A couple of weekends ago, I took part in a SOTA (Summits on the Air) up at Mt Hotham. We spent 2 days 4wd'ing around the area making as many contacts as possible with other Hams. This included those back in Melbourne, Canberra, Tasmania, Jarkarta and NZ, and others on local peaks..
Basically you drive to the top of a mountain or peak, throw a wired end-fed antenna with a squid pole up into a tree, and then make contacts on 40m, 10m and 2m.
One very useful feature to have in a QRP radio is an auto-tuner, as you can quickly tune the system as you change bands.
The QRP radios I saw were the Xiegu G90 transceiver, Elecraft KX3, and Yaesu FT818. I didn't use my IC-705 as it didn't have an auto-tuner.
Well that changed today. I have just received my Mat-Tuner mAT-705, which connects directly to the IC-705 with a control cable that plugs into the IC-705, and the transceiver takes control of the tuner as required. It has rechargeable lithium batteries, is nice and compact, and I sit it on top of the Windcamp cage.
Below please find a photo of the tuner in operation on 40m.
The good news is that the mAT-705 is sold by a company in Qld, and have local stock.
They can be found at https://amateurradiosupplies.com.au/index.php/product/mat-mat-705-v2-0-compact-automatic-antenna-tuner/
This setup is running in my study, connected to a Diamond Discone.
Next test is to hook up my end-fed and balum with speaker wire.
For extra safety, I'll add a couple of zip-ties to hold tuner in place.
