I was also super pleased to work Max (WG4Z) in a Park-To-Park contact. I racked up the 10 contacts required to validate the activation within 11 minutes.
I started the activation on 40 meters running 5 watts of output power. I paired the Argo V with my 15 Ah Bioenno 12V LiFePo4 battery and let’s just say the Argo V was very pleased. On the flip side, the Argonaut V produces beautiful, rich audio from its internal speaker. I’m sure they thought it more of a shack and Field Day radio. In addition, its voltage range is much less than my other QRP radios, so if a battery’s voltage drops too much, it’ll simply shut down.īasically, when Ten-Tec made the Argo V it wasn’t with park or summit activations in mind. On receive, it can draw up to 1 amp! This, in contrast to my Discovery TX-500 which draws 1/10 of that. The lack of an ATU was no problem, because I paired it with my KM4ACK 40M End-Fed Half Wave resonant antenna.Īs for a battery? Well, unlike almost all of my other field radios, the Argo V is a hungry rig. The Ten-Tec Argonaut V is a very basic radio: it has no internal battery, and no internal ATU. Jovitec 2.0 mm Mechanical Pencil (affiliate link).Rite In The Rain Weatherproof Cover/Pouch (affiliate link).Bioenno 15 aH LiFePo Battery (Model BLF-1215A).It, too, sported a magnificent oak tree.įortunately, no one was using the picnic table under the oak tree, so I set up my station! The site itself reminds me of a pasture along one of my favorite footpaths near the house where we used to live in Shere, Surrey (UK). In terms of POTA, it simply doesn’t get easier than this.Īnd these trees? I’m guessing they could date back to the Civil War. The picnic table is under a massive oak tree with huge branches. I parked my car at the small entrance parking lot and walked to the one and only picnic table at this site. Max was right–not only was the site easy to find, but it was also absolutely beautiful. On Wednesday, November 10, 2021, I packed my Argonaut V and headed to the South Mountains State Park Clear Creek Access. If you haven’t been there, please put it on your list!“ A great site for an activation, video, and photos. “ It is a part of South Mountains State Park custom made for a Thomas Witherspoon visit. It seemed to work brilliantly, but of course I was eager to take it to the field!Īround the same time, my buddy Max (WG4Z) mentioned that he’d discovered a new access point for South Mountains State Park and had enjoyed performing an activation there. Truth be told, I’ve always loved the design of the Argonaut V and I knew, being a Ten-Tec, it would be a proper CW machine.Īs soon as I received the Argonaut V, I put it on the air and chased a few parks and summits from the shack. This is what I get for randomly browsing the QTH.com classifieds! It was–being honest here–an impulse purchase. You can't simply buy 6 crystals and think you are there. If by happenstance you are after buying only six, then I suggest you go out and buy one lottery ticket -for you are indeed a lucky person.I mentioned in a previous post that I recently purchased a Ten-Tec Argonaut V transceiver.
A six pole 45 MHz filter may require the purchase of 20 to 30 individual crystals before you find six that are close in frequency. But their specifications are well known as is their performance. Let me not discourage you from homebrewing a filter -but I am for a sophisticated project like this.
The two filters suggested will cost you about $50 and one of them is a surface mount.
#Ten tec pegasus specs how to
There are some excellent tutorials on how to do it -but excellent results for the neophyte with no test equipment would be like winning the Mega Millions having only played once and having only bought one ticket. You do need test equipment and you do need to understand what you are doing. It is not a simple matter to build a good quality crystal filter especially for someone who has never done one. A word here about homebrew crystal filters. The INRAD Model #351 is a 4 pole 2.3 KHz wide filter with a Z in/out of 200 Ohms an easy 4:1 match to 50 Ohms.