Ben Cartwright SASS
NES Member
My first HF radio was a used Kenwood TS-140S as I wasn't sure if I was going to like HF operation, I fell in love! I went out and bought a Kenwood TS-590SG and use it barefoot, 100 watts with my Hustler 5BTV antenna.
I am going to try POTA activating and again not sure if I am going to like it, I do like hunting and have over 400 unique parks so far. Rather than get a small HF radio to go to the parks I figured I would start with my TS-140 and a battery and a 20m ham stick. I was thinking of running QRP with POTA so decided to set up the 140 next to my 590 in the shack. The 140 has sliders for the various controls so it is a bit hard to tell your output, I used a meter to try to get at 10 watts and have been making POTA contacts around the country. Most as expected were given 44's or 45's but some were surprisingly strong, had a 56 to WI, Wisconsin (of course from my shack here near Gillette stadium there seems to be a pipeline to WI and MN.
I did do some QRP stuff with the 590 as the RX audio on that is really sweet while the 140 has a very scratchy RX even with the same antenna.
I am going to try POTA activating and again not sure if I am going to like it, I do like hunting and have over 400 unique parks so far. Rather than get a small HF radio to go to the parks I figured I would start with my TS-140 and a battery and a 20m ham stick. I was thinking of running QRP with POTA so decided to set up the 140 next to my 590 in the shack. The 140 has sliders for the various controls so it is a bit hard to tell your output, I used a meter to try to get at 10 watts and have been making POTA contacts around the country. Most as expected were given 44's or 45's but some were surprisingly strong, had a 56 to WI, Wisconsin (of course from my shack here near Gillette stadium there seems to be a pipeline to WI and MN.
I did do some QRP stuff with the 590 as the RX audio on that is really sweet while the 140 has a very scratchy RX even with the same antenna.