Posted: 1/12/2017 9:42:07 PM EDT
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So I intended on going to a location out in the desert where my daughter and I frequently go when we go "out" for breakfast. That is, we pack a camp stove, some pancake mix, bacon and what not. It's part of an old mine site and I always looked at it as a good place to get the antenna elements up due to the terrain. And it had a nice shade tree to park under. Muy importante here in the Mojave. Some nearby mountains though might have created problems with radiation pattern but I won't get to find out as the place is gone. The blasted BLM came in and tore the place down and pretty much leveled it. Thousands of old mine sites in the state and they were worried about this one? So that set me back in time as I had to go select an alternate site.
The winds were up so setting up was difficult and I needed another set of guy lines for my mast--a 22' painters pole on a PA tripod. I made the mistake of setting it on a hill with my 40M elements running down hill and not giving them much height at he ends. Didn't think it was going to be an issue until I ran the line out. Might have been ok for shorter 20M elements but I didn't want to pull it down and change things as I was already late. I'm surprised my painter's pole held up as well as it did as it had quite a bit of bend going on, looking like a fly rod at times. The 40M dipole I had made was just off some basic measurements and hadn't been tuned before. My first SWR was showing at over 10 all across the band. Not wanting to spend time tuning it I thought I'd see if I could just connect the LDG tuner and tune it up. Sure enough it tuned up just right. But man it took time tuning curning up and down all over to find a match. But it'd manage to give me a match under 1.5 so there was that. Bands were nice and quiet, almost too quiet. Then I realized why--when I put my hand in my pocket I found my 239-239 coax coupler. Uhh whoops.  . I know folks talk about the LDG tuners being able to tune a wet noodle. In this case it was able to tune up a 100' section of coax lying on the ground.
Once I got that sorted and connected the two coax segments I was getting an SWR of under 1.5 (as per the radio) wherever I was on the band. So with that I put the tuner away as I was wanting to go without it. Called some CQ Arfcom but no takers. Tried some digital but the waterfall was dead. Tried some more CQ Arfcom on psk31 and Olivia but nada. Finally went back to 7.285 phone and just threw a CQ out and quickly got a call back from an AZ station who had me at 57. That'll work. QSOed for a bit but then it started to rain. And while I wasn't concerned about the IC-7200 or the Panasonic toughbook, the last time I thought I would just push through a little sprinkling of rain I about turned into Noah. Didn't hookup the solar which was what I wanted to do most of all but the skies remained overcast. I had hoped the skies would have cleared but even when I saw it was going to remain overcast I decided taking a ride in the buggy and operating was still better than sitting at home. I've been sitting on this solar panel since Christmas and I haven't seen this many overcast days in the desert since I don't know when. So even a bad day operating is better than not operating. Some pics: The Hamaha (or is it Yamaham) all loaded up: Attached File Operating setup: Attached File Antenna: Attached File Old (planned) site: Attached File What it looks like now (no thanks to the BLM): Attached File |
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I want to get on the ATV "hamwaggon" next summer.
We have thousands of miles of ATV trails here in Maine so much of the state is accessible. Many lakeside campsites are really nice so I I'm thinking of taking the old Icom 728, spare battery and some wire & heading out. Prolly stick to 20 & 40M on a dipole. Plenty of trees for support. If & when it happens I'll post it and pick a few SSB freqs to haunt. Maybe....just maybe I can hook up with a few of the arfcommers. Looks like OP lost a nice place to chill out..damn shame. Thanks for the AAR & pics. |
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Great activation. Looks like fun and props for getting the younguns out there with you.
Do you run the 7200 directly off battery, or do you have one of those voltage boosters to get 13.8? I have run mine direct off battery before, but have been looking into those. |
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Thanks for that write-up and especially the pics. I love to see how other folks do their portable setups. I have a 7200 and a BuddiPole and have run a few portable ops, but I really need to get out more.
I have run my 7200 for hours from a 35 AH AGM battery. I've seen voltage drop to as low as 11.0V on transmit but haven't had a drop out. I have one of the MFJ Battery Boosters, and it works, but I never use it. Being retired and home most days as the day care provider for my 10 month old grandson, If someone gives me a heads up when they are heading out I can try to monitor a couple of the ARFCOM freqs from here in Central Texas. I can work SSB, digital, and even (really slow) CW. Those on the ARFCOM digital net that know my callsign can look up my email addy on QRZ and drop me an email if they wish. |
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Looks like a nice outing despite the weather and the damn Gubmint'. By the way, you had me at "bacon."
I used to spend as many days as possible out in our local deserts during the cooler weather. It was a grand place, full of interesting topography, great archeological sites and most of all, FREEDOM. You were utterly on your own, and that's the way I like it! But our corrupt state senator did a federalized land grab and created a "desert protection area." This of course, after she had her supporters buy up large tracts of land which were then purchased by the Govt' at inflated values. Now, heaven help you if motor on to any of these thousands of acres, and especially if you do a little safe recreational shooting. Someone with a badge will show up and want to inspect all your arms, record serial numbers, etc. I think you may be permitted to walk within this vast area, hug trees and drink green tea. Anything else and you are an instant suspect. I'm not angry about it though... 
