Portable Operation
The Christmas holidays were fast approaching and my wife came to me and said, “We are going to my son's house for Christmas and someone else has use of the spare bedroom.” Yikes, that meant having to park our small RV in a very restrictive spot surrounded by two story wire encased stucco houses and under a massive array of power lines. No way to transmit or receive a signal from there due to all the RFI emitted from the power lines and the 'Faraday' like cage from the stucco houses around us.
When there in the past we stayed in their extra bedroom, so I was able to drive our van down to a parking lot at the beach to be on the daily radio net I'm a part of without the problems that parking at his house creates. This time the bedroom would be occupied by other relatives so our van would be our bedroom. No getting up early and driving down to my favorite spot and putting up my antenna. My wife is understanding of my radio hobby but not that understanding. So, what to do?
The only answer, portable operation. I've read with interest and have watched some Youtube videos on the subject but it always required having a small lightweight radio, such as the Yeasu FT-891, and a lightweight lithium-ion battery. Both clearly out of the budget and even if Santa knew of my dilemma he wouldn't arrive in time. I'd also need to use a vertical as where I would be operating only offered very tall palm trees. Way out of my reach for getting a wire up.
All in all, if I wanted to join in on the daily net and perform my duties I would have to come up with a portable rig with what I had available.
Knowing I would need a power source and knowing buying a specialty battery like a Lithium-ion was out of the question I opted for a lead-acid battery that would replace the one in our van when it finally gave up. Already being six years old I knew it wouldn't be long, so justified the purchase to the boss that it would be money spent in the future, anyway. Some expenses you just have to explain in those terms. A new lightweight battery and radio wasn't going to pass muster with the boss. I would just have to use the radio I already had for use in the van, my Icom-7200 with it's LDG tuner. Quite heavy for portable use but it would have to do.
How would I cart a lead acid battery and full size transceiver, antenna, coax, radial wires and all the other garb I would need the six blocks to where I could set up?
As I scanned my backyard and shed my eyes alighted on my furniture dolly that was tucked away by the back fence along with my collection of wood waiting to be transformed into another shed. One can never have enough sheds to store the stuff one collects with the knowledge it will certainly be used, someday. As I stared at the dolly my mind's eye started seeing how it would all come together.
Using the dolly made sense because it gave me a way to mount the antenna, carry the battery, the radio, coax and wires for radials and be able to transport it the six blocks to a grass area next to the sand. I saw how it would work, so it was time for action.
In the shed I found two 3 foot sections of ½ inch steel water pipe I had used for an antenna mast a few years back. One of the sections still had a mount with a 3/8x24 stud with an SO-239 connector for the coax. This mount would work perfectly with my portable Hustler antenna system that incorporates single band elements that screw into a fold over mast that is also part of the radiating portion of the antenna. This is the antenna I use on the van when I am parked. It's really not suitable for mobile use in the way I mount it.
My next step was to build a battery box, since I didn't have one of those nice plastic ones laying around. Remember, the battery was all I could explain away with the boss and I also was really into doing this with what I had available on hand. I measured the starting battery in the van and went to work.
I was able to scrounge up a small voltmeter and switch and a couple of bolts and wingnuts for the power connections. Plus, I installed a small trickle charge battery charger I had so I could charge the battery after getting back from the beach.

With the power source done I went back into the shed and found an old carry-on size suitcase for the radio and cables. Having used this one before to carry my radio and cables to Mexico on the bus I knew that it would work here, also.
I connected one of the sections of water pipe to the dolly with two hose clamps which would be the base for the section with the antenna mount. With the two sections screwed together the mount set about 8 foot above the ground. A good height for an elevated vertical. But now I would need tuned radials. Back to the shed to scrounge a bit in the wire bin.
After cannibalizing a couple of old antennas I was able to make up three radials cut to 33 feet. Since I would be using an antenna tuner I wasn't to worried about exact resonant lengths for the frequency I would be using on 40 meters.
I now had the power source, the radio and tuner, antenna and transport system. I was just about ready to go. But first I had to test it.

