Take It to the Beach: Pedestrian Mobile
Created by Paul Signorelli, W0RW on 2023-02-10
Take It to the Beach: Pedestrian Mobile
Pedestrian Mobile operation on the beach has a lot of advantages, ocean breezes, beautiful views, no trees to snag your antenna and the "Salt Water Amplifier."
You have probably heard of the advantages of being near the beach but until you walk along the shore with you rig you won’t really be able to experience the difference yourself.
If you hook up your little KX2 or KX3 to a whip and walk out on the wet salty sand you will notice the improvement in received signal strengths right away. It works the same way on transmit too. You have to retune your antenna to the salty ground but as long as you stay on the salty wet sand you will notice the improvement. You need a drag wire of the appropriate length of course. There is no need to get into the water. You need to keep your radio away from any salt spray from the waves. My radio (Military PRC319) is water proof so I don’t have to worry about any rogue waves.
On the East Coast it is like opening a special DX window to work Europe. It seems better to me than working from any 14,000 foot peak in Colorado.
People will think you are just fishing so they will ask "What are you catching?" Actually, they ask the same question on top of mountains where there is no water in sight.
Paul, W0RW
| KA4KOE | 2023-03-03 | |
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| Take It to the Beach: Pedestrian Mobile | ||
| Paul, glad to see that you are still at it! I recently got active in portable (not man portable) ops with POTA. | ||
| WB8VLC | 2023-02-14 | |
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| Re: Take It to the Beach: Pedestrian Mobile | ||
| I still find it more fun to talk to Bikini clad beach creatures with nice tans as opposed to talking with hams thousands of miles away on the beach and somehow that setup just doesn't cut it. Reply to a comment by : KC6RWI on 2023-02-12 Interesting, makes me think of the most read subject in my opinion on eham. The mention of grounding and how the salt makes a good ground and reception improves. Really like the radio set up you use | ||
| W0RW | 2023-02-14 | |
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| Re: Take It to the Beach: Pedestrian Mobile | ||
| The guys who have never operated /PM most often ask the following Q's: You are my first /PM contact... Glad to be... Give it a try for yourself. Do you have a ground? Yes, a Single Drag wire, ¼ wave at and above 40 meters. What kind of battery are you using? 14 - 26650 LiIon cells, 28V @ 8AH, That battery weighs 3 pounds... These great LiIon's give you twice the power at half the weight. Life is too short to carry heavy batteries around. How long can you operate? On SSB for 4 hours at 50W. Less on slow speed CW. Is it safe to be that close to your antenna? Yes, Depending on your Power, Duty cycle and Frequency. You can calculate the safe distances at the ARRL RF exposure calculator: http://arrl.org/rf-exposure-calculator How much does it cost/weigh? Where can i get one? Much $$$, 25 pounds and on eBay. Can i see a picture of it? See W0RW on QRZ.com http://www.qrz.com/db/w0rw/ i have a Yaesu/Icom, could i go /PM? i have always wanted to do that. Where can i get more info on /PM ops? Get WA3WSJ's Pedestrian Mobile Handbook http://www.lulu.com/shop/edward-breneiser/amateur-radio-pedestrian-mobile-handbook/paperback/product-16364181.html or See HFpack at https://groups.io/g/hfpack Also see "How to Operate /pm" at: http://qrper.net/viewtopic.php?t=78 What is your Antenna? i only use an 8 or 10 foot whip. The PRC319 runs 5 or 50W. i worked a fellow in the UK who was /pm. (That was Dave, G4AKC). i used one of those green radios in the Army. Thanks for your service. Can you work any DX. i have 210 countries so far. Just missed S01A. Do you must get good DX when you are at 14,000 feet? Well, A clear shot to the horizon is all you really need or operating on the side of a hill that acts as a reflector is good. If you can find a park with a big tall Base Ball back stop, that can give you 10 dB as a corner reflector in one direction. Do you work a lot of SOTA or POTA? Sometimes, But they don't offer any credits for coming and going to the Official Activation Site. i usually make 90% of my contacts coming or going from the site as i am hiking along the trail, so trail contacts don't count. i How much power do you need for good results? The best power to have is about 20W for SSB on 20M, using a loaded whip. 10M is a easier to operate because you can use a ¼ wave whip. For CW you only need 5W. Is it hazardous? Do you snag any trees or power lines? Not as bad as hitting a tree in your vehicular mobile. i just have to watch out for gopher holes. i only snag trees when i have my top hat on. How old is that PRC319 radio? 35 years old, all solid state. i worked you before 10 years ago, is that the same radio? Yep. Do you funny looks when you are walking around? Only when i have my tin foil hat on. What is 'your' most frequently asked question by visitors? Most are: Did you catch anything? or Are you tracking some wildlife? i have to avoid visitors because the 50W RF can trip off an embedded medical device like a defibrillator or pacemaker. Send me your Q's, Paul w0rw Reply to a comment by : W4AMP on 2023-02-13 Great article. | ||
| VK3YE | 2023-02-14 | |
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| Take It to the Beach: Pedestrian Mobile | ||
| HF pedestrian mobile is great fun. Doubly so with the improved conditions. Here's a sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qhy_LyaxN4 | ||
| W4AMP | 2023-02-13 | |
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| Take It to the Beach: Pedestrian Mobile | ||
| Great article. | ||
| W0RW | 2023-02-13 | |
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| Re: Take It to the Beach: Pedestrian Mobile | ||
| Thanks for the comment KC6RWI, Yes, Grounding is a big subject. My whip antenna has a 'counterpoise' but really it is just the other half of a dipole antenna. i don't have 120 radials under me, only one radial so it makes the antenna directional. i get less loss when the ''Ground" wire is pointed toward the station i am working. So i have to walk away from the station to have the least loss. (i never get any positive gain). i call the ground wire a 'Drag Wire' because it always drags behind me. Some times it is a quarter wave in length but on lower bands i don't use anything longer than 30 feet because it is too hard to handle. It gets snagged on rocks and cactus. There is a great article about Counterpoises' written by L.B. Cebik at: https://www.nonstopsystems.com/radio/pdf-ant/article-ant-elvtd-rads-LBC.pdf Paul w0rw Reply to a comment by : KC6RWI on 2023-02-12 Interesting, makes me think of the most read subject in my opinion on eham. The mention of grounding and how the salt makes a good ground and reception improves. Really like the radio set up you use | ||
| KC6RWI | 2023-02-12 | |
|---|---|---|
| Take It to the Beach: Pedestrian Mobile | ||
| Interesting, makes me think of the most read subject in my opinion on eham. The mention of grounding and how the salt makes a good ground and reception improves. Really like the radio set up you use | ||
