The first attempt was with the Vibroplex Par EndFedz EFT-10/20/40 Trail Friendly antenna mounted on my balcony and extended out to a fence about 40 feet away. My first SSB voice contact was with KH6CB in Waimānalo, Hawaiʻi. My first FT8 data contact was with N7JCE in Boulder City, NV. Success! Hawaiʻi is impressive considering it’s thousands of files away with 5 watts of transmission. KH6CB had no problem hearing me. Nevada is impressive considering that there’s a 1,500 – 2,000 foot elevation increase immediately next to my house to the east. Nevada is on the other side.

My plan next weekend is to test with the Goozeezoo JPC-12 center-loaded vertical antenna.

Looking back on this lapse, I think the primary reason was the state of the hobby. I wanted the hobby to be more software and less hardware, but with SDR being fairly new and the hobby having deep roots in electrical engineering, this is a slow change. Amateur radio is always going to have a hardware component to it, and that’s fine. I just want to focus on the software aspects. Had it not been for my interest in FT8, I likely would have lapsed earlier.

We’re seeing a lot of developments with SDR radios over the past few years and it was a chance YouTube video I stumbled upon and watched the other day about the Xiegu X6200 that renewed my interest. Since then, I’ve researched this radio and familiarized myself with the current state of the hobby. This radio represents the type of device that interests me – essentially a computer (it runs Linux) with radio software “apps” in a QRP-sized form factor. Ideally, with regular firmware updates, although I’m getting the impression that my dream radio is still a few years out. I want an open platform SDR radio that’s akin to a computer operating system where third parties can develop and distribute their own radio apps. We’re approaching what I want in a radio.

The Xiegu X6200 (low cost and software-driven) is a big step in that direction, when compared with the Elecraft KX3 (high cost and with interaction paradigms more akin to an oscilliscope or a calculator), for instance. No offense meant to Elecraft – they make great radios, but they aren’t the radios for me in their curent state.

Today, I purchased the Xiegu X6200, renewed my call sign domain name + email address, and have migrated all my N3VAR.com amateur radio content to a relaunched personal website as a sub-section. N3VAR.com is now redirecting here. It doesn’t make sense for me to manage multiple websites for my various personal hobbies.

The next step is to do an inventory of all my gear and figure out what I should sell. There’s no reason to keep anything that I don’t plan to use. This likely means parting ways with my Elecraft KX3 and all the accessories I purchased for it. I’ll probably keep my Kenwood handhelds because I don’t have a good SDR handheld option, including full duplex satellte operation. That, too, will come someday.

I’ll get back to blogging about amateur radio as soon as my Xiegu X6200 arrives. My focus right now is getting familar with the Xiegu X6200 and figuring out which of my existing antennae can be repurposed for this radio. After that, I’ll see if I can do everything I want to do from a Mac instead of having a PC laptop for specialized radio software. Then, of course, there’s learning morse code, which I’ve been putting off and need to do soon.

The first step – charging old batteries and updating firmware. The second step – attempting to re-learn archaic user interfaces and menus on these two Kenwood handhelds. Right now, the Kenwood TH-D72a, my primary satellite DXing radio (due to the fact that it’s full duplex) either has a physically stuck “Ok” key limiting my ability to use it effectively, or there is some software fault after the firmware upgrade that will require me to do a full reset to fix it. This is what I am working on right now as my Kenwood TH-D74a sends out APRS beacons.

My hope is that the next generation of handhelds from companies like Kenwood, Yaesu, and ICOM will be more similar to smartphones than analog radios. There is a lot of room for improvement in amateur radio user interface design (as well as functionality), and it would be nice to have a radio with frequent software updates and improvements. If the mainstream amateur radio companies do not pursue this, then I see the latest generation of Chinese manufacturers such as Wouxun and BaoFeng stepping up.

My feedback on the tests have been consistent – more procedures and rules, more underlying science, less electronics. The amount of electronics, especially in the General and Extra license tests, compared with the relevancy of electronics as a requirement to participate in the hobby, is out of synch with the present day. If anything, there should a license type specific to radio electronics. I have great respect for the hardware engineers in this hobby, but that’s just one path of many paths of this diverse hobby. I will never pick up a soldering iron or use Ohm’s Law as an amateur radio hobbyist. Some will, but I suspect I am more representative of the new wave of people entering the hobby than electrical engineers are.

The antennas I tested:

• Diamond SRH320A Tri-Band Whip Antenna [SCORE: 21]
• Comet SMA-24 HT Whip Antenna [SCORE: 21]
• Nagoya NA-771 Whip Antenna [SCORE: 19-21]
• Hypario HPA-701 Whip Antenna (Nagoya) [SCORE: 18]
• Kenwood TH-D74 stock whip antenna [SCORE: 14-16]
• MFJ-1714 Long Ranger 2-meter Telescopic Antenna [SCORE: 12-14 extended, 10 contracted]

The score is the S meter values for three WX stations at different distances. A max score of 27 would be 9/9/9 on the S meter receive readout.

The best-performing VHF/UHF antenna I own is the TRAM 1185 Amateur Dual-Band Magnet Antenna. I use this on my car. I did not test this with the whips as I’ve already tested a mag mount vs. whip scenario, and this mag mount will outperform any whip antenna that I’ve tried.

The winner is the Diamond SRH320A. Some of these I will keep, and others I will sell. I walk through the reasons to keep some of these on my Gear page.

I suspect I will end up with just a few whip antenna for my handhelds and sell the others once I finish some comparison testing. HF antennas are more varied based on the situation, so I suspect I will retain a fair number of these to meet various needs for my QRP transceiver.

I am excited about the increased privileges and the ability to connect with people via DXing, especially the prospect of international contacts, although that will take time and a better understanding of how to optimize for distance, especially considering that my gear right now is focused on QRP. A 100 watt amplifier is likely a near-term purchase. Now, the real learning begins…

The contact was made using my Kenwood TH-D74 with a Diamond SRH320A whip antenna. It’s great to know that this little whip antenna can reach a repeater that far away.

I take my General License exam in a couple of weeks.

This weekend, I’ll attempt to transmit on a VHF/UHF repeater with my Kenwood TH-D74A and hopefully make my first contact.