Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Or in ham terms, did you build a base station that you made portable or vice versa?
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Every day I talk to ham radio operators about various rabbit holes that make up our hobby. There are many holes one can choose to explore, and there’s no right or wrong answer regarding which avenue you take.
I really enjoy portable operations. Others get on the air from an office or work area with little exposure to the outside. For a growing number of amateurs these days, though, the last thing they want to do is be confined to an office (or shack) for their hobby. Portable operations allow them to experience all the majesty that is ham radio in the great outdoors.
Years ago, portable operations consisted of unhooking your base radio and finding a way to use it in the field. There has been an explosion in portable radios and devices designed specifically for portable operations like Parks On The Air® (POTA). It has become so popular that many operators I talk to who are constrained by apartment/condo life or HOA rules just want to build a good solid portable station. They build it with the intent of one day maybe adapting it for use at their residence.
You can build a very modest POTA station cost effectively.
For example, a Yaesu FT-891 paired with a Bioenno Power BLF1220A LiFePo4 Battery and a DX Engineering Low Power Dipole and Winder Kit tuned for the band(s) you want to operate on is really all you need. You have just built a 100W HF portable station for under $1,000. Yes, other items would make it nicer, but this would get you on the air and having fun quickly and efficiently.
A few years ago, no one thought of building a portable operating kit before putting together a well-appointed home station. With the changes to our culture, we as a hobby must change how we look at things. In all reality, having a reliable portable station that can easily be adapted to use in the home makes great sense. After all, the driving force behind many of us getting into the hobby was to be able to communicate in the event of a really-bad-day scenario.
You could take that same transceiver and use it in the home with only a couple of modifications. First, replace the battery with a 12VDC Power Supply and have an antenna better suited for permanent installation like the Par EndFedz EF-8010-JRKW (below) or the Alpha EmComm MagLoop. You could have these set up at home and simply grab the transceiver to take into the field.
This is just one of the many options for a portable/base interchangeable setup. A quick call to DX Engineering will put you in touch with a ham operator who will take you through getting your station the way you want it.
Be sure to check out DX Engineering’s Pre-Configured Portable HF Operation Gear Packages to get your creative juices flowing.
Until next time, 73 de AC8OW
