MTR3B v4 Currahee : Arrived!

2 Replies

Christmas came….erm….late, but who cares?

I’ve kept everyone updated the last 3 months after getting in on the first 100 units and the delays that have slowed delivery. To be clear, I am ecstatic that LNR took the time to correct issues that were found and to update their manufacturing along the way to improve the final product.

Would I have liked to have had it earlier? Yes, but better right than early in my opinion.

Unfortunately it came after my Christmas holiday and time off, so being back to work it is back to prioritizing my time.

Having just had it on my desk for less than an hour and having a full afternoon and evening, I haven’t done much other than to turn it on, tune to a few stations, and play with the volume tuning. I also put the dummy load on and played with the capacitive touch keying a bit – will need more practice but so far it feels responsive and crisp.

With the switch to a color OLED, one of the updates they made post-launch was to change the hues of the colors to prevent wash out in direct light. It is overcast today and getting late, but here is what it looks like under a flashlight for reference.

Not a real comparison to a bright sunny day, but at least with 450 lumens on top of the overhead lighting it is still readable (no image enhancement).

Finally before I have to run, here it is next to a Venus SW-3B, another ultra small 3 band portable.

Lots more needs to be done to put this little radio through its paces, but out of the box it is – so far – exactly what I was expecting and wanting.

Small, 40m or higher, and low power draw.

More to come….

UPDATE

Just a few minutes after posting this I got curious and quickly hooked up my Palm Paddle to it. I wanted to see if attaching an external paddle disabled the touch keyer and yes, it does. 🙂

UPDATE 2

Adding a new photo of the internals

Question for everyone

What would be most useful for you as a consumer of this post? What about the new MTR3B could I provide to you as a reader, keeping in mind that the basics are all there on the LNR Precision website.

Store

MTR3B v4 – Update 3

2 Replies

Another update from LNR Precision.

This email is being sent to you as you are on the list of pending orders for the Mountain Topper MTR3B V4 Currahee! radio. We wanted to make sure you knew that we still have your order and things are moving forward, albeit slower than we anticipated on fulfilling all the orders. Just like with any new product, there are a few stops and starts and this one was no different. A few issues, like some faulty components, were identified after we did our initial beta testing. It has taken a lot of manual work to replace these components and ensuring it works as it should. Other items came via feedback after the radios were in the hands of dozens of operators. We have made several firmware and design updates that are now tested and in place. But things are progressing and we just shipped 10 radios this week. These shipments, along with those sent in for updates, will include Firmware Version 1.05 and the new design updates. While we know getting an update email instead of shipping notification isn’t what you wanted to hear, you deserve the update. The good news is that our updates and workflows are settled and we can move quicker than we have been.

Incidentally, one specific feedback request was changing the color choices to improve visibility while in the field. Those have been incorporated and are listed below. New photos are also uploaded on the product page of our site and you can see how well it looks! More photos will be coming. All new units will also include a MTR3B V4 Currahee! aluminum badge (photo coming) that will also be included and can adorn the enclosure if you wish. All current customers will receive a separate email on how to have these updates applied which will all be done at no charge and we will reimburse you for the shipping cost back to us.

Now that the building process is better stabilized, we expect to complete the shipment of your radio within the next few weeks. We know that you have been EXTREMELY patient with us as we have introduced this new Mountain Topper and we are as anxious as you to be one of the first ones to own it!  If you would like to email us at support@LNRprecision.com, we will let you know what order you are in to be shipped.

Meanwhile, the emails continue to flood in for when will ordering open up and we hope that will be by Jan 15th. We want to make sure that we have a little bit of time to get ahead of orders so that the shipping times are more reasonable. Separate but related, we have added new staff and are retooling to make this radio widely available throughout 2025!

MTR3B v4 – Status Update 2

Leave a reply

Received this earlier this week. Nice to see them focusing on getting it right.

We wanted to send you an update regarding your purchase of the Mountain Topper – MTR3B V4 Currahee! transceiver. We still have your order but encountered a slow down in the production which was due to several components on the PCB that required modification. These aren’t faulty components but ones with incorrect values that we just spotted. The circuit boards are far enough in the production process, it makes sense to correct them versus restarting them. Of course, with the miniature nature of the mountain topper, the process is somewhat involved as SMT components are precisely placed and changing out must be done manually in some very tight spaces with solder joints behind other mounted components. LNR prides itself on quality with rigorous testing and we know you will want this reliability, especially in the field or on the mountain top!

