One of the enjoyments of ham radio is being able to throw your QRP rig into your car – at the spur of the moment – and heading out to a lake or along a river or to a mountaintop and Working the HF bands mobile from right where you are.
Field Day Mobile
For part of Field Day, I’m going to do something like this. I’m going to work “mobile” at another outdoor spot which some of us from NARS has done before – the top of a five-story parking garage in downtown Nashua, New Hampshire. We jokingly call this our P*GOTA — Parking Garage On The Air.
I do like to work from this site. It’s close by and easy to set up. There disadvantages, however, with all sorts of electrical noises and some reflection off of neighboring buildings. But for me, just being up 50 feet, to start with, is a big plus.
My Rig
I like to keep things simple and easy to use. My mobile transceiver is a Xiegu G90. It covers 160 to 10 meters with AM, SSB, and CW, from 1 to 20 watts. It has a built-in antenna tuner if needed. The maximum current draw is about 3 amps, so it works great off of the low-cost battery pack I use. The radio plugs right into the battery with a 12-volt adaptor; and I use a solar panel connected to the battery, keeping it charged. This really gives me the “off the grid ” experience.
The Antenna
The key to getting onto the air quickly mobile is to use a ham stick, screwed into a magnetic mount. I have one stick for 20 meters and another for 40.
Some say “mag mounts” really do not take care of grounding issues with HF like they do with VHF and UHF. However, I’ve found my set up works just fine. The SWR Sweep below shows the results with the mag mount on the roof. Before I put the magnet on the top of the car, the SWR level was over 5.
It’s always an adventure working “mobile” – running off a battery and solar – which gives you a chance to try all sorts of things. I suppose it would be more comfortable, sitting in one’s shack, with a large, powerful system and a finely tuned antenna …. but where is the fun?
I enjoy being up on an exotic spot and giving my CQ. And then telling the ham on the end, “my QTH is somewhere between High and Factory Street – downtown Nashua – November Hotel … five stories up”.
Randall Bashta, N1KRB
