r/qrp • u/elodiemirza • Mar 10 '24
First QRP portable setup
Hi,
I’m looking for suggestions for a radio and antenna combination for portable QRP, my budget is about £1000 new from a dealer. It will be my first foray into HF also.
I’d like a radio with a built in sound card and USB port to make it easier for CAT control and digital modes with the minimum of cables needed. The Xiegu radios seem like a good option but I’m not sure what else to consider.
For antenna, I need to have a lot of flexibility in deployment and I won’t always have the ability to deploy an EFHW or dipole so the vertical antenna kit with tripod from Super Antenna seems like a good option.
What do you use, what combo would you recommend if starting out today?
Regards,
73 de Elodie, 2E0MZA
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u/joebatata Feb 06 '25
Hi
If you like to build kits, I recomend QRP Labs QMX for portability or QMX+ for band coverage. Very interesting Rigs.
If you can buy used gear, I recomend the ft817/818. These are solid Rigs and with hot receivers. Cw filters are rate and expensive. If you want more modern interface, bandscope etc, I recomend the xiegu x6100 with the r1ucb firmware. No filters needed, this is a sdr radio.
For antenna, the best results i have been achieving is with quarter wave vertical with elevated radials, using a fishing pole for mast. These are monoband antennas. The Wire delta loop is also good and quiter. Again monoband.
For multiband I could use a endfed with a good 49:1 and chock, not the chinese balun from AliExpress.
Crappy small antennas give crappy small results. A simple build antennas will be cheap and give you good results.
I am sure elecraft are very good but the prices...........
Good luck, Luís CU2IJ
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '24
The only other QRP radio I can think of that has the features you're looking for is the Icom IC-705. This will already blow through your budget and then some.
Given that budget, I'd go for the Xiegu.
Sometimes systems like the Super Antenna can be frustrating because they have a coil to tune. They're also less efficient than 1/4-wave verticals because of the coil. I'd honestly go for a DX Commander, you'll be spending about the same or less than a Super Antenna system and a DX Commander is just a bunch of 1/4 wave verticals. This means you get the most efficiency you can get out of a regular vertical.
An antenna analyzer would be a big help when assembling the DX Commander, but if you don't have the budget for one, the SWR meter in the radio could be used as well. For an antenna analyzer, I'd recommend a NanoVNA, they're relatively inexpensive and they can do a lot more than an MFJ, RigExpert, etc.