I’ve set up a YouTube account where I’ll be posting video recordings of radio-related activities. As I learn more about HF radio and about QRP operation, I’ll post what I’ve learned.
http://www.youtube.com/user/KF7DVJ
Also, I’ve posted my first video on YouTube – it’s about my ultra-mobile bicycle emergency communications rig. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKfxzOKIMaY
Today was Centerville’s Independence Day parade, and I was able to be net control for the parade. Lots of fun! This article is more about my mobile emcomm unit than about the parade, though.
Wanting to test out my emergency communications, I chose to do the parade using my FT-817 QRP (low-power) radio. The 817 is essentially a hand-held radio in a larger box—it’s an all-band radio (HF, VHF, UHF) with a max output power of 5 watts in any mode.
I’ve had my 817 for about two months now and have really enjoyed using it, although I’ve had less than exceptional success using the HF bands for voice (I have succeeded to have digital conversations using PSK-31 and my laptop, though). It’s all about the antenna and the timing—more on that in another article.
My 817 has a couple of modifications, including:
One Big Punch speech compressor, to increase readability on voice/SSB transmissions.
2700 mAH battery for much longer battery life (factory default is a paltry 1800 mAH)
One Fast Charger reduces charging time from 18 hours to just over 2 hours.The battery has been helpful. In fact, today I did an entire parade (7:00 AM till 10:15 AM) on my 2700 mAH battery. Didn’t even have to connect!
My stated goal was to perform net control duties using a low-power VHF rig. I also wanted to test my field setup, which includes a home-brew J-pole antenna for 2 m made of simple, cheap ladder line. It worked stupendously!
My antenna is about 57” long, made of ladder-line. I connect to it with a 6’ piece of coax with alligator clips. I’ve stripped away a fair amount of the insulation, giving plenty of room for tuning this antenna. It’s ultra-light, and it’s--surprisingly enough--a gain antenna! With a simple male-to-male coax adapter, I connected a 10’ coax line to the short line coming off the antenna. The antenna is slightly directional, but for the most part works efficiently in 360 degrees. It worked amazingly well for the parade; never an issue and the 817’s SWR meter never registered! I did decide to hook the hot portion of the coax line to the shortest section of the antenna; don’t know if it made a measurable difference or not.
My antenna mast was a simple 10’ piece of 3/4” PVC pipe. The only modification I’d like to do here is cut it into sections to fit into my bike trailer or my go kit.
I have wrapped up construction on my go-kit (see my blog posting on the kit), and it’s really ready for use. I’m playing with what I keep in the kit, but today I had:
The beauty of this go-kit is how well it fits into my bike trailer. Which puts the ‘ultra’ in ultra-mobile!
I was the first person around, so for a while I was just sitting on the stairs with my radio on my go-kit lid. Finally the announcer arrived and soon we were ready to go. Pretty easy – you can see the power cable coming up between my 817 and my HT. Note that it’s not plugged into anything. I did the entire parade w/o additional power. Although each one of my solar-charged SLAs will run the 817 for 24+ hours (with two in my go-kit and the ability to add two more, that means I can operate up to 4 days without a power source).
In the event of a disaster, I don’t know if my vehicles will be available or not. But we own around 10 bikes, and a little “Bob Yak” bike trailer as well. So for the parade (not wanting to mess with parking), I loaded up the bike trailer and headed down!
Like I said, I’m planning to cut the antenna down to fit in the trailer or in the go-kit itself, but haven’t done it yet.
So there you go – a parade in a box. Just add some marching bands, a whole smattering of politicians, and a lot of sun!
