QT80

Remote testing Antennas

BenLeave a comment

I’ve always wanted to take the radio with me while on holidays and I always do. However I’ve always been limited to 2m and 70cm including local repeaters and digital work.

Our family enjoy holidays all over Australia into some of the most remote places without water, power or any mobile signal. Sometimes this can last week’s at a time.

If your keen to learn more about our travels around Australia and learn more, please let me know.

Most of these remote locations means limited activity on 2m or 70cm as there are no repeaters for days!

Because of this remoteness, there are several outback radio networks we can join or listen to. They make quite interesting listening.

However, when on holidays, we amateurs don’t want to just listen, we want to be part of the action! And HF is the next best thing.

I’m currently on holiday in the Victorian high country, also known as “The Man from Snowy River” country. It is rugged, beautiful and high. So up here I can actually can receive several 2m and 70cm repeaters, but this is a good test for HF work.

High up on Mount Buffalo

With me, I brought a battery pack, that has a 12 volt lithium battery which we run our camping fridge off.  I now run my HF gear off it!

I also brought my new QT-80 radio, which is small in size yet puts out 80 watts.  I have placed a video below on this radio if you are not familiar with it.

I used a magnet mount antenna base as the car I was using is not mine. This mount sticks to the car like glue, but also comes off on demand so you can adjust the antenna as required.

I brought two antennas to test.  The first one was the HF-008 antenna that covers more bands than the QT80.  I have a video on both these below for you if you are not familiar with it.

I also brought the new CBL-561 HF antenna so I could compare the two antennas. This antenna can be used while mobile unlike the HF-008 antenna. I have another video for you to show you that antenna below:

Before leaving home, I went to the hardware store and bought two lengths of pipe with caps that could safely store each antenna. I could then almost throw them in the boot of the car and not be worried about them being damaged or caught on something as I pulled them out of the boot.

Hot Tip

The funny thing was, while on holidays, I forgot to bring a measuring tape to adjust the antenna. Fortunately one of my children had a ruler with them so I was able to mark measurements down the side of the tube with a sharpie.

I also wrote down next to the measurements the lengths Radioddity recommended and then as I tuned in the antenna myself with the lowest SWR, I marked the pipe to my best measurements which were very close to the same as Radioddity.

This Tip I am sure will be very useful going forward when I’m out in the Australian outback or somewhere that I have no ruler!

Results

Both antennas fitted the same magnetic base which made this setup work well.

On testing both antennas using the same frequency to the same long distance contact, I and they couldn’t tell the difference between us. I found both antennas easy to tune in and get the SWA right down before making any contacts.

I then tried again from the top of Mount Buffalo, one of our highest mountains and got the same results where both myself and the contacts I spoke to didn’t know I had even changed the antenna.

There are differences between the antennas though which may help you decide which antenna is right for you.

Compare Antennas

HF-008

This antenna covers a lot of HF bands, as covered in the video above. However it cannot be used while mobile, mainly due to the jumper cable. It is a great antenna and can be used with a radio that puts out a lot more watts than the small QT-80 radio I used.

CBL-561

The CBL-561R antenna does not cover as many HF bands as the HF-008 does, but if you are using the bands it does cover, then this antenna might be good for you. One big advantage to this antenna is that it can be used while mobile, not just stationary.

Both antennas will need adjusting if you switch bands or switch from one end of the band to another. So setting the antenna to a permanent mount on the car on the top of the roof where it ends up out of reach, then you may want to rethink this. I found the magnet mount ideal, as you can still have it on the highest point of the car and access it easily.

Another option I also use is a bull bar mount that I use on my 4×4.

I’d encourage you to watch my video below as it explains what I discovered.

Remember the old saying Hight is Might and going portable gives you an opportunity to test this theory.

Hope you enjoyed this read. Below are some other interesting articles I have also written that you may enjoy.

Radioddity QT80

BenLeave a comment

The new QT80 radio by Radioddity is a fantastic radio and I have a lot of contacts on it already.

QT60 Vs QT80

This is a QT80 model but there is also the QT60 model so what’s the difference?

  1. QT80 has a higher power of 80W, while QT60 only has 60W
  2. QT80 does not have NOAA (alarm) feature, while the QT60 has
  3. In addition to unlocking 25-30 MHz, QT80 can also support 15 meters (21MHz) after unlocking, while QT60 cannot

One thing I did notice was the antenna plug on the back. It is a little bit tricky to put the plug on the back of the radio because of the big heat sink as you can only get to about 2/3 to turn it you can’t get your finger right around unfortunately.  But that is not a deal breaker for me once it’s on it’s on and I don’t usually swap them around too much.  You can purchase an adaptor if you want to.