While this news is unfortunate and we are very anxious to get the unit shipped, there is one small silver lining. We will be able to implement a firmware update to improve startup procedures as well as perform a couple of physical updates. One is a new jackboard pcb design that will allow for a much easier change of the coin battery. Also, there is a modification that will allow the touch keyer hex nuts to optionally be removed if the operator wishes to do so. All of these changes will be incorporated into your radio when we ship. (Prior orders will have this update honored via return/mod/reship).

We know how frustrating it is to be awaiting an email shipment notification, so we wanted to give you a better sense of the shipping estimate. This delay cost us a few weeks and we certainly apologize for the inconvenience. We appreciate your continued patience and think it will be well worth the wait. We expect to resume shipments this Friday and quickly work through the remainder of orders over the next several weeks. You will receive an email confirmation when your unit ships.

Incidentally, if you are communicating with fellow ham operators that do NOT have an active order but wish to place one, we will ONLY open up ordering for new units once all 100 units of the initial release have been completed. We have received over a thousand inquiries for those wishing to purchase and we are committed to major production run in 2025 and updating our tooling process to accommodate them in a more timely manner.

MTR3B v4 Currahee Status

Leave a reply

Just received an email from LNR Precision about the status of the first 100 units they are shipping shortly.

This email is just to confirm that we have your order for the MTR3B V4 Currahee. If you ordered optional accessories such as extra power cords, etc., we have those as well and will ship with the radio once your build is complete. Orders for apparel, whiskey glasses, etc. that are not HAM equipment comes from a third party and ships separately. 

Builds for the initial 100 units are underway and some units have already begun shipping and will be arriving soon. We are processing everything in the ORDER that they were received so please be very patient as we work to fulfil all orders. The initial 100 units so out in 4 minutes so even if you were lucky enough to get your order in, you still may be near or towards the end of the list. We are not working on anything else until we get all 100 of these units shipped! Even within the last few weeks, we have performed some final firmware and component tweaks that we wanted to make sure was included for all units. If you have done surface mount component changes, you know that can be a little time consuming. Plus, we have an extremely high degree of QA testing, so we are methodical before shipping each radio to the customer. We are picking up speed in our process time so hopefully we will have your radio in your hands very soon.

In terms of notification, you will receive a notification of email once we have your unit complete and when it ships from our shop. That will include tracking detail from the USPS to your home (or to customs for international orders). This email is being sent to customers with pending orders. For customers that are awaiting our ordering system to open up, we will only do that when we are at final stages of shipping the initial 100 and can take new orders. We expect that to be near the end of November.

In summary, we have your order and are working through our list as quick as possible without sacrificing anything quality wise. You will receive a notification of when your unit is complete and ships. Thanks again for your patience and we think it will certainly be worth the wait. 

“The initial 100 units sold out in 4 minutes….”

Wow.

KH1 3D Prints and Paddle Update

Leave a reply

Ramping up my comfort level with the new KH1 and exploring paddle options, I came across Tufteln’s N6ARA Tiny Paddle (link) adapter (link).

After ordering, I then found that N6ARA’s page on Thingiverse and both that adapter and the adjustment tool are available for printing yourself.

Tiny Paddle Adapter

N6ARA’s Tiny Paddle adapter for the KH1 is available here.

This is a really simple but effective way to stabilize the Tiny Paddle against the KH1 base and keep it from wobbling.

In testing this week, I’ve found it to be much more solid than the Elecraft v2 paddle, though I haven’t played too much in adjusting the latter due to how plug and play this one has been. In the shack at least, I’m a fan!

I’ll circle back with Elecraft’s offering at some point soon, but this hit the mark out of the gate.

It is pressure fit and doesn’t seem to be something to worry about slipping out when you least want it to. It took some pressure to get it inserted and in place. Not so much that you worry about breaking anything, but enough that once inserted it is solid.

N6ARA Tiny Paddle Case

The Tiny Paddle will not fit into the Pelican M40 case when attached, and I’m not sure that I’d want them to given the potential for breaking something.

Enter the Tiny Paddle case on Printables.

As with the paddle adapter above, the fit is tight but not too tight to get things in and out. A hole is in the base for one to push with a finger tip and get the paddle out without breaking anything.

A slot provides storage for the adjustment tool which is also available for printing from N6ARA’s Thingiverse page.

Conclusion

As the user base for this little radio grows I anticipate seeing more and more models available. I just found this one from user scottpav on Thingiverse which is a power switch cover. Might throw this one on the printer later today and give it a try.