Yesterday I visited the Birkhead Wilderness Area and took my portable HF gear with me.... here is a picture of my setup.
My portable HF setup includes ... Yaesu FT-857D / LDG Z-11 Tuner / A123 Battery
Antenna used was a Mini-Buddipole ... set up as a dual-band vertical.
For VHF ... I used a Yaesu VX-5 handheld and a 2 meter (roll-up) J-pole
I operated on 20 meters and 17 meters.... and locally on 2 meters via area repeaters
Propagation was very poor on HF ... but still had fun and operated for 3 hours !!
Contacts on 20 meters were :
K0WA / Kansas
K0WJ / Kansas
W3FF / California
K4MK/ North Carolina
WA0TKF / Minnesota
K0OWL / Minnesota
KB0CH / Minnesota
NJ3D /Mobile / Oklahoma
Contacts on 17 meters were:
W3FF / California
HK4CZE / Columbia, SA
The A123 battery was very impressive ... as I operated just over 3 hours with 50 to 100 watts and still had battery power left when I packed up to leave !!
Best part is... the battery pack I used fits in the palm of your hand, and weighs just over 2 lbs ... perfect for hiking and backpacking into remote areas
My entire set-up including backpack weighed in at 25 lbs
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