KW4TO

David, My recent conversations with POTA activators show mobile (from car or truck) operations are very common. Many parks (Espies. National parks) have restrictions about any wires touching trees, or even spikes in the ground. For this reason many operators are operating mobile HF stations, or semi-mobile. For example One setup I use is a Buddi-stick vertical whip which can be set in 5 minutes after parking a car, attached with a HF mag mount to the roof. This way you can quickly break-down when ready to leave and remove the antenna. Look into how crowded the park will be you have in mind, and the potential to use radials, wires in trees, etc. Crowds and regulations in a particular park can have a big impact on what antennas are possible. Personally I like the convenience for POTA of HF mobile. For SOTA, I like light weight end fed wave wave wire antennas, ideally cut for the band of use. In the woods, after a deep hike there is usually enough space and lack of crowds to throw a wire in the trees near the summit. 73 Glenn KW4TO

Please chase us tomorrow on 20m cw and 146.52 FM - I will be activating Stony man Mountain along with W4MAF. Activation time around noon EST. See SOTAWATCH for real time spots and alerts. https://sotawatch.sota.org.uk For more info see SOTA Summits: https://summits.sota.org.uk/resources W4V/SH-002 - Stony Man (10pts, 1223m.) Hope to hear you! Glenn KW4TO

Please let us know what you decide, I agree the IC-7100 is an excellent value radio, and unique in it's all band capabilities. You could certainly incorporate a 7100 in a portable box, with the control head external. It does not have an internal tuner, so you'll probably want an external auto-tuner. As an added bonus, you'll be able to use the 7100 as a remote head radio (see http://www.remoterig.com). Just remember to keep a well regulated power supply as part of your design.

PS After some brief research most 100W radios have a 13.7v plus/minus 15% voltage tolerance, including the 7100 and Yaesu 891. So assuming you want a 100W radio, you could consider the ic-7100, Yaesu 857d, or the yeasu 891 - all good options. The Yaesu have advantage on compact form factor. The 857d, although older vintage, does offer HF, VHF, UHF.

I'm a big fanboy of the IC-7100 as it's one of the only radios that offers VHF, UHF, HF all band all mode plus DSTAR. I have 2 of them - one for the car, and one for home shack. However, one weakness to keep in mind for portable operations is that the IC-7100 in my experience is very sensitive to voltage, it does not seem to tolerate fluctuations, and will shut down. Remember it was primarily designed as a mobile rig, so it likes a steady 12.7 volts. IF you could provide a reliable power source with constant steady voltage, I think the 7100 could make an excellent go kit type radio. If not, there may be other radios designed for field use that tolerate wider voltage ranges. My yeasu ft-817 (QRP radio) for example easily works from 13v down to about 9 volts happily. Best of luck and let us know what you decide.