I own a KX3, with ATU, over the years I have come to the same conclusions about portable antennas as you. My selection of EFHW are very easy to deploy on my 10 meter pole. Members of the public find a way of tripping over or walk into radials and supports. I think the IC 705 debate will abate as the hype around it together with its price point set an expectation. Looks to be a truly super piece of kit that has set a new standard and you get a lot for the money. Thanks for the stimulating chat and coffee. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
You simply cannot beat a resonant antenna, especially when portable when you want the max amount of signal being radiated. You probably will not find a tuner in a rucksack of an avid SOTA activator. Just this weekend during CQWW i used a 49/1 transformer and 66ft of wire at a peak height of 20ft like an inverted V with no tuner and worked over 200 stations on 40, 20, 15 and 10 and that was whilst doing some decorating in the house to keep the brownie points up !
I've shown that using an internal ATU actually lowers your signal strength- as long as the SWR isn't causing your rig to reduce power. If interested, search for 'Tuners Suck (power) and Lessen your Signal Strength'
Great video as always. Looks a fabulous radio and an internal ATU would have been good although an external one or resonant antenna is always an option. If the radio had 4m it would have been pretty much perfect!
What an interesting discourse, thanks! But ... still , “the answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind” :). And there is no one answer, obviously. I personally like the ATU in-built when I operate QRP from the hotel room and there is no room for anything resonant or even long enough except of a some random piece of wire 5-9m long (plus a 9:1 transformer for example). Then the ATU is a matter of “QSO or not QSO”. I’ve been operating from literally tens of hotels around Europe and I was always having kind of tuner with me, be it just the simplest home made L-type (very efective BTW!) or an in-built ATU in my KX2, or an Elecraft T1 in combination with my trusty FT-817. The T1 is just fantastic and a real life-saver! And it’s not 20W, it , almost officialy , is 50W easily! The company itself has aknowledged this in one of the groups. I have it now mounted on top of my 45W MiniPa and it works fantastically ( you should NOT though make actual tuning at 50W! I do tune at 5 and then go for 45W. And I take no responsibility if you get something wrong while doing all this :)). The resonant full-size antennas surely is the best choice if you can. I have been doing hundreds of QSO’s on my FT-817 and resonant dipoles with no tuner during the European field days with great fun. So, I personally, having the T1 and many home made tuners, would choose to buy IC-705 without the ATU and pay less. 73! Linas LY2H (ex ON4BHP).
Good sensible discussion as always Peter.. If tuner had been fitted it would have made the current form factor impractical and bigger. For many, as you mentioned, amu is unnecessary , for those who want it, then adding an external one which copes with your mismatch requirements seems a good idea.. Really like the mention of efficient mag loop...( yes indeed, many calculations were from a flawed algorithm, they are indeed efficient as the high Q promises.. )... IMHO of course. I personally use an EFHW, home brewed from old Sprat design, or the Alex loop, neither of which requirer an AMU.
"it would have made the current form factor impractical and bigger" well, that's a question. Having ATU built in mcHF original housing (significantly smaller than 705) with the same or even greater power output, maybe it can be done.
A few people have commented on my posts about the lack of an internal tuner. It was never a consideration for me, Ive been using a Superantenna MP1C with a longer whip (buddipole mini shock cord whip) with great success with my 7300 and 991a portable. It also works really well with my 705 and fits in the Icom backpack along with the 705 and a LiFePo4 battery. I did buy the mAT705 tuner ‘just in case’ but haven’t used it yet.
Thanks for this and your other videos. I agree a resonant antenna is preferable and use an EFHW. I do take issue with your comment about Chinese atu. I have an Xiegu x5105 and their g90. Both include a very wide range atu. I prefer not to need them but there times when I really appreciate them. I'm puzzled why the "mainstream" manufacturers don't include them - along with xiegu's excellent swr trace function.
ALL IC 703, 703+, 706MKIIG AND IC7000 ARE A L L HIGHEND ENGINEERED AMATEURRADIO RXTX AS WELL AS IC705 & 7100! YAESU ALL FT817, 857 897 ARE ALSO HIGHEND ENGINEERED AMATEURRADIO STATIONS. I USE LDG 200PRO AND LDG Z817 AS WELL.AS ATU FROM MFJ 969 & MFJ 962.
