Here, I show you how to pack HF gear for wilderness hiking and camping. I detail equipment and simple setup. Rig is a Yaesu FT-817ND, Antenna is a home-brew dipole cut for 20m (40m extensions are not used, but shown), Battery is my trusty 9Ah Sealed Lead Acid (SLA), DC cord is an alligator clip lead. I spent about 5 hours on the hill, and made 9 unique QSOs to Canada and the US via QRP Portable in Vermont (FN32).
Also along for the trip, my Yaesu VX-8 HT, which I used with APRS Digi’s and the SOVARC Shaftsbury, VT Repeater. You may look up my hike path on an APRS server, use call KA1YBS-7 and a date of 20090808
I hope you enjoy the video. Please leave a comment. If you have any ham radio questions, please PM me or comment here.
73
Tim
KA1YBS
Video Rating: 4 / 5
@DJ7EC I failed in the Great Smoky Mountains 🙁 I put my 817 on loan to
KA1YBT to help het him on the air. He has limited time once the ice and
snow of 2011 melts, however! 🙂
Thanks Barry! I had fun mashing up the “music” too 🙂 I am hoping to find
some time to do a how to: HF mobile before too long as well. Thanks again,
73
A very interesting video.
can you get Pandora? Man if this is our Freedom fighters we might as well
hand our shoes over to China!
@KA1YBS I second the notion to get rid of the sla. I’m considering a
LiFePo4 battery for my setup…more expensive initial outlay, but it’s
lighter an will last longer.
No, unless you were on a strict budget AND wanted to go portable. There are
other QRP rigs to consider (Elecraft, Icom and Homebrew). I recommend a
100W mobile rig that can be turned down to 5W and under if you wanted the
best of both worlds. The Icom 7000 is such a rig (There are others of
course) that one I own and could use it for both. It is a bit pricey to
throw in a backpack, however!
You can get special waxed string on a spool for throwing up trees, features
a braid which leaves no bits to catch on bark. Used by arborist to haul
their climbing ropes up.
Hell of a great vid! Did you do the sampling and background music yourself?
What program are you using? 73 Henrik
I’ve been thinking about doing this for a CB radio, I just need to figure
out how to build a battery that will last a little more than 10 minutes and
supply the radio with some decent current.
this was a fine video! welldone I think i will get interested in in hf
portable out doors(after i upgrade) 73′
Very nice! I am interested in QRP myself and plan to get a 817 as well. I
will stick with 2M sideband until I upgrade out of Tech. Great job, looks
like a heck of a lot of fun.
Will this unit hold up to an EMP hit?
More like this is good 🙂
Enjoyed video. Thanks.
The music is WAY to interruptive to the dialog.
Enjoyed the video. Appreciate the effort to put this up.
did you stop making videos?
Nice demonstration Tim. Mike/W6QT