How to operate in the rain?

Equipment
21

My rucksack is an extensible sack designed for rock climbers, it has a built-in waterproof cover that you can pull out of a pocket and over the sack. The rig, either an FT817 or (occasionally when I’m feeling strong) an FT857, goes in a padded compartment at the back of the sack which is intended for a rehydration kit. It can be operated in that compartment and the waterproof cover pulled out of its pocket in the base of the sack and positioned to protect the opening of the sack - but with the 857 you have to run at a low power as it can get pretty warm and the padded pocket acts as an insulator! I position the sack so that the pocket is against the ground and hold it open with a thermos flask - dual use is efficient!

It isn’t rain that is the problem so much, its wind. There have been two occasions when I retreated from the summit without activating. On the one occasion it was a combination of rain and wind, on reaching the AZ the wind increased to the point where you could lean into it at 45 degrees (but make sure nobody walks in front of you, cutting the wind off and dumping you on your face!) so I touched the summit marker and retreated. On the second occasion it was a storm wind and bitter cold, the only shelter from the wind was the lee of a crag, but that was full of cold climbers huddled together, so again I touched the summit marker and retreated. After all, the hill was the thing, an activation is icing on the cake!

Brian G8ADD

PS That muddy-sounding MH-31 has a little switch on the back, one setting gives a much brighter tone than the other. You probably know that but it is worth mentioning!

22

Hi all,
A variation on the tarp. A child’s play tent purchased on special at an outdoors shop. Cheap and light (< 1 kg) , comes with carry bag. A big kid and a small radio station fits inside and stays dry. Not for overnight camping or seriously bad weather.

73
Ron
VK3AFW

23

I always carry a tarp, big plastic bag, gore text jacket and shoes/boots and backpack rain cover, survival blanket, emergency pack,…All pretty well covered above…also use Icebreaker merino base and mid layers…great stuff… Never cold in winter.

I have a Marmot Limelight 3person tent - I can just take the fly, floor and poles and good to go. I have not weight it, but it should be around 1300gr.

But I avoid the rain like…

http://marmot.com/products/details/limelight-3p

I like the plug and play setups, all my bits although they travel in a waterproof box they are spreader over a blanket when operating… So if it starts raining I am in trouble…

73 Angel

24

This was my recent solution to the 4th backpackers contest which was torrential rain almost throughout:

I took another small roach pole which I cable tied, one end to the loop in the trig point and the other end to a tree branch. Then it was just a case of throwing the tarpaulin over the top and guying it down.

Worked for me - 100% dry.

Rob

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25

Hi Rob,
Proof of the pudding and all that - you stayed dry - but my concern with your set-up would be rain blowing in on an angle onto the equipment. Maybe you could have one side lower on the windy side.

73
Ron
VK3AFW

26

There are quite a few videos on YouTube that show how to rig a tarp as a shelter. Knowing how to set up a tarp is useful, but you have to make a judgement on what the terrain offers you as each summit is different. What sets up well on a flat lawn certainly won’t when you have to work around rocks and vegetation on a summit. The question is, what size tarp is optimum? I generally take a 6ft x 4ft (1.8m x 1.2m) tarp, but also have one twice the size which offers more protection, but at the expense of handling when it is windy.

27

Back in the day I did a few activations under a golf umbrella. I designed a little guying kit for it and it was quite effective if a little cramped. It probably would not work for those of a “fuller figure”. I did try a larger “fishing umbrella” but it was too big and heavy to be practical.

28

Phil G4OBK and I used large golfing umbrellas successfully on our recent European tour but I must admit that we didn’t have far to walk with them! We sat in the rain in our waterproof gear and we secured the umbrellas over our FT-817s.

73
Nick G4OOE

29

I tend towards Jimmy’s alleged approach, and rarely set off with the intention of activating in the wet. On the other hand, it just does rain sometimes.

I keep all the sensitive stuff in dry bags in my rucksack, and I have full waterproofs, so walking is covered.

The aerials, pole, guys etc are in pockets on the outside of the rucksack.

So, in the wet, I erect the antenna system, retreat into bothy bag with rucksack, set up gear, operate, pack up gear, pack up bothy bag, pack up antenna system, walk away.

In getting to this arrangement, I have progressed from having waterproofs and rigging parts mixed up with other stuff in the rucksack, trying to keep radios dry and off the ground whilst juggling antenna parts, and at the same time struggling to stop the wind snatching away anything that I let go of.
Part experience, and part learning from others on this reflector - for which, thanks!

I quite like the idea of a tarp for its versatility, but since I always carry the bothy bag for emergencies, I might as well use that.

73
Adrian
G4AZS
(Waiting for central heating system to flush through in overdue maintenance routine. I can see the Berwyns bathed in sunlight. Sigh…)

1 Like
30

Hi Ron… it was very windy that day. The tarp is much bigger than it looks on the photo mate.