I really wish Icom would make updated versions of their bookshelf portable range from the late 70s, the ic202, ic215, ic402 & ic502. Iconic radios. There was nothing else similar then or since.
I’m going to mount a 3/4” PVC pipe on the side of the Icom backpack, stick my Alexloop in it , reach up and tune it for maximum noise and operate my 705 walking around. 10-40 easy. I have two 705’s at my brothers in Texas and am waiting for them to be legal in Thailand. Hopefully next month. W5MMT / HS0ZAC
It seems to me, the antenna "matcher" really belongs separate, and at the antenna, not inside the radio at the end of a long run of coax... Its in the radio for convenience not optimum operation, especially at qrp where power lost in the multiple excursions back and forth inside the coax would not be desired, the T1 is ideal, especially for the 40M FT8 crowd touching up the match with an EFHW, set it and forget it.. You guys have great, informative videos... I still get a kick out of "jubilee" clamps... (:-)....
The elecraft T1 tuner is a better choice than the mAT tuner. Just the battery replacement issue with the mAT-705 and the elecraft is like night and day, and the elecraft T-1 is probably similar to the tuner in the kx3, a proven winner. Now I have 3d printed a case for my T1 so no buttons get pushed while stored in my backpack!
@@gt3940 There is an upgraded version of the mat-705 coming with all the issues removed. Rechargeable battery (USB-C), no mechanical switch. Though it is much bigger(longer) than the T1.
You mentioned had they put an antenna tuner in the 705 it wouldn't have been all that good. Some of the internal tuners on desktop models might be able to tune 3:1 or so where external tuners can tuna fish. Imagine the outrage if Icom had put an internal tuner in it and it didn't tune that barbed wire fence? We live in a world of damned if you do and damned if you don't. We all know Icom didn't put a tuner in it so they can sell more optional accessories. ;)
Unfortunately I bought the mat705 tuner, I've put it back into it's box and put it to one side and gone back to my ldg z817, I also have home made portable resonant antennas that give excellent performance, looking forward to seeing some decent portable battery packs using 18650 cells at an affordable price one day
i use power kaddy battery's not cheep 12v 18 amp Lifep04 will run a ic705 all day fully charged they give 13.5 volts you can find them on ebay they come with charger battery web address www.ultramax.co.uk
for my ic705 on 20m up i don't use a atu but on my long wire low band antennas i use a home made L,C tuner that works very well and simple to make and low cost Look up VK3YE he has lots of good qrp tuner plans that work
The IC705, great radio yet well overpriced for what it is and well underpowered for our current propagation situation, and this are agiven even before we talked about antenna tuner.
It is QRP radio, so definitively it is not "underpowered". And it is (almost) all bands all modes. It's quite hard to find anything like that anywhere else (with the exception of FT-991/991A or even older Yaesu rigs). Frankly, I am quite disappointed Icom doesn't make all bands all modes 100 W rig. Still I can use IC-705 with power amplifier and it is even less power consuming like having built-in 100 W PA.
I own a KX3, with ATU, over the years I have come to the same conclusions about portable antennas as you. My selection of EFHW are very easy to deploy on my 10 meter pole. Members of the public find a way of tripping over or walk into radials and supports. I think the IC 705 debate will abate as the hype around it together with its price point set an expectation. Looks to be a truly super piece of kit that has set a new standard and you get a lot for the money. Thanks for the stimulating chat and coffee. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Great to get your interesting comments Mike. 73 Peter.
You simply cannot beat a resonant antenna, especially when portable when you want the max amount of signal being radiated. You probably will not find a tuner in a rucksack of an avid SOTA activator. Just this weekend during CQWW i used a 49/1 transformer and 66ft of wire at a peak height of 20ft like an inverted V with no tuner and worked over 200 stations on 40, 20, 15 and 10 and that was whilst doing some decorating in the house to keep the brownie points up !
Hi Syd. Yes agreed and great to hear 15m open so well and so early in the new sunspot cycle. Peter.
I've shown that using an internal ATU actually lowers your signal strength- as long as the SWR isn't causing your rig to reduce power. If interested, search for 'Tuners Suck (power) and Lessen your Signal Strength'
As usual, very valuable information.....
Thanks again!
