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The FT-817 is a great little radio. It has been around for 15 years and was the first QRP radio, that I'm aware of, that was designed for backpacking and covered 160m through 70cm. It is housed in a rugged package that is efficient, and is relatively easy to pack. The radio sells for ~ $660 and is a great value for the money. It has been the undisputed leader of it's class until the entry of the Elecraft KX3 came to market. The KX3 is a fine radio that clearly has more bells and whistles than the FT-817 although it is doesn't cover 2m and 70cm in its base model.

I have both radios but favor the FT-817 for SOTA expeditions when I choose to carry an all band radio. (I usually carry CW only radio that is much lighter, but carry the FT-817 on some trips). Clearly the out of the box filtering is better on the KX3, but so is the price. You can buy two 817's for the price of a KX3. However that said, I set out to modify my 817 to see if I could close the gap between the two. So I added the W4RT On Board Filter ($284) with both SSB and CW (300Hz) filters. I also added the BHI DSP filter ($169). These prices include installation by W4RT, if you do it yourself you can save a few bucks. These modifications, in my opinion help to close the gaps between the two radios considerably.

Below are some very basic, unscientific, comparisons of the two radios on SSB and CW.

CW Comparison



SSB Comparison




As you heard in the videos the differences boil down to a matter of taste. I think the 817, with the 300Hz filter comes very close if not better than the KX3 on CW, on SSB the KX3 has the advantage but the DSP does clean up the noise and the SSB filter does sharpen the 817 audio considerably. I favor 817 for outdoor work and the KX3 for the in-shack QRP radio.

In future blogs I will discuss a couple cool additions to the 817.


Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

During the Colorado 14er Event, Amateur Radio operators will be climbing many of Colorado’s 14,000-foot mountains and SOTA summits to set up amateur radio stations to communicate with other radio amateurs across the state and around the world. Join in on the fun on Sunday August 3 and see how many of the mountaintop stations you can contact.

The new Colorado 14er Event logo is now available on t-shirts and more.

Starting in 2012, Summits on The Air (SOTA) is part of this event. This means there are over 1700 summits that you can activate in Colorado, with a wide variety of hiking difficulty. This opens up the event to a lot more people and a lot more summits. See the new SOTA page.

Radio operators with 14er climbing experience who plan to activate a summit should log their name and intended peak at the Ham14er Yahoo group. This is also the email list for discussing the event and asking questions.

Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

The West Virginia Chapter of the NAQCC club had a delightful day at the Huntington Museum of Radio and Technology. Joining me above is (N8ZYA) on left and Joe (WA8SIE) from Charleston. In the bottom pictures are Bill (KB8QLG) from Sissonsville, WV and Steven (KC4URI) from Mineral Wells, WV

 This was the first time I’ve put a nine element Mosley beam behind a five watt QRP radio. The  results were both puzzling and amazing. I rotated the beam 360 degrees several times on 40 meters but only made a few contacts with KD3CA and WB3GMC in Pennsylvania and N4EDE in North Carolina. I heard very little on this band and soon came to the realization that I was shooting right over the heads of anything remotely thought of as “routine” contacts. By days end, I was able to work only six more United States stations WB0PYF, WD4EXI, K5BOT, KA2KGP, K4CQF,  in Missouri, Georgia, Texas, South Carolina, and New York.

This nine element beam was a totally different animal to me with it’s directional characteristics but specific selectivity and sensitivity. I’ve mixed feelings about it’s effectiveness for multiple short distance QRP contacts. I was forced to spent most of the day on the 15 and 20 meter bands with the hopes of working more stations. Upon the change to those bands:

I immediately worked VE3EDX in Thunder Bay Canada, and soon afterwards, I worked an unfamiliar “RL” call, which I knew was a Russian station, but an unknown new “prefix”. I’ve worked Russia many times (20) but this was the first “RL” call I’ve heard and there’s a good reason for it.

I worked Italy twice during the next hour. The first station (I3UKY) was what I would call “normal DX” but the second Italian station was a real prize, not because it was the second contact in Italy, but because this station (I5NOC) was operating QRP at 5 Watts of power! Here’s a confirmation e-mail from him:

Hello John,I confirm our qso on 15 meters 8-02 at 16,25 cw.My station is qrp by Elecraft KX3 only 5 wats and antenna 3 elements Hygain.Hope receive ur qsl via k3wwp,my qsl sure via bureau.Tks again for the qso and hope call you again.Best 73 and greetings from Italy.…………..ciao  I5NOC  Giampiero

The QRP station in Italy ((I5NOC) is the most distant 2 x QRP contact I’ve ever made at any time. The distance was 4,570 miles. 

We found this station from Poland (SP6JOE) to be an interesting catch. I asked for the name and he responded with, what else?,  “Joe”.

I’m somewhat disappointed in the number of club stations we worked while at this event but think it had more to do with poor 40 meter band conditions and a “beast” of an antenna in the hands of a new operator. Those two combinations demanded operation on the longer range bands.

I can’t say enough about the Museum of Radio and Technology. We plan to operate there again during these cold winter months. They were the perfect hosts for us and we rejoiced in the fellowship of the operating staff which were there during the special event.

