy said this antenna is crap. Of course... one has to know this is not a full size antenna, compared to a long wire it's results will be way far behind a long wire. At the same time it is working, if you know the rule.
The rule is:THERE IS NO ANTENNA WITHOUT GROUND OR COUNTERPOISE!
If you just hang a few meters of wire right from the base, you will increase its performance so much.
Don't use tuner for this. It can be tuned altering the length of the radiator or the coil. It must be 50Ohm at the feedpoint. Tuner between the 50ohm coax feed and the radio is one of the dumbest idea in the hystory of HAM radio. :)

Update:

It's been a while... I have been using this stick for months by now. I was able to make real DX-es such as USA from Hungary with my QRP setup. It was mounted exactly as you can see in the pic. Do not think only about CW, I worked a lot in SSB as well.
It is proven to be working fine:)

Ubitx vs FT817

There is a time when a factory built radio is too expensive for you. Or maybe for your wife... :) No panic, you do not have to give this great hobby up!

If you are not afraid of a soldering iron, you have a good chance of having a radio with no compromise. 

I do not waste your time, just go straight to www.hfsignals.com and see yourself. 

The result is a QRP rig with no compromise. It works as well as an FT817 (maybe it sounds better). it is an "allbander" (including 27MHz if you are a CB fun next to your HAM hobby).
It gives you 5-7W on every bands.

All you need is a good enclosure and a long weekend. 

The rig is fully hackable. If you visit https://ubitx.net/ you will find a hell of a lot of information.

Some guys made Icom-like rigs from the original mainboard using touchscreen and factory made enclosure.

What is the difference between uBITX and FT817?

If you receive 599 on your 817, the half of the report is deserved by Yaesu. 

If you receive 599 on your uBITX, the quarter of the report is deserved by Fahran and the ladies in India who soldered the smd parts to your mainboard. :)

Both of them are great fun!

Actually my uBITX is about friendship. I received the mainboard from my good friend Gabor HA7MAC when I had no chance of making QSO's with anything. I played with it a lot until one day I had a great backback radio. I enjoyed every minutes of it. Thanks again Gabor!

I have been using it for almost two years. I am happy with it. 

HF antenna in a pocket

I belive in common sense. Antennas for HF needs to be as long as they can be. Okay, but what if you have no room in your bag, no chance to erect antennas on the top of your house or even on your balcony?

Many years ago I bought a small "miracle shit" antenna in UK. The performance was shocking.
There is a nice place near Manchester called Peel Tower Hill. Climbing up there with a short stick and an FT817 gifted me hundreds of contacts.

The antenna is easy as a piece of nail. Just a coil with taps, a PL or BNC connector on one end, while a telescopic whip on the other. Few meters of random counterpoise is needed to make it better.
All the stations I heard on 40 and 20m came back to me even using QRP power.

Later I gave it to my friend Gabor HA7MAC to walk with it. Few months ago he gave it back saying "you need it more...". My uBITX was happy with the antenna. A real backpack setup...

The anenna... source: moonraker.eu

It does need any kind of support...

Bands are selectable using banana plug and a piece of cable.

In the backpack...

The good old beast is back

After saying good bye to my X5105 I wanted to buy some smaller, but multifunctional QRP rig I can take with me to my caminos. I was surprised about the prices the very next day. Buying a small trail rig costs as much as a used Ft817. Ghrrr... It does not make sense.
I had no chance to build radios in the flat I live, hence I had to pay for something from the market.
It is karma, or luck, who cares... a local guy appeared on a ham swap page with a 817. Price was perfect and decision was quickly made.

The parcel arrived and made me very happy. That radio was literally unused. As the owner said it was tried once. It was bloody true!

It is my 7th Ft817 in the last twenty years. Now it stays. I decided not to sell it in the future.

I quiclky put my grab and go pack together.

My grab and go pack... Ft 817, SDR stick, telescopic HF whip, cables, earplug and some tools.

It is a great fun to have a good old beast again. I made several contacts from the park nearby.
Some wire and a fishing pole was enough for many EU countries even in SSB.

Of course I will keep my good old uBITX transceiver, as it still works pretty fine. For long walks FT817 will come with me...

Long time gone...

I did not have to write in the last years. Many things happened. I moved to a different city, while I was engaged with working instead of focusing on my hobby.

I jumped on into uBITX project. My friend Gabor (HA7MAC) ordered a kit from India. He build his own, and passed the mainboard to me.
We payed a lot with the PA stage. Finally new fets solved the problem. Now there are two RD06HHF1s in the box. Solid 5W comes out on every band from the final stage.
The signal is pure, SSB modulation is crystal clear.
The AF amp died after two weeks. Finally a chinese TDA chip based amp was installed straight to the board.
I made a temporary enclosure from PCB, but later I changed it to a brick like alu-box. I like it so much... Antenna connector is on the front panel, while the back is blank. It can stand on the back as a true manpack radio.

Experiences are pleasent. It does it's job. I made many QRP contacts with it, mainly using a very short SPX-100 telescopic whip.
The menu system of the radio is very practical, the whole rig is so easy to use. Mainly I use straight key, or my arduino elkey with it's memories, but there is a built in elkey too.

Here are some images...