Field Operation – W9TH.com

December 27, 2023 Jeff

SW-3B Display Problem – Fixed!

The SW-3b is my favoite POTA rig. About June of 2023, the radio developed a problem with the LCD display. At first, the display would have random characters on one line. This was intermittent. As the year progressed, with each POTA activation or use, the display got progressively worse. The entire display would be garbled after a few minutes of use. The last time I tried to use it for a POTA activation in October 2023, the display was completely blank when the radio was turned on. I spoke with Dale at Venus about the problem. He suggested re-soldering the

July 16, 2019 Jeff

QRP Guys End Fed Half Wave Antenna – Part 3

I didn’t have time to test the antenna before our cabin trip, so I took some measurements on-site. The antenna was strung between the upper deck of the cabin and a nearby tree. The wire I used was 63 feet long, I intended to cut it to length when the antenna was put up. What actually happened was I passed the end of the wire through a plastic dog bone insulator and wrapped it back on itself about a foot, and called it good. The SWR turned out to be so close to perfect, I didn’t make any adjustments. Here

July 4, 2019 Jeff

QRP Guys End Fed Half Wave Antenna – Part 2

I found some stranded, silver plated #22 wire that has Teflon insulation. It’s not copper-weld, but it’s tough stuff. I attached a 63 foot piece, and wrapped it around the PCB. According to the chart, the wire should be 61’6″, so I will have to trim the antenna for best SWR on site.

June 11, 2019 Jeff

QRP Guys No Tune End Fed Half Wave Antenna

Just finished building the kit. The instructions and illustrations were very good and easy to follow. Assembly took less than an hour. I will be using this antenna on our yearly cabin trip coming up in July 2019. I will do some testing before then and publish the results.