SOTAbeams Band Hopper III
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| Frequency | 7/10/14 MHz, one resonance at a time, chosen at the links |
| Bands | 40m, 30m, 20m - a TRUE full-size half-wave dipole on each, selected by opening/closing link clips |
| TX power | 125 W (125 W all modes) |
| Modes | SSB, CW, AM, FM, digital |
| Connector | 10 m of RG174 pre-terminated in a BNC, fed through an included ferrite-core current balun |
| feedpoint | center balun (ferrite current type); BNC on 10 m RG174 |
Estimated (unverified): none of note - specs confirmed from the maker's page and combined instructions
Resonance without compromise at backpack weight: each band gets a genuine full-size half-wave with a real current balun, which on receive and transmit alike beats every loaded, transformed, or tuner-matched portable rival at the same weight - and the link system makes multibanding a hardware choice rather than an electrical compromise. The kit completeness (winders, guys, pegs, bag) reflects a maker who climbs.
Band changes mean walking to the antenna and unclipping links - in rain, in wind, mid-pileup - and three bands is the menu, full stop. The RG174 feeder trades decibels for grams like all of its class, and the inverted-V needs its pole: this is a system purchase, mast not included.
The summit operator's resonant answer: if your activations live on 40/30/20 and you'd rather walk to a link than carry a tuner, this is the disciplined choice. The random-wire crowd trades its efficiency for never leaving the operating position.
The Band Hopper III is the linked dipole refined into a product, and the linked dipole is portable radio's most honest multiband trick: instead of traps, transformers, or tuners, the antenna's legs carry small alligator-clip links that connect or isolate wire segments, so each chosen band gets a true, full-size, resonant half-wave dipole - the antenna every compromise design is being compared against. Open the links for 20 meters, close the first pair for 30, close them all for 40; the cost is a walk to the wire, and the reward is that there is simply nothing electrically better at the weight.
And the weight is the headline: 390 grams for the complete system - antenna, ferrite current balun, ten meters of BNC-terminated RG174, wirewinders, guying line - rated at a genuine 125 watts all modes. The kit assumes the standard summit geometry, an inverted-V from a six-to-eight-meter telescopic pole with the ends pegged out, and its completeness (down to the peg pocket in the carry bag) reflects its origins: SOTAbeams was founded by Richard Newstead, G3CWI, one of the SOTA program's most prominent early activators, building the gear his own summits demanded - the shop trades on under new management today, Macclesfield address intact.
The family covers the philosophy's range: the Band Hopper II drops 30 meters for simplicity, a IV adds 80 for the low-band faithful, and the Bandspringer takes the opposite path entirely - random wire, tuner, never leave the seat. Against the EFHW school the trade is feedpoint versus links: the end-fed wins on deployment speed, the linked dipole on electrical purity. Summit operators argue the point endlessly, which is how you know both answers work.