- Five pieces of equipment.
Only five.
That's all you need
to have a successful portable activation.
Be it POTA or SOTA, this will get you on the air.
(upbeat music)
Hi, I'm Michael, KB9VBR, your host for Ham Radio Q&A.
I'm on a mission to inspire and educate
the amateur radio community.
And today we are gonna talk about the five things
that you need for getting out into the field
for a portable ham radio operation.
So stop buying gear.
You already have many, if not all, of these five pieces
in your arsenal.
But let's start out with the transceiver.
Ham radio transceivers come in all shapes and sizes,
and some models are specifically designed
for portable operation.
But you don't need a fancy, expensive rig to get on the air.
What you are using in the shack will work just fine
and you can use it in the field.
For years and years, my Icom IC-718 served double duty
as both my field my and my shack radio.
And once I felt that I wanted to do more operating outdoors,
I added a more portable specific rig to the mix
in the form of the Yaesu FT-891.
Did I need to do that?
No, but it made my life easier
and portable operation more convenient.
So get started with what you have.
And if you enjoy it, well then consider upgrading
to something more portable specific.
The keystone of your portable system is the antenna.
Antennas come in all shapes and sizes,
and there is no right or wrong antenna to use.
Every antenna has their trade-offs,
and efficiency needs to be weighed against portability
and ease of setup.
I carry three simple antennas with me,
a homebrew 20 and 40 meter dipole antenna,
a vertical antenna in the form of a Wolf River Coil,
and an end fed half wave antenna.
I've got other options,
but these three give me the versatility
to be able to deploy in a wide variety of settings.
This setup is also relatively inexpensive.
You can build the dipole antenna for only a few dollars.
I have a video that tells you how to that
down below in the description.
And the other two antennas are reasonably affordable.
If I wanted to start even simpler,
I'd leave out the end fed half wave
and just focus on the dipole and vertical.
But you will wanna have an antenna in your kit
that you can deploy
without relying on trees as a means of support,
as a tree may not be available
or allowed to be used at your location.
Power is necessary, and in the field, battery power is king.
But how much power do you need?
Well in most cases,
a 12 amp hour lithium iron phosphate battery
will give you a couple hours of operating time.
And if you turn your transmit power down to 50 or 25 watts,
you can extend its life even longer.
Lithium iron phosphate batteries
have become quite inexpensive
and their light weight and long life
make up for the cost difference
as compared to a 12 volt AGM or marine battery.
I like to use this 12 amp hour battery myself.
I have a link to it in the description,
and I also have a little larger 20 amp hour battery
that I will use for longer activations.
But compared to AGM batteries that I used to use,
these lithium iron phosphate batteries are lighter,
they last longer, and they charge faster.
You'll need coaxial cable to connect everything up.
In the field, I use RG-8X,
as it is lightweight and inexpensive.
And it also has good loss characteristics for the HF band.
So, I'm really not losing any efficiency
using this lightweight cable.
I will carry two 50-foot lengths, and two 25-foot pieces.
But starting out, you know, one 50-foot
and one 25-foot piece will get you going.
Having an extra piece of cable with you
is good in case a connector breaks
or the cable gets damaged.
Plus I've been in situations where a 50 feet wasn't enough
to deploy the antenna where I wanted to,
so adding that extra 25 feet let me put the antenna
and the radios exactly where I wanted them to be.
Some of my favorite cables
are down in the video description below.
Now, let's talk logging.
You need to keep track of your contacts.
So logging them is important
and is easy as using a piece of paper.
I like to use a Steno book for paper logging.
You know sheets are all in order
and the six by nine inch size seems to be just perfect.
But if you like pre-printed forms,
Rusty, N0KTZ makes a nice one
that is available on his website.
I've got a link below.
But what about if you wanna bring the computer
into the field.
Well, computer logging
makes the after action logging process so much easier
as you don't have to re-enter the contacts
into a logging program to build the ADI file for submission.
HAMRS is a popular choice for a lightweight,
Parks on the Air specific logging app
and is available on a wide variety of platforms.
N3FJP also makes a popular logging program
for contests and special events,
and has a general logging app
for Windows machines that works well for Parks on the Air.
Whatever you choose,
you know, pick something you are comfortable with,
as contacts are gonna come in hot and heavy
once you get on the air.
And that's it.
Those five things that you need
for a successful portable operation.
Nothing more is really necessary.
And you can get on the air
and have a great time with the bare minimum of equipment.
And I bet that you already have many of the pieces already.
But if you are looking for a couple of things
to make your life easier,
here are two optional pieces of gear.
First is the antenna analyzer.
It is invaluable in the field to check your antenna system
and tune and adjust your vertical antenna.
I use the RigExpert AA Stick analyzer for that purpose.
But an inexpensive NanoVNA will also work too.
Just not as elegantly as the Stick.
Actually, you can get by without the analyzer
by using the SWR meter in the transceiver
and making a few test transmissions at low power.
Next up is the antenna tuner.
Tuners help match non-resonant antennas to your transceiver
and extend the bandwidth of a resonant antenna.
But a tuner isn't necessary.
If you are using one of these three basic antennas
such as a dipole, end fed, or adjustable vertical antenna.
Some rigs even have a tuner built in,
and their three to one matching capabilities
may be sufficient for your needs.
But really, you know, when you are just getting started,
pick an antenna that doesn't require a tuner,
and you can avoid that piece of optional equipment.
These simple building blocks are all you need.
So what are you waiting for?
Don't let others tell you that you need this or that
or the other thing
for a successful Parks on the Air activation.
You probably have most of the parts already,
and your cell set to get on the air.
So leave me a comment and tell me your experience.
Once you've assembled these five things,
and you wanna go to the next level,
I do have a video on 10 simple hacks
to make your Parks on the Air activation more enjoyable.
You can click over here to keep watching.
But that's it for this time,
I'm Michael, KB9VBR.
Have a great day and 73.
(upbeat music)