Ham Radio All Portable Discussion Zone

Peter HB9EBE has been building his own antenna matching units since getting back into ham radio about 10 years ago, and his approach is about as minimal as it gets. His go-to field tuner is a homebrew L-match built around a single toroid and polyvaricon, small enough to fit in a dental floss case and simple enough to build in 30 minutes. Combined with a QMX in a custom carbon fiber enclosure and a random wire on a 3D-printed spool, the whole station comes in under 400 grams.In this episode we dig into his homebrew matching unit designs, his antenna evolution from resonant end-feds to random wire, why he chose an L-match over other topologies for field use, and how he handles the tradeoffs of ultralight QRP construction when every gram counts.Join us as we explore how you can get involved in portable radio, QRP, and more in this episode of the All Portable Discussion Zone (AP/DZ). Every aspect of portable operations is covered in this biweekly podcast, from news and gear to achievements, the workbench, contests, awards, and beyond.**SolderSmoke DISCORD INVITE**: https://discord.gg/GYVRZSBVFCConnect with us:* Discord: https://discord.gg/WVE3vVveWU* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/redsummitrf* TikTok: @redsummitrf* X (formerly Twitter): @NJ7V_Support the channel:* Buy us a Coke: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/RedSummitRF* Red Summit RF Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/redsummitrf#apdz #HamRadio #QRP #amateurradio #hamradiopodcast #SOTA #PortableOps #CW #QMX #HansSummers #homebrewradio #ATU #antennatuner #Lmatch #Zmatch #QRPantenna #EFHW #scratchbuild #HB9EBE

Gary W0MNA and Martha W0ERI have been licensed for over 50 years each and are still building, activating, and teaching others to do the same. Based in Leavenworth, Kansas, they are regulars at Four Days in May and Ozark Con, where they mentor the Friday evening build session and beta test new kit designs for the Four State QRP Group.In this episode we talk about how they each got into ham radio, their decades of kit building and homebrew projects, their SOTA activations as a team, and the very active club they run in Leavenworth where monthly build sessions, outdoor operating events, and ARES work keep a growing membership engaged year round.Join us as we explore how you can get involved in portable radio, QRP, and more in this episode of the All Portable Discussion Zone (AP/DZ). Every aspect of portable operations is covered in this biweekly podcast, from news and gear to achievements, the workbench, contests, awards, and beyond.**SolderSmoke DISCORD INVITE**: https://discord.gg/GYVRZSBVFCConnect with us:* Discord: https://discord.gg/WVE3vVveWU* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/redsummitrf* TikTok: @redsummitrf* X (formerly Twitter): @NJ7V_Support the channel:* Buy us a Coke: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/RedSummitRF* Red Summit RF Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/redsummitrf#apdz #HamRadio #QRP #Workbench #Electronics #homebrewradio #amateurradio #hamradiopodcast #SOTA #POTA #PortableOps #kitbuilding #ARES #FourDaysinMay #OzarkCon #elmering #hamradioclub

Paul VK3HN has been building homebrew radio gear since the late 1970s and activating SOTA summits in the Australian bush since around 2015 — and he'll tell you the two pursuits feed off each other perfectly. His Summit Prowler series of homebrew superhet transceivers were designed specifically for backpacking and activating, with every design decision driven by the constraints of the trail.In this episode Paul walks through his journey from a scratch built 2 meter FM receiver as a teenager to a series of increasingly refined portable CW and SSB transceivers, shares how his 20 year career as a software engineer made the jump to Arduino and Si5351 easier than most, and talks about choosing to stay a builder rather than become a full time YouTuber.Join us as we explore how you can get involved in portable radio, QRP, and more in this episode of the All Portable Discussion Zone (AP/DZ). Every aspect of portable operations is covered in this biweekly podcast, from news and gear to achievements, the workbench, contests, awards, and beyond.Paul's Blog: https://vk3hn.wordpress.com/Paul's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/PaulTaylorVK3HNPaul's GitHub Site: https://github.com/prt459**SolderSmoke DISCORD INVITE**: https://discord.gg/GYVRZSBVFCConnect with us:* Discord: https://discord.gg/WVE3vVveWU* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/redsummitrf* TikTok: @redsummitrf* X (formerly Twitter): @NJ7V_Support the channel:* Buy us a Coke: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/RedSummitRF* Red Summit RF Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/redsummitrf#apdz #HamRadio #QRP #Workbench #Electronics #homebrewradio #DIYradio #amateurradio #hamradiopodcast #scratchbuild #SOTA #PortableOps #superhet #Si5351 #Arduino #VK3HN #SummitProwler #CW #SSB

In this Homebrew Workbench Roundtable, Adam K6ARK, Tobias KK7BCO, and I dig into QRP antenna tuners and workbench projects. We cover L-match and T-match concepts, Adam's K6ARK QRP Antenna Matching Unit, and the G0FUW HB-ATU based on the classic Heathkit HFT-9 circuit. Tobias built two scratch versions plus a kit. I just got my parts together.On the antenna side, Tobias is working on a trapped vertical for 15, 17, and 20 meters, I added 60 meter legs to my linked dipole, and Adam built an aftermarket battery bank for the Yaesu FT-3DR and some tiny QRP bandpass filters.Join us as we explore how you can get involved in portable radio, QRP, and more in this episode of the All Portable Discussion Zone (AP/DZ). Every aspect of portable operations is covered in this biweekly podcast, from news and gear to achievements, the workbench, contests, awards, and beyond.**SolderSmoke DISCORD INVITE**: https://discord.gg/GYVRZSBVFCTobias's Blog: https://kk7bco.com/K6ARK website: https://k6ark.com/Connect with us:* Discord: https://discord.gg/WVE3vVveWU* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/redsummitrf* TikTok: @redsummitrf* X (formerly Twitter): @NJ7V_Support the channel:* Buy us a Coke: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/RedSummitRF* Red Summit RF Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/redsummitrf#apdz #HamRadio #QRP #Workbench #Electronics #homebrewradio #DIYradio #amateurradio #hamradiopodcast #scratchbuild #antennatuner #ATU #Tmatch #Zmatch #GQRP #linkeddipole #portableops #K6ARK

In this roundtable episode, Dan KC7MSU, Brian W7JET, and I debrief on Field Day, touch on the 13 Colonies special event, and I share highlights from a three day SOTA excursion with my wife W7NRS just before Field Day.Superstition Amateur Radio Club: https://superstitionarc.org/Morsle CW Practice: https://morsle.fun/Join us as we explore how you can get involved in portable radio, QRP, and more in this episode of the All Portable Discussion Zone (AP/DZ). Every aspect of portable operations is covered in this biweekly podcast, from news and gear to achievements, the workbench, contests, awards, and beyond.**SolderSmoke DISCORD INVITE**: https://discord.gg/GYVRZSBVFCConnect with us:* Discord: https://discord.gg/WVE3vVveWU* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/redsummitrf* TikTok: @redsummitrf* X (formerly Twitter): @NJ7V_Support the channel:* Buy us a Coke: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/RedSummitRF* Red Summit RF Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/redsummitrf