Jim:
I would just like to point to a very nice (if somewhat costly) piece of
radio equipment, The Buddipole from: http://www.buddipole.com/ It
is an extremely flexible antennae system, which gives you coverage from the
40 meter band through
the 2 meters - it is possible to tinker with a lot of different setups and
it has a proven track record and is currently in use with your Special Forces
teams as well as numerous hams. Budd Drummond who runs the company also has
a very
good
customer
service and is a great person to discuss antenna needs with. (Just for a teaser:
the smallest variation of the system weighs 2 pounds and is approximately 13
inches long - how is that for portability?)
As for further investigations into "stealth operations", I would
like to recommend this site: http://www.tech-pro.net/g4ilo/index.html ,
its a ham
in England with interesting solutions to running low to none visibility stations
with various equipment. - "Beau-Cephus"
James:
Regarding the HF stations in today's blog: The "MFG" cited should read
"MFJ". [JWR
adds: I just went and fixed that. Thanks!]
See: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/index.php
I
would also recommend a BETTER quality than the little travel tuner. Why go
so small when
your already toting around a pack full of other gear. The SGC ADSP2 is way
overkill at $130 its a bit much for a survival station. I would also suggest
adding a good set of headphones to the list. The "spool of wire" should
be a bit more descriptive. What kind of wire, For power? for antenna?, co-ax?
If for power, then you should not have a very long run. If for antenna the
list should also include "antenna building" supplies such as insulators
and center conductors. Might want to include some coax to connect the antenna
to the radio as well as some patch cables to connect he radio to the tuner.
The Ham stick is a single band antenna, you would need a pack of hamsticks
to cover
many bands as well as a ground mounting system. No mention of how your going
to connect or hold the UHF/VHF antenna up in the air. Need some mast and co-ax
Why go to a sub laptop, use a normal sized one. Again you already need a Sherpa
to carry all this stuff. How big of a solar panel does he plan on carrying?
The 706 draws 2 amps at idle with no audio, Its a power pig and not very solar
friendly. Same issue with the battery Not sure if he talking about 16 D cell
batteries. If so they things will be drained in just an hour with JUST the
706. I can
drain a car battery in a weekend if I leave my 706 on all the time. Not that
this is not a good radio, I have 4 of them, but his List is just incomplete
and not functional as a portable station without a good power source handy.
Also just a note, the 706 will go on the AM broadcast band with mods, Its just
above
the 160m ham band. If you want a true ham portable station the SGC 2020
or the Yaesu 817 is your only option. If you want a GOOD package station then
the Yaesu 897 is a good option. - Gary
in Ohio