There were times when the radio room was actually crowded with those interested in the QRP event. The Tri State Amateur Radio Association held VE testing that morning and added three new ham to the HF portions of the hobby. There were also hams from other states wandering around the museum.

The Museum of Radio and Technology also has dipole antennas. On our next trip, I’ll use them to make more club QRP contacts. The beam had good and bad points. It brought us some great DX contacts but when right overhead of most local stations.

John Smithson, Jr., N8ZYA, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from West Virginia, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

It was the weekend of the Dutch PACC Contest. Me being Dutch I always look out for QSOs with the home land. And since the propagation gods were in an excellent mood the prospects for many QSOs with PA stations were also good.

Unfortunately the contest only starts at 1200 UTC on Saturday and just 20 meters was open at that time. I worked two stations in CW and called it a day. On Sunday it wasn’t much better: hardly any signals on 15 meters and then only weak SSB. I heard my old club station PA6A, but they couldn’t hear me. Bummer. But EA8AM from the Canary Islands was coming in 57 a bit higher on the band and I had a chat with him instead. Nice, another new DXCC entry in the log. I did work three PA stations around 0900 UTC then decided to cook dinner instead of spending time behind the radio.

But after dinner I couldn’t resist and tuned the bands again. And whadda you know! At 1130 UTC 15 meters was wide open to Europe and I could work six Dutch stations in CW in a row, before the contest closed at 1200. In total only 11 stations worked, so I won’t get first prize, but satisfying non-the-less.

But the icing on the cake came when I was updating my logbook. I gave my tuning knob a twirl and landed on 14006 kHz where RI1ANT was calling CQ. No problem working him and the third Antarctic QSO in the log. Can it get any better?

Hans "Fong" van den Boogert, BX2ABT, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Taiwan. Contact him at [email protected].

And that seems to be my story regarding FT5ZM, and I’m sticking to it. Last night, I heard them well and couldn’t work them. Tonight, I’ve gone back to not being able to hear them. According to the DXCluster, they are active on 14.023 MHz. They might as well be on the other side of Jupiter, for all that I can hear. I’m not hearing any activity on 30 Meters, either.

Ironically, tomorrow is their last full day of activity before going QRT. And tomorrow is the day my KXPA100 kit is due to arrive from Elecraft. What a coincidence, eh?

I am fairly confident that if I had 100 Watts last night, I would have been able to break through the pileup. There’s no way that I can be 100% certain of that, but you can’t be in this hobby for 35 years without building up an innate sense of these things.

No use crying over spilled milk. Keep your ears open on the bands every day this coming week, QRPers. Next weekend is the big ARRL DX Contest, CW portion. I am already hearing some familiar calls in some familiar places as folks set up and gear up for the big event. Working these stations as they get ready, and then working the contest itself is a great way to earn yourself a QRP DXCC Certificate.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Addendum: I went back to the basement to find that FT5ZM came up nicely on 20 Meters. I heard them work my buddy, Bob W3BBO, and fellow blogger and QRPer, Chris KQ2RP. Still no joy for W2LJ, though. I guess tomorrow night will be my last shot, if they’re even on the air at that point.

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

A photograph taken from my living. The sunset looks so beautiful. I closed down my blog, but as most of you know, not for long. But I need to know what other hams are doing on the air, and the blogroll in Blogger is very handy. I was busy with taken photographs of a horse show. Almost 900. This weekend the PACC contest, but I had no time for it. And conditions seems to be poor today.

But 20 meter in the late afternoon was not bad at all.

Paul Stam, PC4T, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from the Netherlands. Contact him at [email protected].

There has been a big change here since our move with regards to ham radio.   Antenna challenges, finding a spot for the radio, having the setup "eye friendly" to non hams who visit.  The antenna challenge seems to be solved with the MFJ 1788 loop antenna. There are still some hick ups with it, for example not being able to tune 20m below a 9.1 to 1 SWR. I have spoken with MFJ and they have given me some great ideas to try with the loop. (more on that as I venture into the loop's insides) The setup was solved with a great roll top desk all is hidden away and protected with a very fashionable piece of furniture. Now it's time to look at expanding my radio operations beyond CW but still very much not forgetting about CW it will still be a large part of my operating. CW is perfect for low power and simple antenna operating. BUT also with my new antenna it has a narrow bandwidth and needs to be returned as you move up or down the band. With practice the loop can be retuned very fast. I was wanting now to add a mode that would favour the loops narrow band width. The digital world came to mind.
The last time I was in digi land PSK31 was the ground breaking mode and I have come to understand by many of the blogs I read there are some new modes in town!! PSK is still around but it too has changed. There is also now SIM31 and 63,  JT65, Olivia and the list goes on, I have been out of digital for some time now and am not sure what all is out there. What I am looking for is something that uses a narrow bandwidth, (most digi modes do) only requiring low power, would be great to have a "conversation mode" and not signal reports and goodbye and not a mode that takes forever for exchanges as I have heard about some digi modes. Having said all that one thing I can remember about the digi modes is they can be lot of "fun" to setup with your rig and PC! BUT that is all part of the fun I guess. So you digi fans out there help me out with some suggestions as to an HF low power narrow bandwidth digi mode I can scramble my brains with. Oh and if it helps the bands I have available are 10-40m and the rigs I have are the Elecraft K3  and KX3.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].