It’s a great time to be into Survivalist Communications. It’s a great time to be into Survivalism, period. Sure, the world sucks. We’re on track to reignite the Cold War. The flames keep being fanned higher and higher here at home. The economy is borderline insane. Yep, all that.
And yet, the technology out there is advancing by leaps and bounds. 3D printers and rapid decline in the price of CNC machines has led to the world’s truly open-source weapon, the AR-15. Computers are smaller and more powerful than ever before. The access to information has never been easier. And radio has never been better.
QRP HF used to only have a handful of options- Ten-Tec was the leader- but even then it was limited to a couple bands and kinda tough to run in the field. Yaesu brought out the 817 and with it, revolutionized what a ‘field day’ radio should be. It’s served a lot of people well and continues to do so today. But even still, it’s got a couple drawbacks, namely an outdated receiver. The Icom 703 was nice, but kinda bulky, and no longer made. Elecraft came along with the KX3 and proved how nice and power efficient a receiver can be with QRP capability, and the KX2 has so far proven big things come in tiny, if expensive, packages. LNR is building nice sets in small batches, and the Chinese are importing a few interesting designs if one likes to gamble with their money.
Enter CommRadio, a subsection of AeroStream Communications in Colorado. Perhaps not a household name, AeroStream develops new and innovative SDR products, producing the excellent CR-1a all-mode receiver. After having been on the market for a few years, requests for a QRP transceiver have led to the development of the CTX-10- and from the looks of things, it’s just about everything one could want in the field for HF short of shelling out the cash for a Harris PRC-138 or 150. The whole body of the radio is machined as a heat sink, which as many know is a must-have accessory for Elecraft’s radios. The knobs are machined aluminum as well, proving that durability was put first in the design. But the biggest thing to get excited about is the inclusion of three 2600mAh internal batteries- so this thing can likely run in the field for a long time. No internal tuner option like offered with Elecraft, but I’d gladly trade off an internal tuner for ruggedization. Edit to add- apparently it does include an internal tuner as well. This is incredible for its size.
Looking at the back of the case, all the standard features are where they should be, along with a fan to keep things cool and a BNC connection. It looks like it will have USB control capability, which will make running digital modes from a variety of devices simple. This is a big plus for efficient, reliable communications at low power. Running up to 10w @ 2A of power consumption, it appears to be very efficient although the full power specs have yet to be published.
Overall I’m very excited about this- I think it’s the radio 817 fans have been asking Yaesu to build for a long while now and similar in size and form factor. No MSRP is posted as of yet, because they’re still waiting on FCC certification, but it’s due on the market early next year. If it’s priced just under the Elecraft KX2, the CTX-10 is going to be a home run.
It’s a great time to be into Survivalist communications.
So when it is FCC legal and the MSRP is set, you’ll let us all know?
Yes.
I’ll own one.
Holy crap Batman, that looks awesome. Thx for sharing!
Good find! This looks very nice indeed. I think you might be mistaken about the tuner, it says there is an internal tuner on the page you linked. I’m excited to see this one come out, I’ve been thinking of replacing my sg-2020 as my main radio. It is pretty amazing what people are coming out with now days, this new radio is about the size of a vhs cassette…
It did? I must’ve missed that. Even better!
Reblogged this on Starvin Larry.
I would also like to know if these radios are amenable to being broad-banded…The SDR’s certainly should be…
Likely so. I can’t speak for CR but Elecraft can via software. You send them your MARS affiliation for it.
There might be other ways, but I’m not aware of it.
Some of the Chinese imports can via internal menus, such as the X1M, but apparently it leads to all kinds of spurious emissions.
Most intriguing! I have been thinking hard about a KX2 or a KX3 for Christmas, but I may wait a bit and see how this one does. I looked at Sherwood Engineering’s site and did not see any ratings on the CR1a; I was wondering how their earlier receiver performance was.
NC Scout, are you or anybody else aware of technical ratings on Aerostream products?
Keypounder
I’m not, other than non-technical observations.
Some folks I know are very happy with the CR-1a.
This is interesting. I’ve been pondering a VX2 instead of my 817, but this may be just the ticket. I hadn’t heard of this before,although I have followed a bit about the CR-1& 1a. I am pondering an SDRPlay or Airspy for monitoring in station, and the next “real” radio I buy will either be an IC-7300 or a competitor (assuming Yaesu and Kenwood jump in soon). This is the future, no doubt.
Hold onto the 817- I’ve something soon that might interest you with it.
The CTX is literally BRAND new, with only a couple of sources for info on it.
I would simply add to the collection, the 817 will still be there. Any hints are welcome!
I have a product in my hands currently that a lot of folks are going to want to see.
If you run QRP digi this is looking like the way to go. But I’m not done evaluating it just yet.