I didn't have room in my backyard to spread out all three radials so I did the best I could and stretched out two. I tuned to 7.283.50 and was hearing the Pacific coast noontime net well, so checked in. The system was working. I was good to go.
I started thinking about where I planned to broadcast from and couldn't remember if that particular spot offered picnic tables. I would have to take my own table and chair, just in case.
Here it is all set to go. I even stowed a free standing umbrella in case of rain. The second piece of pipe and the antenna fit down in the chair bag and the fold over mast slid down into the piece of pipe mounted on the dolly.

Definitely not a rig for SOTA or any other type of backpack portable operation but good for the 6 blocks I needed to travel on paved sidewalks.
We arrived in Ocean Beach, CA. on Saturday afternoon so my first test would be Sunday morning. Since the net started at 7:30am local time I was wheeling my rig down the street at 5:30am. Like I said, I didn't remember what the area I was going to offered and it would be the first time I set the system up completely. I wanted to be sure to be ready to go when the first ones showed up to the net.
Things went well. There were picnic tables available so the table and chair I had strapped on weren't needed. I hadn't brought the umbrella because the weather was to be partly cloudy with no rain. What proved to be the hardest part of the set-up procedure was dealing with the radials. After stretching them out and staking them down I had to tie caution tape strips along their length so people walking by wouldn't walk into them. I did become quite a curiosity to the morning walkers.


My first contact after getting set up was KJ6GET/XE2 in Bara De Navidad, Mexico aboard the sailboat Joy. My second contact was KF7OWU in Port Townsend, WA. The system was working as I had hoped and I was able to do the net and perform my duties as weatherman for the boaters in Mexico.
Yes, it is a bulky heavy set-up and I look like a street person while pushing my rig along the streets. (In fact I was told by other street people where to find a free breakfast since they knew I was new in town. I got quite a laugh about that one). But it worked and I feel good about that. Maybe by the next time I have to do something like this Santa will bring me that FT-891 and lithium battery.
73
Steve,
K7OFG.
| K7LZR | 2020-05-03 | |
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| Re: Portable Operation | ||
| "..... my Icom-7200 with it's LDG tuner. Quite heavy for portable use....." IC-7200 + battery aren't bad at all. I come from a time when we routinely lugged around 30+ Lb. Yaesu FT-101s, Kenwood TS-520s rigs, Swan 350s with their separate mobile power supplies, Heatkit HW-101s, etc. along with car batteries to power them and we thought it was the coolest thing! :). Reply to a comment by : N4JTE on 2020-04-13 LOVE it great ! Well done, thank you | ||
| K7OFG | 2020-04-26 | |
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| Re: Portable Operation | ||
| No problem and sorry I have just gotten back to you sooner as I hadn't looked into eham for awhile. Thought they had lost my post. Reply to a comment by : W3WN on 2020-04-21 Very well done! Do you mind if I use this in a future issue of my club newsletter? | ||
| W3WN | 2020-04-21 | |
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| Portable Operation | ||
| Very well done! Do you mind if I use this in a future issue of my club newsletter? | ||
| KD4RKI | 2020-04-17 | |
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| Portable Operation | ||
| You have my admiration for responding very well to a short notice activation issue. The fact that you were able to operate WITHOUT throwing money at the problem is excellent. Thank you for an excellent post! | ||
| AD0AR | 2020-04-16 | |
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| Portable Operation | ||
| Maybe even get a battery boost regulator to get a few extra watts out of your setup? They work wonders by boosting the constantly falling lead acid battery voltage into a regulated 14.7vdc. It can even increase operating time by allowing you to use your car battery below 12vdc and still get full power. | ||
| KC6RWI | 2020-04-16 | |
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| Portable Operation | ||
| Its not a hobby its an obsession, Christmas is fast approaching I've got to assemble a portable station and walk the streets, | ||
| K8QV | 2020-04-15 | |
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| Re: Portable Operation | ||
| Some crazy people take a break from their hobbies to spend Christmas with family. No, really! Reply to a comment by : N4JTE on 2020-04-13 LOVE it great ! Well done, thank you | ||
| N4JTE | 2020-04-13 | |
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| Portable Operation | ||
| LOVE it great ! Well done, thank you | ||