The New Addition

It is quiet in my shack. I had hoped to do some antenna repairs Sunday, but more high winds made that impossible. The wind storm continued into Monday and we’ve had off-and-on snow the last three days. Now kids are rolling in for their spring breaks and another relative will be staying with us briefly. My radio activities will be likely shut down for another week or so.

That’s a shame because there is a new rig in the shack. After much deliberation and comparison shopping, I purchased an Icom IC-705 to be used for portable activities once spring fully arrives.

The day it arrived I charged the internal battery, connected to my (then still in the air) home antenna, and immediately got a 58 report from an operator in Utah. Not bad for 5 watts on a day with mediocre conditions. By the time I had a cord to connect to an external power and run 10 watts, my antenna was on the ground. Something to look forward to.

As noted, my reason for adding a radio was for portable use. I certainly could have just taken my IC-7300 out into the field. Plenty of people do, and the 100 watts plus internal tuner is a great combo for running a POTA activation. While the 7300 is no classic boat anchor, neither is it the first rig that pops in my head when I think about going into the field. When building a portable setup, I wanted a small, light kit that could, ideally, be thrown into a backup or similar sized case, complete with all accessories.

I spent a week or so deep in the research rabbit hole, perusing dozens of website reviews and YouTube videos. I considered all the Xiegu radios. The x6100 and x6200 border on being IC-705 clones. I love their look and size. However, the x6100 is basically abandonware at this point, and the x6200 seems incomplete and gets wildly varying reviews.

The Xiegu G-90 is one of the most popular POTA rigs. At 20 watts it’s more powerful than its brothers and the IC-705. It has that amazing Xiegu internal tuner. Its fatal flaw is its size, specifically its minuscule screen.

If you are researching POTA radios, you have to look at the Yaesu FT-891. Small, tough, and still puts out 100 watts. It is a perfectly capable rig despite being based on older technology. I’m not sure if a spectrum display is necessary - I grew up tuning the shortwave bands blindly - but a friend who owns one noted he really misses the waterfall when he uses his. The 891’s biggest failing is the lack of an internal tuner.

I spent a morning researching the Lab599 TX-500, a fascinating radio unlike any other on the market. Again, it has a wide range of reviews, some ops seeing great results, others having issues that nearly bricked their radios. Adding any accessories means doubling or tripling your initial outlay. It mostly uses non-traditional connections. And although made in the UAE now, it is a piece of Russian technology. Putin may not get a penny but I don’t want to chance it.

All along the IC-705 was in the background, tempting me. Arguably the most complete radio in its class, it is also, by far, the most expensive. If I was adding a second radio I wasn’t sure I could justify paying more than my first, QRO one. If I expanded the budget, that opened the door for sliding my existing 7300 to field use and replacing it with the new Mark II. My desire for a svelte setup nixed that path.

Two weeks ago I decided to go the cheap route and ordered the G-90. It hit the sweet spot of size, price, and power. It also seemed much less finicky than the x6100/x6200.

It arrived, I unpacked it, powered up, and knew immediately this was not the radio for me. The screen was indeed tiny. So small that my old man eyes struggled to focus on details properly. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to test it at night, after a day of screen fatigue had set it. I gave it another shot the next morning and still struggled to read anything. Worse, every band seemed to be overloaded with a signal from a local broadcaster, something I have never experienced on my IC-7300.

The G-90 went back to Radioddity and an IC-705 was ordered from DX Engineering. Based on that brief time on air, it seems to have everything I was looking for. My planned POTA antenna is resonant, so the lack of an internal tuner isn’t a huge deal. There are a couple small external tuners available if I ever need one. Same with amplifiers if I feel that 40-50 watts are required to get a signal out. That cuts into my idea of a compact, simple setup and expands my cash outlay even more, but gives me options as solar activity fades.

I guess I’m an Icom fan boy now.

Now to get through the next ten days of visitors and start playing with both radios, old and new.

Man Down 3/13/26 When you put up an antenna it is inevitable that there will be problems.

Today, in the midst of hours of 60 MPH gusts, mine came crashing down.

That’s a slight exaggeration. It is just a wire antenna, not a tower. The wire itself is fine. The paracord that ran into the tree the far end was anchored to failed. No wonder no one was calling me back on either phone or digital this afternoon.

With more bad weather ahead I’m going to wind the wire up and set it aside for the time being. The last piece for my POTA antenna will arrive Monday. I will build it and put it out in the yard. Might as well test it at home before I attempt to deploy it in the field.

So no operating for a few days. Which means no final shot at Bouvet. I heard them deep down in the noise one day, not close to loud enough to dive into the pile and make a call. I decoded them on FT8 twice, briefly, but they just as quickly disappeared. On to the next…