Ham Radio in A/S

[GSansoucie]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

I'm sitting here poking at an ICOM IC-705. It's remarkably small for its range of coverage. Like all radios out there, it's not ideal. It will be going along with us. It will replace several other radios ....

I’ve been following the 705 since it leaked almost two years ago now. I’m in a few 705 groups, been searching YouTube and reviews almost daily for the past few months since they have been showing up. To date, I’ve found only one person in of that actually using CW which is pretty much my only mode. With this next solar cycle coming, 5W CW is all we will need for a few years. Problem is, I can’t find any info on how this “portable field rig” is for CW. I have the 7300 (gathering dust in my shack) that is OK for CW, but due to the noisy T/R relays, it’s too loud for an RV rig as I’d drive my wife crazy if I work 80M in the evening (or any band during the day if she is inside and I am inside).

There is nothing wrong with my KX2 or my KX3 stations. The only issue I have with my KX3 station (with PX3 and KXPA100) is the setup and breakdown time with all the wires. To date, I only run picnic table ops, I’ve not “punched and coax through” walls or floors yet. Once we’ve reworked our dinette, I might have a more permanent spot for either the KX3 station or another rig of equal quality (K4 is not ruled out here).

I just so want the 705 to work. Though it’s probably a good thing that there is no info out there yet as the 705’s high starting price is hard to justify as its pretty close to 2x the cost of two decent used KX2s right now.

[LY007]

The 705 is a nice radio.

I recently bought a 7100 and I think it is an excellent candidate for use in the AS. The separate head unit is small and easy to use. The actual radio unit is about the size of a cb and can be mounted out of sight, preferably in the battery compartment. You could use a separation cable long enough to sit yourself outside the trailer and operate. Antenna connections and power are of course on the remote unit.

100 Watts. HF, 6, 2. Using FT8 at 80% power, I’m drawing about 17 amps. No internal tuner, but I’m using an AT-4, also remote, and my SWRs are 1.3 or less with a long wire, and I’m using a copper pipe Jpole for 2m. I bought it at Gigaparts at a reasonable discount plus $100 rebate.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

I went round in circles with several radios and their "fit" as we travel around. I decided that a radio needed to be "campfire portable" as well as functional in the RV. Having a device with a built in battery is a real plus for that sort of thing.

The compromise (obviously) is low power. Each time I look at the 10 to 20A sort of drain a 100W radio puts on the 12V supply, that is a gotcha for off grid use. From what I've seen of tight packed campgrounds with shore power, RFI is often pretty bad .... much more fun to operate out away from everything.

Bob

[Rocinante]

I have only one HF rig, so I'm an anomalous Ham operator with a Flex 6400. I took it on the road with us to Maine in the summer of 2019, and had great results by flinging a wire into the trees and operating from our campsite in Acadia National Park for a couple of months.

[Toolmanbt]

Hello,

Ke6otk

Still working on my 1976 Tradewind Landyacht , getting close.
Will definitely be using my ham radio on the road. 73's

[JimAspinwall]

For now I'll leave my 6300 at home and improve the various remote antenna things I need to deal with. Meanwhile my trusty FT-857D is resposible for on-the-road ops unless/until I optimize the road-kit with a 'spare' TS-570 and wire.

[JimAspinwall]

By all means... RV Services Net... which I hope we can eventually 'expand'/'extend' to an RV calling frequency and not just during the week...

[AirParkOnly]

I am both new to HAM and Airstreams. To have them both in one place when I’m not doing either or both at the same time is just the best! Subscribed.

[GSansoucie]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

I went round in circles with several radios and their "fit" as we travel around. I decided that a radio needed to be "campfire portable" as well as functional in the RV. Having a device with a built in battery is a real plus for that sort of thing.

The compromise (obviously) is low power. Each time I look at the 10 to 20A sort of drain a 100W radio puts on the 12V supply, that is a gotcha for off grid use. From what I've seen of tight packed campgrounds with shore power, RFI is often pretty bad .... much more fun to operate out away from everything.

Bob

I run my KX3 and KXPA100 off a Bioenno 12Ah pack and get 5+ hours with lots of room to spare (like hours) on 50W CW at about 50% duty cycle. I’m not interested in plugging anything into my RV power and having to deal with filtering out the noise. Plus I prefer to work outside on the picnic table.

With all that said, last weekend I traced the 75 Ohm Satellite coax on our 2019 FC28 and pulled the terminated end out of its hiding place behind the stereo. It’s getting to cold out now to work the paddle from the picnic table for more than a few QSOs at a time. My Elecraft handles the 75Ohm mismatch nicely, I will be able to work either my KX3 or KX2 from the couch inside and warm now.