Changing Modes

To change from Channel mode as you can see in Channel mode to VFO mode just hold and press the band button.

You can change the colour of the screen and there’s several colours to chose from.  Some are a bit harder to see than others.  While this is a bit gimmicky, it would be good mobile to turn down the screen or have it match your car interior.

Each button around the screen has at least three things that it can do depending upon which mode you are in. You can press each button, or press Function first, or long press it.

The radio also has a scan function here so you can press scan and you’ll see that this SC starts flashing and it’s scanning up the band if we want to go in the opposite direction just turn the VFO knob and it should go in the opposite direction. If you are in channel mode it will do the same there. If you hold the scan on the channel it’ll remove it from the scan list.

Turning the Beeping off

To turn the beeping off just press the function button here hold it in and menu item number one then press the VFO knob and it’s on one and turn up louder or off and then press function again to store that. Now if you selected off, it doesn’t beep.

You can make the radio show it’s SWR while transmitting, and preset what the maximum SWR you will allow the radio to transmit on.

The microphone has an up and down button, plus a predefined button on it that you can change as to what it will do.   

The VFO knob is a clicking knob which is a bit CBish which is a shame, but just something to get used to.

Repeaters

Press the function key and then split and you can adjust to minus then you can set the offset.  Then when you transmit, you will have a minus offset. You can do this on any more which is funny.

Unlocking the radio

Place the radio upside down with the speaker facing up and undo the top four screws on both sides of the radio.

Take the cover of the radio off, the one with the speaker on it.

Right at the front of the radio here there’s a little pin there and if we have a look closely you can see that it is currently connecting one and two we want to pull this out and change it to connect two and three

Put the cover back together

Hold the band button down the memory button down and then turn it on.

Then we have got two choices here as you can see it says ham.band or if I turn the knob we got HF.band so you got to choose which one you want. HF band is all the frequencies between 21 and 29 MHz or select ham.band which is just 10 metres.

Everything I have said above is in the video below which shows you step by step instructions.

The radio is not too big it fits easily in the car so it is great for mobile work or camping.  I intend on using it on our next trip across Australia, rather than take my big HF radios that take up a lot of room.

If you want to see how I went connecting it up to the PC, then there is a video for that also:

If you are planning on purchasing this radio this link will give you a discount: https://radioddity.refr.cc/bensangster  then search for QT80.

If you enjoyed this read, then you may enjoy some of these other reads:

  • Dipole Antenna for Portable Use – Make your own!
    A dipole antenna is a basic radio antenna made of two conductive elements fed at the center. It is typically a half-wavelength long and is widely used as a…

    Continue reading →

  • Interference
    Interference in Amateur Radio refers to unwanted signals that disrupt radio communication. This interference can reduce signal clarity, make contacts difficult, or completely block communication between amateur radio operators.…

    Continue reading →

  • 6m and TV Channel 0
    Prior to 1989, it was illegal to operate between 50 MHz and 52 MHz in Australia. It was a real pain as that was where all the action was…

    Continue reading →

  • Dipole Antennas Vs Long Wire Antennas
    I’ve heard a lot about dipole antennas, and I’ve heard a lot about long wire antennas also. I would say I’ve seen more dipoles than long wire antennas. So…

    Continue reading →

  • The 6-Meter Amateur Radio Band
    What Is the 6m Band? The 6-meter band, spanning roughly 50–54 MHz, is a section of the VHF spectrum assigned to amateur radio operators. Its wavelength is six meters,…

    Continue reading →

  • Anytone AT-778UV
    Overview The Anytone AT-778UV is a dual-band VHF/UHF mobile transceiver designed for amateur radio operators. It operates on the 136–174 MHz (VHF) and 400–490 MHz (UHF) bands, offering reliable…

    Continue reading →

  • 160 Meters Band
    160 meters band is known as the “Gentlemen’s band”. It is right next to the AM commercial band, known as medium wave. The 160-meter band is the radio frequencies…

    Continue reading →

  • Olivia Digital Mode MFSK
    Yes, this popular girl name is actually an Amateur Radio term. Christian, DK8EW, put me onto Olivia after we chatted on VARA HF. I had heard about Olivia before,…

    Continue reading →

  • Yaesu FT-620
    The Yaesu FT-620 (and its updated version, the FT-620B) is a vintage amateur radio transceiver designed specifically for the 6-meter band (50–54 MHz). Produced in the 1970s, it offers support for AM, CW, and SSB…

    Continue reading →

  • FreeDV
    I came across something different, FreeDV. The name FreeDV insinuates it is free, but is it? What is it? And what does it do? They say it will be…

    Continue reading →