Getting a 705? Buy a loop antenna it has its own tuner. Also its a great opportunity to learn how to use a manual tuner.
Thanx for the video about atu's. Very informative!
Glad it was helpful! Peter
Great video as always. Looks a fabulous radio and an internal ATU would have been good although an external one or resonant antenna is always an option. If the radio had 4m it would have been pretty much perfect!
Thanks for the comments David. 73 Peter.
Good Monday evening to you sir from wellington Somerset
MorningHi David
new hams should listen peter. tune the antenna to the band for maximum performance . the amu only tunes the patch lead so the transceiver sees 50ohms.
What an interesting discourse, thanks! But ... still , “the answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind” :). And there is no one answer, obviously. I personally like the ATU in-built when I operate QRP from the hotel room and there is no room for anything resonant or even long enough except of a some random piece of wire 5-9m long (plus a 9:1 transformer for example). Then the ATU is a matter of “QSO or not QSO”. I’ve been operating from literally tens of hotels around Europe and I was always having kind of tuner with me, be it just the simplest home made L-type (very efective BTW!) or an in-built ATU in my KX2, or an Elecraft T1 in combination with my trusty FT-817. The T1 is just fantastic and a real life-saver! And it’s not 20W, it , almost officialy , is 50W easily! The company itself has aknowledged this in one of the groups. I have it now mounted on top of my 45W MiniPa and it works fantastically ( you should NOT though make actual tuning at 50W! I do tune at 5 and then go for 45W. And I take no responsibility if you get something wrong while doing all this :)). The resonant full-size antennas surely is the best choice if you can. I have been doing hundreds of QSO’s on my FT-817 and resonant dipoles with no tuner during the European field days with great fun. So, I personally, having the T1 and many home made tuners, would choose to buy IC-705 without the ATU and pay less. 73! Linas LY2H (ex ON4BHP).
Great to hear from you but please readers - don try running 50W into the T1A - you will damage it ultimately. Peter
Good sensible discussion as always Peter..
If tuner had been fitted it would have made the current form factor impractical and bigger.
For many, as you mentioned, amu is unnecessary , for those who want it, then adding an external one which copes with your mismatch requirements seems a good idea.. Really like the mention of efficient mag loop...( yes indeed, many calculations were from a flawed algorithm, they are indeed efficient as the high Q promises.. )... IMHO of course.
I personally use an EFHW, home brewed from old Sprat design, or the Alex loop, neither of which requirer an AMU.
"it would have made the current form factor impractical and bigger"
well, that's a question. Having ATU built in mcHF original housing (significantly smaller than 705) with the same or even greater power output, maybe it can be done.
A few people have commented on my posts about the lack of an internal tuner. It was never a consideration for me, Ive been using a Superantenna MP1C with a longer whip (buddipole mini shock cord whip) with great success with my 7300 and 991a portable. It also works really well with my 705 and fits in the Icom backpack along with the 705 and a LiFePo4 battery. I did buy the mAT705 tuner ‘just in case’ but haven’t used it yet.
Hi Mark. Thanks for the update. 73 Peter.
Thanks for this and your other videos. I agree a resonant antenna is preferable and use an EFHW. I do take issue with your comment about Chinese atu. I have an Xiegu x5105 and their g90. Both include a very wide range atu. I prefer not to need them but there times when I really appreciate them. I'm puzzled why the "mainstream" manufacturers don't include them - along with xiegu's excellent swr trace function.
@@martinhuyett7502 check out the Xiegu GOC controller.... very nice but doubles the G90 price.😏
ALL IC 703, 703+, 706MKIIG AND IC7000 ARE A L L HIGHEND ENGINEERED AMATEURRADIO RXTX
AS WELL AS IC705 & 7100!
YAESU ALL FT817, 857 897
ARE ALSO HIGHEND ENGINEERED AMATEURRADIO
STATIONS. I USE LDG 200PRO
AND LDG Z817 AS WELL.AS ATU FROM MFJ 969 & MFJ 962.
Thanks fir sharing. 73 Peter
I really wish Icom would make updated versions of their bookshelf portable range from the late 70s, the
ic202, ic215, ic402 & ic502. Iconic radios. There was nothing else similar then or since.