Cheers... Jim |
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Quoted:
Great activation. Looks like fun and props for getting the younguns out there with you. Do you run the 7200 directly off battery, or do you have one of those voltage boosters to get 13.8? I have run mine direct off battery before, but have been looking into those. (For the TLDR folks, skip to the bold below  )
I run straight from battery. I have one 12Ah LiFePO4 battery (the blue one) that I primarily use for /P and it holds voltage quite well. Also brought a 18Ah AGM (gray w/ blue top), and a couple 13Ah AGMs (in the plastic Harbor Freight ammo cans). They fit with some room to spare in the ammo cans, so a little foam would be handy, although I just used shop towels. I have 7 of the 13Ah (EnerSys Odyssey 545) batteries I got second hand, and while they are a few years old, they seem to still work well. While they are heavy at about 13# each, for the price (free) I can't complain. For them I am adding a second Power Pole connection on them so that I can daisy chain them in parallel to provide a bigger bank to run from. Need to get more ammo cans for them the next time Harbor Freight runs a sale on them. While the IC-7200 will transmit okay with 11volts of operating voltage, it'll only peak about 50W SSB (from a peak of 100). In some simple tests I've noticed the following in dialing back the voltage on my SPS-30DM power supply: 13.0V - 100W peak 12.5V - 90W peak 12.0V - 80W peak 11.5V - 70W peak 11.0V - 50W peak 10.5V - 40W peak with display dimming 10.0V - 20W peak with lots of dimming and audio coming back into my headphones (no bueno) < 10.0V - display dims on receive until shutting off at 9.5 volts. SLAs will quickly run down to the high 11's and low 12's but stay there for a fair amount of time. The difference from 100W to 70W is less than 1.5dB drop, and even the 3dB hit at 50W is only half an S-unit. But by that it's time to start look at changing the battery as it really starts to drop fast from there and you want to avoid going under 10.5V (1.75V/cell) as permanent damage to the battery's cells can result. While the battery will likely snap back from a high current draw to 10.5 or less, the radio itself will start to display erratic behavior if it doesn't power off on you when you try and transmit. And if you are discharging a battery below 10.5V at a slow rate it will not snap back at which point you run the risk of damaging the battery. Also, while not an issue with a desktop power supply that can deliver constant amperage, what I found is that when the battery gets down between 10.5 and 11V the power draw from the radio can be such that it'll just shut down while transmitting while the battery struggles to provide what the radio is pulling. Downside I see to the voltage booster (excluding size/weight from QRP standpoint) is that they consume more current to provide the increased voltage. So while I have thought about picking up a voltage booster, I don't see that it really brings that much to the table, picking up a fraction of and at most a half an S-unit on the other end at the expense of shorter operating time. While the MFJ-4416B (as an example) operates from 9-14V to provide 12-14V, if you run your 12V battery down to 9V you will likely damage it. It could be useful for other items you may be powering, such as a laptop charger, that may be finicky in voltage requirements. If that's the case and you need one, well then you need one. Otherwise, if you can operate fine without it then continue to do so. For the $150 of that MFJ unit you'd probably be better off simply putting the money into a couple AGMs or a nice LiFePO4 battery. |
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Very nice setup-
I have a Polaris Ranger 570 Crew that I kind of do the same thing with. FT-857D, (2) 35AH batteries and a set of 2 or 4 panels depending on the gear loadout. The antenna is a dipole, either vertical or horizontal depending on the trees. The mount is an L shaped one I shove in the receiver hitch with a 2 inch vertical riser that sticks up above the bed about 10 inches. I have (4) 4-foot fiberglass poles that I drop in the vertical, and they go up about 17 feet or so. I can add more for higher angle of radiation, but when I'm doing the backcountry thing, I am usually just looking for NVIS communications. The head of that pole has a rotatable cap that can if needed support a 2-Meter beam. (Have not tested that theory yet) As for BLM, and that includes the USFS, they have come into my area and knocked down old cabins, tore out old corrals from the 19th century, and with no explanation. Effectively, destroying monuments to history. They have eliminated old roads that have been in existence for the same time frame, and it's noe biting them in the backside during fire season as there is no enough access. (Sorry, small series of bones to pick regarding their actions here in the Payette National Forest) |
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What are you using to transport your solar panels?
I was thinking some kind of case like that for a presentation easel, but the commercial ones are too small. Perhaps a local canvas shop could make something for me. I figure some sheets of corrugated plastic (that stuff they make signs from) sewn in on the front and the back for protection and rigidity would do the trick, with maybe some 1/8" sheet foam as well. |