[TenTec] A Fun Day with Ham Radio, and a Question about Portable Operating

[Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP]

Bob,

That's a pretty heavy looking antenna setup that N6CC is showing.

I have been running portable all of my ham life, including contesting from portable.
As I said in a previous post, nothing on the market beats the older Argonauts (505/509/515) for having multiple bands, a good RX, and VERY LOW battery drain on RX.

But for antennas, especially for backpacking, stuff like N6CC shows is still too heavy for certain types of portable operations.
Especially because he needs a heavier pole or mast to support the heavier antenna.  Wouldn't want to tote that up a mountain.

Last year I developed an antenna that is pretty unique and extremely lightweight.
This year I have even improved on it, but it's not quite finished.

My antenna from last year (it's Version 2) weighs just 335 gr. (12 oz.) including 36 ft. of coax.
The latest one (Version 3) weighs just 360 gr. (13 oz.) including 34 ft. of coax.

Version 2 works on 40/20/15/10m WITHOUT an antenna tuner.
Version 3 works on 40/20/15/10/6m WITHOUT an antenna tuner, AND on 17/12m with an antenna tuner.
Of course you can load it on 30m with a tuner, but the SWR is so high that the loss in the balun is excessive.

Version 3 is still being improved but it is already quite usable as is.

Take either of these and a lightweight fiberglass pole, extend the legs with lightweight fishing line (PFDF Monofil), tied as an inverted-V to ground stakes, and you are on the air on at least 4 bands.

Ver. 2:  http://www.dj0ip.de/off-center-fed-dipole/40m-ocf-1/version-2/ 
Ver. 3:  http://www.dj0ip.de/off-center-fed-dipole/40m-ocf-1/version-3/ 

I owned an FT-817 for just 2 weeks when they first came out.
It just wasn't my cup of tea.  The RX was totally crap, especially on 40m with a decent antenna, and 40m is my favorite band.  I had trouble adjusting the controls when mobiling from my RV while my XYL was driving - the knobs were just too tiny.  And the menu sucks.
I guess it depends on what your expectation level is for the radio. Mine is somewhat higher than what that radio offers.  It may be OK when operating just for fun, but I use my QRP stuff in contests and sometimes even win.

73
Rick, DJ0IP

-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Bwana Bob
Sent: Saturday, April 13, 2013 4:15 PM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Cc: Jack Emerson
Subject: Re: [TenTec] A Fun Day with Ham Radio, and a Question about Portable Operating

Jack:

Great story!

The radio of choice for portable operation seems to be the Yaesu FT-817. 
It runs 2.5W on internal battery and 5 W on external power People seem to really like them, though I hear that the receiver overloads in the presence of very strong signals, and some folks do not like the menu 
structure. I've never tried one myself.   Most of the other amateur 
radios advertised as "portable" draw 1 to 1.5 amps on receive, not too good for a battery power budget. At the other end of the spectrum are the military packsets, like the AN/PRC-104. They are cool, rugged, and expensive, even on the surplus market. Good for spot frequency use, but tuning the band won't be that much fun using the frequency selection switches. Again, I've never tried one.  In the middle is Ten Tec. While they don't seem to be marketing the Argonaut VI as a portable rig, Ten Tec has made efforts to keep the receive current drain down and 10 W is a more practical level that 2.5 or 5 W, especially for working SSB. A lower cost alternative, if you can find one would be the T-T Scout or Argosy.  I have successfully used my Scout portable on several occasions. I crank the power back to 25-30 W and it will run fine on CW on a 7 Ah battery for at least a couple of hours. A bigger battery, like those automotive jump starting packs, will give you longer run time. 
Running the Scout at lower power will also make it run cooler, which helps prevent  VFO drift. The receive current drain for the Scout is 600 mA.  I think that the Argo VI would be better, especially if one can buy or fabricate a pack or handles for it.

What do you use for antennas?  My portable preference is simple dipoles instead of the short, loaded dipoles and verticals.  I made a reel-out dipole from surplus AN/CRT-3 antenna reels and a smaller version using plastic "campers clothesline" reels. Here are some antenna ideas from
N6CC: http://www.n6cc.com/antenna-system-ideas

                 73, and let's hear more stories!

                 Bob WB2VUF