QRP rig has arrived

My new YouKits SK-1A QRP rig has arrived along with the 2 LiPo batteries, battery alarms, and DC regulator. The radio was well packed and seeing as it was Chinese New Year I was impressed with the turn around time. First impressions are.....this thing is small. I got into it straight away with setting up the power cables for both the radio itself and the low power tuner I will be using. One thing I didn't pick up on when I ordered it was that there is no internal speaker, only a jack for an external one or headphones to be used. Not a problem usually but it will be a little more difficult to get good audio when videoing some future activations I am planning.



So the first QSO I have logged  in over 3 years and the first with the new rig was with Craig, VK5CE/P3 working out of Gabo Island as IOTA OC196 - oc196.blogspot.com.au with a good 55 signal for portable and I in turn received a 53. Not bad for 5 watts.



The radio works fine straight out of the box and gave me a 1600km contact on the first try. I'm looking forward to getting used to this radio and some future field work So far so good ;-)



The radio with the external tuner

And the LiPo battery with cell monitor and alarm, and the dc regulator.