Still not going to tie into the Airstream power yet.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by GSansoucie

I run my KX3 and KXPA100 off a Bioenno 12Ah pack and get 5+ hours with lots of room to spare (like hours) on 50W CW at about 50% duty cycle. I’m not interested in plugging anything into my RV power and having to deal with filtering out the noise. Plus I prefer to work outside on the picnic table.

With all that said, last weekend I traced the 75 Ohm Satellite coax on our 2019 FC28 and pulled the terminated end out of its hiding place behind the stereo. It’s getting to cold out now to work the paddle from the picnic table for more than a few QSOs at a time. My Elecraft handles the 75Ohm mismatch nicely, I will be able to work either my KX3 or KX2 from the couch inside and warm now.

Still not going to tie into the Airstream power yet.

Hi

The "mismatch" from the 75 ohm cable will not be an issue with any radio I've ever seen. If anything, the lower loss of the 75 ohm stuff will be to your advantage.

The thing that worries me the most in the AS are the LED lights. They appear to be a significant source of RFI. They are hardly unique in that regard, a lot of LED lighting does the RFI thing ....

Bob

[GSansoucie]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

The "mismatch" from the 75 ohm cable will not be an issue with any radio I've ever seen. If anything, the lower loss of the 75 ohm stuff will be to your advantage.

The thing that worries me the most in the AS are the LED lights. They appear to be a significant source of RFI. They are hardly unique in that regard, a lot of LED lighting does the RFI thing ....

Bob

I agree with the LED dimmers issue, we don’t run them that often and I don’t intend to operate for hours on end. I was hoping to string up enough wire to get onto 80m in the evening, that might provide a bit of a conflict as we will be running some LEDs and dimmed at that. It can’t be any worse then the noise I get at the house (we have LEDs throughout now) but will find out next weekend either way. I will have my KX2 and backpack with me, the rendezvous is at the base of a SOTA peak and there is a short path to a POTA site so I don’t have far to go to work something that I can be spotted to drum up activity :-)

[Photobum]

Following....KE0YYQ
Currently in the Eastern Sierra.

[JandDcam]

Following. WA49

[K4TCJ]

K4TCJ at “Top of Georgia” Airstream park north of Helen GA. Great campground in a wonderful part of Georgia. Not very good for working HF but several local 2 meter repeaters.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by K4TCJ

K4TCJ at “Top of Georgia” Airstream park north of Helen GA. Great campground in a wonderful part of Georgia. Not very good for working HF but several local 2 meter repeaters.

Hi

I think it would be ideal for HF, provided you brought along your 300' tall "portable" antenna mount.

If you go down to the south end of the campground, they had a fun time getting the satellite antennas positioned to just barely make it to a clear piece of sky.

It's one of our favorite places to camp out.

Bob

[JimAspinwall]

Glad to see folks are still trying to get on the air!

FWIW - since I have a Hensley hitch - which provides a 2" receiver on the trailer side, I'm thinking of using a receiver-flag pole mount to leverage that platform... and some significant chassis-bonding - we'll see how that goes.

Have just got my DMR (not so much a fan but...) and my AllStar hotspots setup to connect to cellular hotspot/tethering so some tie-back to specific talk-groups, nodes may be in-order - and an en-route option in addition to HF mobile and 146.52 to stir up some QSOs.

Perhaps more activity on the Ham RVers Facebook group or other list so we can post activity/spots and liven things up a bit?

[Pinholga]

Hello,
I have recently enjoyed combining camping/travel experiences with ham radio. Mostly park activations using low power, 5-20w. KN4DFM. 73’s.

[SVTOTEM]

Curious what folks are doing for feedline entry to the newer trailers that do not have refrigerator vents. I saw nice setups on Airstreams at the last HamCation. They used the vent, though, and our 2021 does not have that feature.
Bill W4WWB

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by SVTOTEM

Curious what folks are doing for feedline entry to the newer trailers that do not have refrigerator vents. I saw nice setups on Airstreams at the last HamCation. They used the vent, though, and our 2021 does not have that feature.
Bill W4WWB

Hi

Most AS models (trailer and van) have a chunk of coax for hooking to cable or an external satellite antenna. With the right adapters, it will work fine for getting things "outside". In our trailer there are a couple of holes in the floor in the front that make for fine routes for coax headed that direction.

Bob

[SVTOTEM]

Thanks, Bob.
I noticed a slight air gab in the wire bundle coming in through the front for the inverter, etc. I can check that further, but on our trailer that is the bedroom and probably not the best place to operate.

I need to experiment a bit and see what the effects are of mixing 75 ohm coax with the usual 50 ohm cable. Using the SAT input does put the feed in back at the dinette area.

Bill W4WWB