QRP POTA: Let's see how well the Elecraft AX2 works with 5 watts!

[@alvarogaitan2529]

WOW fantastic place Thomas enjoy your special hobby 73 from kb2uew

[@ke4est]

Great video, keep them coming! Loving watching these. If you are ever out towards Murphy, look me up!

[@WilliamParmley]

Excellent! Incredible! My AX2 + AXB1 sale package arrives this week. Looking forward to some /PM with it.

[@soundmpb]

The audio on the camera is much better on the Elecraft KX2 than the Xiegu G106. Those videos were hard to try and copy. Thanks for another great video Thomas! 72/73 de Mark KM3P

[@MrDn2akj]

Btw Tom when I was sending to you I was on my straight key and it was cold so my good morning wasn't sent all that great but I figured you would understand what I was sending

[@mikemiles3068]

Good video very strong contacts 73 KV5P

[@markkd8edc891]

Another great video, Thomas! Rather surprised at how well I was getting out and how strong your signal was. The AX2 looks fantastic! Can't wait to get out there with my AX1! Looking forward to getting you in the log again soon! 72 de Mark KD8EDC.

[@ThomasK4SWL]

Great to work you yesterday, too, if memory serves! Thank you!

[@JonathanKayne]

The AX2 is a great little antenna but sadly for me I've had very little success when activating a park with it. I have had some success hunting various POTA activators pedestrian mobile while having a key strapped to my leg!

[@ThomasK4SWL]

Jonathan, out of curiosity, have you ever tried positioning the counterpoise to point to the mid-Atlantic States? I assume that would be broadside to the east. You're in CO which I see could be more of a challenge compared with NC.

[@JonathanKayne]

@@ThomasK4SWL honestly I'm not sure. I've always just ran the counterpoise in a convenient direction. I'll have to look into that and see if it has any effect

[@ThomasK4SWL]

@@JonathanKayne please let me know if you noitice any difference. Honestly, I'm not sure how much of a factor counterpoise deployment might play in an antenna this size. In addition, you might consider adding 2 more 13' counterpoises for a total of three.

[@JonathanKayne]

@@ThomasK4SWL sure thing! I just need to do some research and figure out which direction I need to theoretically point the counterpoise to get better directionality towards the eastern USA

[@buildstoys]

@@JonathanKayne Try elevating the counterpoise a couple feet off the ground as well. If you have access to an antenna analyzer, see where you are resonant at -- a capacity hat will work wonders for these compromised antennas.

[@dovetomarc]

Thomas, What laptop are you using? Do you have a favorite for POTA? Thanks for another great video. 73

[@ThomasK4SWL]

I'm partial to the Microsoft Surface Go. It's lightweight and has plenty of Horsepower for Ham Radio and SDR applications. Also, I've never heard it emit RFI.

[@ldytb]

Tom. Love your video's but one thing I noticed in this and several other videos is that you don't seem to slow down your keying to match the hunter. At your 7:05 contact, he was sending pretty slow, and you seemed to respond at your normal speed. I wonder if that's why you had to send the '?' a couple times before he finally figured it out.

[@ThomasK4SWL]

I always intend to slow down and match the speed of the person on the other end, but sometimes my brain doesn't register their speed. :) I'm more prone to do this in a pileup situation and I think it's because my brain is focused on logging and I simply don't "feel" the speed. But again, I always want to slow to the other person's speed. To be clear, though, I rarely turn down the keyer speed, but I space the characters appropriately. Glad you like the videos, OM!

[@Jubileeos]

7:01 what were you going to say about the RF exposure before the pileup started?

[@ThomasK4SWL]

Ha ha! Thanks for asking. RF exposure with 5 watts into the AX1 or AX2 is truly insignificant. No worries there at all. Still, you'll feel RF if you physically touch the antenna when keying.

[@NamasenITN]

Why did they sound loud and same callers? Is it the epic sensitivity of the kx2?

[@ThomasK4SWL]

I think propagation was also stable that day.

[@SerdarMutlu]

I'm curious Thomas, what was the furthest station that you contacted with AX2?

[@ThomasK4SWL]

The AX2 is still new to me. I've only done one or two activations so far. Witht eh AX1, I know that from North Carolina, I've worked into east Europe (Hungary, Slovenia) and in North America, Alaska. All with the AX1 and 5 watts.

[@SerdarMutlu]

@@ThomasK4SWL Awesome, thanks Thomas. I ordered AX2 and looking forward to receiving it. See you on the air, 73.

[@ae4xo]

do you give the park number with the '-' ? or just the spot page knows the park number

[@ThomasK4SWL]

Great question: You leave the "-" out with park numbers. So instead of sending, say, K-8012 or VE-0870, you'd just send "K8012" or "VE0870". Interestingly, with SOTA designators (which are very long), you also leave out the "-" but you keep the "/". So instead of sending "W4C/EM-001" you'd send "W4C/EM001".

[@ae4xo]

@@ThomasK4SWL thanks

[@gliderrider]

Usually I can follow along with you on copying code. But you copied some wacky cw out there this time that just threw me off. I also struggle with copying 2’s and 3’s and getting them crossed. Great job there. De n5vwn

[@ThomasK4SWL]

2s and 3s still get me today no matter how much I hear them! :)

[@ellisc.foleyjr9778]

Anothre great activation, but unfortunately for me? I wasn't in this one! either missed you or did not hear you one or the other. but looks like the AX2 works well. What would be interesting is to set either the AX1 or AX2 up and also a 1/2 wire either an end fed or inverted and go thru a switch to flip back and forth to compare the little whips to good size wire antenna. that would be cool. thanks again for a great video To-Mas! CUDTL OM! de Ellis WA1RKS

[@ThomasK4SWL]

Next time, though, Mr. Ellis! :)