The HX Files 006

Hello and welcome to excerpt 006 from my files.

35 el Tonna and 10m telescopic mast and base.

 This time we have a look at portable operation. The first thing you do when planning a

portable operation is make a list . Just ask anyone that has gone portable if they had forgotten anything the first time they went out . When you have make up your list, how

about doing a dummy run and set up the portable station out in your garden,
 (see photo 1 on the right ) as if it was miles from home to see if you have forgotten anything.
You don’t have to erect anything just lay it all on the ground and see would you

have a working station if it all was connected. My first foray into ATV/P was not perfect (gosh!) as I had forgotten a couple of SMA to N adaptors but as I was only a

Photo 4.

couple of kilometres from my home a quick dash there and back (after having to put some of the gear back into the car) and I was able to keep my skeds with the late Dermot EI2AK, Michael EI5GG and Mark EI9FX. I could have easily been kilometres away and that would not have been a good thing and it could have put an end to that portable event . At the time photo number 1 was taken I had only one 1.2 GHz Tx and Rx unit and I was scared that anything would happen to them. As they had the SMA connectors on them also I had to be careful not to damage the threads on them with all the disconnecting and reconnecting going from home to /portable . As I mentioned in an earlier file I put them into a couple of project boxes to keep them safer and dry, just in case it would rain while I was out and about . In photo number 1 you can see the 35 element Tonna for 1.2 GHz on the mast before it can be raised it to its full height of 10 meters. Photo 4 shows it up the full height.If you go to the Dundalk A.R.S. web site (ei7dar.com) you can see some video of a test I did with some of my portable ATV gear with Derek EI7CHB and Mark EI9FX from outside the home of Thos EI2JD in Clogherhead. In that video you can see the 35 element Tonna mounted on a 3 metre mast with the Rx unit attached direct to the Tonna and the dc and audio/video cables hanging loose from the Rx unit. (Also visible is the monitor which was a portable DVD

 Photo 2. 1.2.GHz Transceiver & monitor

player that I bought as a monitor only as the DVD player was broken).You can also see a 1.2 GHz Rx (purchased from G1MFG). It is a self contained unit with a frequency display.Photo numbers 2 and 3 show a couple of new 1.2 GHz ATV Tx/Rx units I am
working on at the moment that will cut down on the amount of cables and leads Ihave been using and it will mean I will have a self-contained unit and not havehalf a dozen bits to wrap up for portable work. (And not having the inside of the car looking like someone threw a pot of spaghetti over the seats).

Photo 2 above, is of a 2 watt Tx/Rx that is up and running and photo 3 on the left is of a 20’ish watt Tx/Rx that has a few more hours left on it before being completed .I find going portable great fun ,even in the bad weather (yeah right!) as it all adds to the experience of yet another portable event and the confidence you get from another successful outing will spur you on to go portable yet again, hail rain snow or sunshine (whatever that is).

Although when you are putting all the gear together, and you see what you have to assemble, for in some cases just a couple of hours, you have to wonder where the fun part is . Sure if it all gets too much for you, and if the tablets don’t work, you can always take a break in the home for the bewildered. Take care when you set up your portable station and think about the cables and wires that you have setup, and the visitors that may call to your site, as some of them maybe cursed with two left feet.

Thanks yet again to Thos EI2JD for taking the photo’s for me.
May all your signals be P5.

73 from Pat EI2HX.