With my working conditions (CW; low power; attic antenna), the apparent non-contest reduced CW activity and the waning sunspot cycle a hard choice is here.
- FT-8 is an unbelievable mode and I from time to time look for DX with the mode. However, there is no joy in contacting a station four states away on FT-8.
- At first WWFF then POTA were fun. But how many times can you work the same park? Not fun anymore.
- QRT? Ham radio has been such a part of my life for so many years. I hate to hang up may keys.
The following is being done to delay the shutdown (Looking for the spark – not spark gap)
- An FTx-1F was purchased to kindle the fire. It is a fun little radio, but it does not change the stations I can work with my working conditions.
- Operate from our back deck with a portable antenna – WX permitting.
- Operating the activities run by SKCC and next in line are those run by NAQCC.
- Work a few state QSO Parties.
I have been using the FTX-1F for several months. Here are my thoughts so far.
But first, my operating environment:
The radio is used mostly in the shack on a 13.8 volt power supply at the 10 watt level. CW is the main mode (almost the only mode, but I have made a few contact on SSB and FT-8). The antenna is a 55 foot doublet in the attic bent to fit. I have not used the radio on VHF or UHF other than to hear the audio in an HT on two meters.
Comments:
- Fun radio to use
- Good receiver
- Good keyer
- Menus are okay to use (cannot have a bunch of knobs on the front of such a small radio)
- Gets out well
- Limit use out of the shack but easily carried and used in the field or on our back desk.
Accessories purchased
- Fan – does a good job of cooling the radio
- Bluetooth – worthless! (I guess I was foolish to think it would work with something other than the Yaesu Headset.)
This is a complex radio. The danger is to learn a limited amount of its functions and stop learning what else it can do. I must fight this from happening.
This morning on 40 meter CW a station in Norway was worked. He actually copied my little 10 watt signal from my attic doublet. The FTX-1F came through. A great station at the other end, great conditions, no one else calling and look what happens.
The little radio works on SSB also. Yes not a rock solid signal around the world, but it does get heard. Once again Parks are a good way to test. Since I do not operate phone often the parks worked were new ones. Not like on CW where the same parks are heard over and over again.
So far so good. POTA is helpful as a test vehicle for new radios, morse key settings, etc.
To this point only one glitch. The disappearing CW indicator after operating split. I put a message out to Yaesu but nothing heard. The September 2025 software update (202511) should take care of this issue.
CW is my main operating mode so my comments result from operating CW. However, I did work a park on SSB with the FTX-1F and all went well (I think).
In the shack:
The transceiver does run hot as reported by many users. I purchased the fan and it appears to cool things down a bit (on a DC supply).
I have used the radio connected to my Mac via a USB-C cable. I am waiting for the Bluetooth unit to arrive. I hope Bluetooth can be used to replace the cable to talk to the computer. Report back when the module is received and installed.
Away from the shack:
The FTX-1F performed well using the battery on the back deck feeding a Wolf River vertical. Hopefully soon it will go on the road for more tests in the wild.
A new addition to the shack is the Yaesu FTX-1 Field radio. The pic here is in its initial testing phase (still in as of this posting). So far so good.
Why do I still hunt POTA stations? After all, nine out of ten calls/parks I hear have been worked multiple times. There are four reasons as follows:
- Test and find tune my Morse keys. Especially bug keys.
- Use of my lower power radios (HW-8, TR-25 and NorCal 40B).
- To not only see hits on the Reverse Beacon but contact someone.
- Work the occasional new park.
MacLoggerDX does all that it says it will do except selecting a VFO from the main entry screen. Its shortfalls from what I would “like to have” were known before purchase so no complaints. It does a very good job, and the customer service is second to none. Even when I did not read the instructions and e-mailed questions I should have known the answer to, Don was great (see note below).
Special note on “band Plan”: My prior logging software had a Band Plan, but I ignored it. I guess its defaults were in line with my operating, so it never entered the equation. However, the defaults in MacLoggerDX kept directing my K3 in ways I did not want it to go. Rather than reading the manual I thought something was wrong with the program. Don set me on the right path, and I started reading the manual and quickly learned how powerful the band plan was in MacLoggerDX.
To say I messed up when downsizing would be an understatement. I am seeing this sunspot cycle slip away ( I am 80 do the math). If you like to work DX and do not want to settle for:
- Being heard fairy well 600 mies away
- Receive marginal reports up to 2,000 miles away
- Work the occasional station beyond that point who works at pulling your signal out of the noise because there is no one else for them to work.
- See your signal on the RBN just above the noise level.
- Work the same park with the same operator for the 25th time.
Do not downsize before really thinking it through!
Note: Yes FT8 is ham radio and I do work the mode from time to time. It has no personality to me. Also, they say it is like shooting fish in a barrel. Well my barrel is very large the fish appear to be very small.
I had a great time building the NorCal 40B and I have made contacts with the little ~2 watts output. However , it needs a little more punch to get out of my attic and to contact other than parks. Enter the 10 watt Pacific Antenna amp. I have not commented on this to date because if I have issues with a product I tend to look deeply within to see what mistakes I have made before pointing the finger elsewhere. My kit build track record has been good other than an obvious bonehead mistake on the TR-25 build (which was quickly remedied by great customer service).
As a retired accountant with very little test equipment trouble shooting is not always the easiest. An amp is so simple one would think getting it operational would be easy. Well not in this case. I have gotten through some issues, but the thing is just not stable. I reached out to the company early on with my first problem (which I have sorted). PACIFIC ANTENNA HAS NO CUSTOMER SERVICE!!! So far I have nothing but a PCB headed to the recycle bin.