Yes I loved the IC-202 mysel. Peter
I’m going to mount a 3/4” PVC pipe on the side of the Icom backpack, stick my Alexloop in it , reach up and tune it for maximum noise and operate my 705 walking around. 10-40 easy. I have two 705’s at my brothers in Texas and am waiting for them to be legal in Thailand. Hopefully next month.
W5MMT / HS0ZAC
It seems to me, the antenna "matcher" really belongs separate, and at the antenna, not inside the radio at the end of a long run of coax... Its in the radio for convenience not optimum operation, especially at qrp where power lost in the multiple excursions back and forth inside the coax would not be desired, the T1 is ideal, especially for the 40M FT8 crowd touching up the match with an EFHW, set it and forget it.. You guys have great, informative videos... I still get a kick out of "jubilee" clamps... (:-)....
zThanks for your comments. Peter
I use the mAT-705. It's fast and I tune a random wire through a 9:1 balun on all bands. Thanks for great videos. 73s Geir/LA5ZO
Sounds great!
The elecraft T1 tuner is a better choice than the mAT tuner. Just the battery replacement issue with the mAT-705 and the elecraft is like night and day, and the elecraft T-1 is probably similar to the tuner in the kx3, a proven winner. Now I have 3d printed a case for my T1 so no buttons get pushed while stored in my backpack!
@@gt3940 I have no problems opning the case to replace the batteri. Case? I wont have to buy a 3D printer either ;)
@@gt3940 There is an upgraded version of the mat-705 coming with all the issues removed. Rechargeable battery (USB-C), no mechanical switch. Though it is much bigger(longer) than the T1.
closest I ever got to a q r p rig was the 706
You mentioned had they put an antenna tuner in the 705 it wouldn't have been all that good. Some of the internal tuners on desktop models might be able to tune 3:1 or so where external tuners can tuna fish. Imagine the outrage if Icom had put an internal tuner in it and it didn't tune that barbed wire fence? We live in a world of damned if you do and damned if you don't. We all know Icom didn't put a tuner in it so they can sell more optional accessories. ;)
Ww will never know! 73 Peter
Unfortunately I bought the mat705 tuner, I've put it back into it's box and put it to one side and gone back to my ldg z817, I also have home made portable resonant antennas that give excellent performance, looking forward to seeing some decent portable battery packs using 18650 cells at an affordable price one day
Adam, thanks for the update. 73 Peter.
Love my Z817; super simple and easy. Just wish the case was a tad smaller.
i use power kaddy battery's not cheep 12v 18 amp Lifep04 will run a ic705 all day fully charged they give 13.5 volts you can find them on ebay they come with charger
battery web address www.ultramax.co.uk
@@kazcat8096 thanks for info re battery I'll have a look at this 😁👍
Just had a look, like the 12V 12amp, this hobby always leaves me skint but happy 😀
Is internal antenna tuners a problem for radios that have hf and vhf capabilities? I have wondered if that is why the 817 and 705 don’t have them.
for my ic705 on 20m up i don't use a atu but on my long wire low band antennas i use a home made L,C tuner that works very well and simple to make and low cost Look up VK3YE he has lots of good qrp tuner plans that work
What about the coming ICOM AH-705 and the AH-4 both made for random wire!
I am not sure you would want to take the AH4 for portable operation. I will take a look at the icon tuna when available. Peter
Maybe the simple answer, no room for an ATU. Use an EFHW and you don’t need an ATU.
Absolutely
The IC705, great radio yet well overpriced for what it is and well underpowered for our current propagation situation, and this are agiven even before we talked about antenna tuner.
I think many QRP operators would not agree with you on the power aspect. 73 Peter.
It is QRP radio, so definitively it is not "underpowered". And it is (almost) all bands all modes. It's quite hard to find anything like that anywhere else (with the exception of FT-991/991A or even older Yaesu rigs). Frankly, I am quite disappointed Icom doesn't make all bands all modes 100 W rig.
Still I can use IC-705 with power amplifier and it is even less power consuming like having built-in 100 W PA.
Hi Peter, you weren't doing some hiking up near Glencoe last weekend where you? Thought we passed you. Paul GM1COF
hi Paul. No not me. Sadly the last time I was up there was February. Since then been confined to the South! 73 Peter
@@watersstanton Nice Moho btw, got the FTM400 in mines, contemplating the Xiegu G90 in there somewhere as well