In the past I used to operate QRO only from my home. Some time ago, after careful consideration on the roots of why I decided to enter the ham radio community, I came to the conclusion that my operational mode was simply wrong. Then I decided to shift portable and QRP seeking maximum antenna efficiency and better energy management.
This is how I do radio now:
Software
- SDR-Control for macOS [Website] [Mac App Store]
- SDR-Control for iPad [Website] [App Store]
- CubicSDR [Website] [GitHub]
- GQRX [Website] [GitHub]
Antennas
- Fixed (root top)
- Diamond D303 -> Wideband continuous reception (RX only) from 0.5 kHz to 200 MHz
- Portable (POTA, SOTA, IOTA, RaDAR and ILLW)
- Chameleon vertical kit -> 80m to 6m with SS25 vertical whip, 40m coil, blank adapter, isolator and puck hub; complemented with a tripod, several counterpoise cables and an EMF blanket.
- JPC-12 or PAC 12 -> 80m to 6m (modified by me, see this article)
- Home-brewed 1:64 End Fed (EFHW) -> 80m to 10m (mainly for 80m and 40m)
Antenna tuner (ATU)
Main rig
- Icom IC-705 —> HF / 50 / 144 / 430 MHz All Mode Portable Transceiver (QRP)
Secondary rig
- AirSpy HF+ Discovery SDR —> 0.5 kHz to 2 GHz continuous reception (RX only)
Headset
- Heil BM-17-IC -> lightweight electret mic headset designed for amateur radio use.
- AD1-IHT -> Icom adapter with PTT
Vectorial Network Analyzer
Handy (walkie-talkie)
- Analogue:
- Radtel RT-860
- Kenwood TH-F7E
- DMR: