EQUIPMENT ROUNDUP

 

I was tidying up the boot of the car and thought it would be interesting to summarise the equipment I take portable.  It's quite astonishing how it grows but I think I have everything I need now.  

Did I really just say that???

It has been a very useful exercise for me.  Apart from tidying up the boot and boxes, I got to realise just how lucky I am to be able to have all this gear and get the enjoyment out of using it!  I live in an area of outstanding natural beauty, access to places to operate with very little background noise and enough space to play with aerials.

I always make sure to protect my portable radios with decent padded cases.  They are not cheap radios on the whole and spending a reasonable amount on protective cases makes a whole lot of sense to me.

My QRP GoBox is a case I have had for some years and I used to transport my K3 in it on DXPeditions.  I managed to get a piece of pick and pluck foam that fitted perfectly from eBay and relined it.

The QRO Box also came via eBay and cost a little more but was not overly expensive.  It's a great box and nothing inside will come to any harm, short of being run over by a Steam Roller!

My aerials have all been reviewed on the YouTube channel but it was interesting to get them out one by one and think of their individual benefits.  They all have a different part to play.

One thing I forgot to mention in the video was tools.  It is always handy to have a few small tools available.  Allen keys, cutters, screwdrivers, pliers, that sort of thing.  A multimeter is handy too.  Cable ties and tape complete this section.

I doubt I will be yomping up any fells, so I usually have the car close to hand but I could be very portable if needed and still be able to operate for 2-3 hours with a small backpack.

Portable radio is just such fun and you never know just what is going to pop up.  I am just hoping we get some decent daytime conditions soon.  I really would like to drop to QRP levels and see what I could achieve there but alas, the present conditions make it really difficult.

This video is a little longer than my usual fare but I hope you find it informative and enjoyable.

73 Ian

GRAND DAY OUT 2

 

Brian and I went back to Dave's field this weekend and had a great time.  You cannot underestimate the sheer amount of fun to be had with portable radio, especially when it is a shared experience.

One of the things we wanted to achieve this time was to get Brian's station running well.  We identified a bad connector from last week and made a couple of leads up to correct the issue.  He took the TS480SAT and powered it from his new Beaudens power station.  

This little unit performed flawlessly throughout the day, running the radio at 50W SSB quite happily.  The great thing is that it is small and light.  Absolutely perfect for this kind of operation. If used at QRP levels, it would last ages! At 50W SSB, it would certainly last for most of the day.  As it was, less than half of the charge was used.

It proved to be very quiet, RF-wise, which is obviously the main focus for us :). Bear in mind that the radio in use is not the most power efficient portable radio.

The next thing was how well I could put up the BandHopper.  This was erected in much less time than the first and will be even quicker next time.  Every day is a learning day!

We managed to get the aerials up just before it started to rain.  We quickly relocated the radios to the cars and started to operate.  The bands were not great, there having been a couple of minor flares, but as our noise floor was zero, it was not a problem from our side.  I started on 40m and Brian was on 20m on the Slidewinder.

In fairness, I think I had the best of it. The bands were not great but 40m is usually fairly busy on a Saturday and I had a slow but steady start.  20m was not as good but Brian was managing a few contacts.

Brian was the first to crack and moved his station outside the car and I followed shortly after.  We swapped bands, with Brian on 40m on the Slidewinder and me on 20m on the BandHopper.  I discovered that I could lower one end of the dipole, keeping the tension on lightly and altering the aerial for 20m.  Much quicker than having to drop the mast.

Much hilarity ensued when Brian moved the slider on the Slidewinder and when checked, it was absolutely bang on on 40m!! I bet he couldn't do it again 😆

I then moved to CW and managed a couple of contacts but the bands were closing in a bit and we decided to close down.

What a great day again though.  I can really recommend getting out of the house and just having some fun for a few hours in an RF quiet place.  You really don't need much to do it.  If you make it QRP, you really need very little indeed and you could easily have a full station in a small backpack, as SOTA and WOTA stations know well.

As usual, I made a video of our day.  I was using a gimbal for the first timed I definitely need more practice :)

73 Ian

THE SLIDEWINDER PORTABLE ANTENNA

 

I have been using this antenna for a little while and I have to say that I am most impressed with it.  I have done several videos on it on my Bay Amateur Radio Group YouTube channel and I will include a couple below.  I love to get out portable and I am very lucky to live in the beautiful place that is Morecambe Bay.

I can go down to the shore and operate for POTA and WFF easily, all on a salt marsh :)

The antenna itself is based around the Slidewinder Coil.  This is available in several colours to suit your mood ;)

This is extremely well built and based around a 3/8 thread unlike some other portable aerials.  You can match this with a whip of your choice or go for the Slidewinder Military Whip option.  I have this and it works really well.  You can't adjust it in quite the same way as a telescopic whip but you can fold over a section if needed.  I suspect that in the long term, the Mil whip will be more robust as telescopic whips tend to bend and/or crease over time.

There are several mounting options.  Obviously as it is based around a 3/8 thread, you can mount it on a magnetic mount or other vehicle mount.  M1ECC Antennas, who produce the antenna, do a roof bar/balcony mount, as well as a ground spike and a tripod option.  I have the ground spike and the tripod and both work well and are solidly engineered.

The aerial works really well from 40m to 10m and I have zero complaints.  I have never needed to guy it so far but I suspect in a solid breeze, it might be a good option.  Tuning it is a breeze.  Some people simply slide the collar for maximum receive and then use a tuner.  I am a little more OCD about it :). I like to use my Rig Expert to tune it.  Doing this enables me to get whole band coverage at under 2:1 across all bands, including 40m!  You soon get used to where to start with the collar and then it is a simple job to tweak until you are happy.

I did find that with the aerial on the roof of the car, mounted on a triple magmonut, that the base sWR was quite high.  This is not the fault of the aerial but a lack of ground.  A counterpoise or a couple of radials would probably resolve this but it does work and in an area where getting an aerial out is difficult, would be a useful way of mounting the aerial.

Again, the service from M1ECC Antennas is superb and their communication is excellent.

One new option is a short 300mm/1ft extension bar.  this goes between the mount and the coil and raises the coil.  This makes it easier to get to the coil and I am hoping to test one very soon to see what difference it makes.  I will no doubt do a video for this when I do.  

I can recommend this antenna system wholeheartedly.  In the meantime, here are a couple of videos about it.

Testing The Slidewinder Antenna (Part 1)

Testing the Slidewinder Antenna (Part2)