Portable Operating for Amateur Radio

 

ISBN: 978-1-62595-080-2

by Stuart Thomas, KB1HQS

Portable Operating for Amateur Radio

Contents

Preface

About the Author

About the ARRL

1. Overview
2. Types of Portable Operating
3. Organizing and Carrying Your Equipment
4. Radios for Portable Operating
5. Power Sources
6. Portable Antennas
7. Propagation and Spotting
8. On the Air Activities
9. Accessories and Tools
10. Logging Contacts

Appendix - Online Resources

Index

First ISS Slow Scan TV Image

Wow, lots of firsts, it's only four months since I received my license. At the time, I had no idea that I could do such things. I knew from earlier study back in the 80's that hams could send a rudimentary television signal but I did not know the ISS sent one that I could receive.

My friends always tease me, "Adam, why don't you just turn on Netflix or pull up a video?" and I get it. But I'm having fun doing it myself, exploring the capabilities of amateur radio.

For those of you reading along that are not radio operators, just to get this image, I have to track the ISS, make sure it is sending the images, capture a sound file, run it through a program to decode and make the sound into a picture. The tone has a pleasing beeping to it, kind of sounds like a hang gliding variometer as you are drifting around in bouyant air without a centralized area of lifting.

For the next few days, the ISS will transmit 12 images, I'll shoot for as many as I can get during that time.

Only a big deal to me. And maybe my family because they know it makes me happy to work on these projects and see them through.

Arrow Antenna 1/4 Wave Ground Plane 144 - 440

I made my own 1/4 wave ground plane right after I got my technician license. I didn’t know if this was going to be my thing. I had an aluminum sailboard mast already in use for my hand made antenna. It worked well but after using the Arrow Yagi for APRS through the ISS and it working like a charm, I knew I was going to get the Arrow 1/4 wave. This one is the combo that ads in a 440 element.

Arrow makes really nice amateur radio antennas.

APRS - ISS (International Space Station) Communications

One of the first things that I wanted to do with my little Yaesu FT-3D was to receive and bounce packets through the ISS. As soon as I had built my 1/4wave ground plane antenna, I tried a few times with no success. Little did I know that it was not me, the ISS had a faulty connection on a prior space walk upgrade. Recently they did another space walk and repaired the system back to it's original configuration and I was able to connect.

First impressions are not about the radio but how big the space station is as it arcs across the sky. This thing is HUGE and it's not a pin point, it appears to be a big fuzzy dot cruising faster than airliners do, it's also bigger.

ARISS

Arrow Antenna

Yaesu FT-3D

Kenwood TH-D74a

1/4 Wave Ground Plane Antenna

Like most of what I do, I got the inspiration to build my own home base "fixed" antenna from videos available on the Internet.

I had an old windsurfer aluminum mast that I had previously used for our pirate flag. It is 14' and tapered, perfect for my first home brew antenna. I watched a video on it, sourced the materials and built it with the help of my neighbors in pretty short order.

2 Meter VHF Quarter Wave Ground Plane Antenna