These are some videos of my new light-weight backpack radio. It is made out of a Yaesu FT-857D. The whip is 2.9m long and the antenna tuner is an SG-211. Thebattery is home made out of 4Ah NiMH cells and the power I was using was 20W.
The battery is a home-made 13.2V NiMh battery and the antenna is a 2.9m whip of military origin. My first QSO was with Canadian station VE2JCW on 20m SSB when I was tuning my antenna, before I could start the video recording.
The second QSO with IW3RUA from the North of Italy was on 17m SSB, and I was delighted to get such a good signal report.
The final QSO with the Czech Republic was slightly more difficult, but the new little manpack behaved like a champion. Test passed!
Looks like a nice man-pack! Puts my installation in the car to shame ;-)
ReplyDelete(located from the Yahoo FT-857 Group)
Very nice Diego. What make/model whip do you use? I had to look up the tuner - very good specs but discontinued and commands a high price. Hope to work you soon.
ReplyDelete73, Bill KJ4VTH
Excellent idea and results, Diego. I was very pleasantly surprised at the results obtained in this fashion. 73 from Puerto Rico... KP4 LAND.
ReplyDeleteBill,
ReplyDeleteThe whip is of unknown military origin, bought in Greece. It is 9.5ft long, colapsible in 8 sections.
It must be a sort of European version of the AT-271, because it is marked as such but the thread at the bottom is metric (M10) so I could not use the standard 3/8x24 antenna mounts and had to make my own instead.
73
Detail pictures of how you put the set together would be very nice.
ReplyDeleteAt 46 seconds on the first video I see a wire (a ground /radial) trailing on your right hand side.....
ReplyDeleteHow long is this wire?
A radial this long can not be safely used in town without some mishap to other pedestrians.
Which bands were you operating on ?
I have comtemplated using the ATAS antenna system when backpacking.
73
Keith
M0KLL
Dear Keith M0KLL,
ReplyDeleteThe radial I was using on this test was 9m long. It came directly from the Clansman counterpoise set (British military surplus). I don't think you need such a long dragwire for the higher bands though, nor the plastic spool at the end either. I agree it is not practical.
The ATAS is a good option. I have only tested the mobile version (ATAS 120) and the advantage of the tuner-whip tandem is that it is much faster to change bands looking for a QSO.
73 de Diego EC1CW
I said that the whip was marked AT271 but I was wrong. In fact it is marked ANT 129.
ReplyDeleteNice Work and Videos... Cheers! 73 - Karan, VU2YEP (New Delhi, INDIA)
ReplyDeleteBravo! great videos,
ReplyDelete73 de John ZL1PO
Hamilton,NEW ZEALAND
Nice videos and a great concept.
ReplyDeleteI operate /Pedestrian Mobile using also the FT-857, MFJ-934 Ground Tuning Unit and Manual Tuning, 12V 60 AHr battery and antenna is a Full size 1/4 wave vertical mounted on a SOTA pole with a 'Top Hat'all mounted on a two wheeled 'old ladies' shopping trolley.
Details can be found at my website: http://www.cqportable.webs.com
73's
Ian 2E0EDX
Great site and great rig. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete