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.

He gave no indication in the QSO where he was. From his online profile He appears to work or spend much of the year on ships. 

6 hours ago, W3JFK said:

Mine is to get back into the hobby after a nearly 20 year hiatus.  I've visited my local club (SVARC) and will be submitting an application at the next meeting.  My wife bought me a new IC-7300 and I'm setting up my shack this weekend.  Hope to be on the air to catch the RTTY Contest.

 Way to go, welcome back to the hobby, I think you’ll find the 7300 to be an excellent excellent radio. 

 This morning I was turning on the radio randomly scanning the 20 m band, when I heard a straight key CQ. 

Turned out to be G0HUZ/MM -  he was running 5 W from an elecraft KX3. We had a nice chat for about 20 minutes, really surprising, if you just randomly turn on your radio you never know what surprising exotic stations you may find. 

After doing some research on his call sign, I found out he operates from a cruise ship which is currently stationed in the Mediterranean near Greece.

 Online ship trackers show the current position of The ship. 

Not bad for five watts in a wire, once again proving the power of CW.

@K3MRI  fine business on the radio maker goals for the coming year. When and what is the Vienna QSO party?

My goals include making a tall inverted L about 60 feet tall. 

Yes, used for both HF and VHF in the mobile, love it.

Feel free to ask questions.

Glenn

KW4TO

Haven't worked any amateur satellites, but I am interested.

Pictures from Honolulu AUG 2018 anticipating Hurricane Lane - I think these were form my local CVS or Walmart, everyone was out of bottled water days before the storm arrived.

Yes just moved back from Oahu last month, in my last 2 years there we faced 2 hurricanes, both were fortunately near-misses.

Here are the forecast tracks for Lane AUG 2018, notice how most of them go directly over the islands, we were very fortunate, it turned west at the last minutes and avoided downtown Honolulu.  Stores were out of water, and gas stations empty as people hoarded in preparation.