Camp radio operations?

[Prerunner1982]

Anyone set up radios while at camp? If, so what are you running? Pics?

I run a Kenwood TS-480sat in my Jeep so I have some 25' extension cables for the remote head and mic. If we have shore power I will pull the radio and run it off a power supply.
For an antenna I have 20m/40m dipoles that share a feed point. The 40m is a horizontal dipole with the 20m under it in a Λ orientation. I do have a mast I can use or of course string the feed point up in a tree.
I also have a home made ground plane mount for a 2m antenna I can put on the mast for either voice or APRS.


Realize I don't have any good pictures of the set up but this is from a camping trip in early May overlooking McGee Creek Res in SE Oklahoma.


I know it doesn't look like a very portable setup but it's really not bad. Not hard to put up even by myself. In the picture I only have the 20m elements on it. If I was in a hurry to get something up I would lob a line into a tree to hoist the feed point up but I like the mast so that I don't have to depend on trees. Worked coast to coast and Australia from this camp spot so I guess it works ok.


Let's see what you've got!

 

[4L_Warrior]

Great post Prerunner1982!

I like that night pic of your radio!

No pics, but I have a collapsible fiberglass pole (25 feet tall extended) which I attach a dual band UHF VHF antenna to. The pole is lite weight but stout, as it was used by the local power company for taking fuses off and on-line from the ground. I use a chunk on coax and undo my NMO mobile antenna and connect right there at my fender mount with a PL239 to MNO adapter.

 

[brien]

Oh HECK yeah, this is my kinda thread! I always have an HF radio on me when i'm out adventuring. I'll either set it up at camp, or hike to a nearby SOTA summit and set it up for those tasty tasty activation points. I run an Elecraft KX2 as my primary radio driving up to 12 whole watts into a PackTenna Mini 9:1 unun, then down a 58' non-resonant inverted L supported by a PackTenna mast. I have the internal tuner on my KX2, so i'm able to tune that 58' wire on 80m through 10m and I work all bands. I typically only run it between 5-10W and almost exclusively CW these days. Oh, and I use an American Morse Equipment Porta-paddle!

Setup under the Foxwing for Field Day 2018


We don't typically do the campfire thing, so the stone firepits make a great support base for my PackTenna mast


Here's my typical station layout (For SOTA activation, it doesn't always include the table or chair) ignore the camera/mic - i was recording a video for YT

(Turn on CC for CW translation)

Here I am getting relaxed and working CW for Summits on the Air after a rather hot and strenuous bushwhack through the desert mountains to get to the summit


And of course I always gotta represent with a SOTA flag

 

[Michael G.]

Love your Overland Rig and You HAM Rig!

 

[Sparksalot]

I have an Elecraft K2 mounted in my teardrop, with a feed through bulkhead connector to allow an external coax to my antenna. The antenna is usually a Hustler vertical mounted on a stake with a few ground radials.

 

[TheBronze]

You're HF antenna looks a lot like the old AS-2259/GR we used in the Army.