Rob G7LAS

31

I have a individual bothy bag for the worst days, but I prefer not to use it because of the dew inside…
In many cases, I use a simple umbrella o a big plastic bag (1x1,5m) where I put everything except myself
At least, I can see the stars thru the rain…
73 de Mikel

1 Like
32

Hi Rob,
As someone pointed out the tarp can be used independent of the ground. I always had one in my camping kit when I did that regularly. My tent has a floor which would be damaged by sharp rocks and it needs to be able to have 5 pegs driven into the ground so there are restrictions. But I can zip it up and be out of the breeze, although that does limit the view.

73
Ron
VK3AFW

33

As well as watching the weather forecast, I usually carry a
tent. I’m onto my third tent after the poles of the last one snapped in gale force winds. For the last three or so years I’ve been using the Lightwave T0 Trek 4-season one-man tent. I like this tent since I can spread out my homebrew gear and everything else inside. I carry an 8kg load, including the tent which weighs in at 2.5kg. This means I can be sitting comfortable and warm on a summit in winter and enjoy lunch and the activation, however long it takes.

73

Ian

MM0MXW

3 Likes
34

Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions in this thread! Gives me lots of ideas to think about. The inline pictures on the new reflector definitely add to the discussion as well.

Indeed, I discovered that switch before SOTA even existed, as I got my first FT-817 in 2001. :wink: I have always used position 2, which cuts some of the excessive bass components. However, nearly all of the MH-31 samples with which I have experience (probably at least a dozen of them, half of which are my own) are seriously lacking in high frequency response.

I have done many comparisons, usually using a variation of the following setup. The microphone under test feeds an FT-817 (or another FT-8x7 model), transmitting into a dummy load. An FT-857 (or another FT-8x7 model), fed into a decent sized bookshelf speaker, sitting next to the first radio, is used to monitor the transmitted audio.

I have compared a number of MH-31 samples, as well as several of the MH-36E8J (DTMF mic), the MH-59A8J (remote control mic for 857/897), several of the MH-67A8J (stock mic for original FT-450 and various Vertex commercial radios), and others, with everything else the same. Invariably, the MH-31 always sounds worse than any of the others. If there were no such basis for comparison, the MH-31 would sound adequate, but it doesn’t even come close to taking advantage of the audio capability of that series of radios.

I recently tried a similar comparison with a friend who has an FT-847, which also uses an MH-31. Unfortunately, that radio uses a round Foster connector instead of a modular jack, so we could not try any of my condenser mics with it. It didn’t seem to sound as bad as I expected it to with an MH-31. What I was able to try was swapping just the MH-31 itself with one of mine, while still using his cable. Interestingly, it sounded considerably worse than his mic.

I later had a similar experience with another friend who has an FT-450D, also with an MH-31, and again, his sounded considerably better than mine. Those are the only two samples I have found which are not abysmal. However, even the one from the 450D did not sound as good as an MH-67A8J on the same radio. It is odd that there are variations in the audio quality of the same model of mic. It does not appear to be a matter of age, as the FT-847 in question is quite old and the FT-450D is very recent, while the other samples span many years from quite old to recent as well. Perhaps Yaesu changed mic element manufacturers several times or something…

Several variables affect the specific results which will be obtained with a given mic and radio combination:

  • The mode used has a significant effect, as AM, FM, and SSB all have different frequency response characteristics. However, the condenser mics invariably sound better than the dynamic mics in all of my testing.

  • The particular operator’s voice has an effect as well, though again everyone who participated in any of these tests sounded better on the condenser mics than the dynamics.

  • A hugely important, and often totally ignored, feature of the FT-817, FT-857, and FT-897 which has a tremendous effect is the carrier insertion point adjustment. Every single sample of each of these models which I have checked has been able to be improved over the default settings by tweaking these adjustments. I find that one can get very close to optimum simply by setting the USB and LSB receive offsets to provide identical-sounding no-signal noise characteristics (with a good balance of high and low frequency components), then setting the transmit offsets for each mode to the same values as the receive offsets. The use of a setup similar to that detailed above can allow further tweaking to match the operator’s voice characteristics if desired. Note that if one has an optional SSB filter installed (especially in an FT-857/FT-897 where it is easily switchable), the settings may need to be tweaked for a good compromise between the slightly different characteristics of the stock and optional filters.

In summary, I believe that many people would be shocked by just how much improvement can be made simply by switching to an MH-67A8J and tweaking the carrier insertion point adjustments. The MH-67A8J sounds so good that I obtained a second one to dedicate to FT-817 use, and will likely pick up more of them in the future. I have also added TCXO modules to all of my FT-8x7 models and zero beat them against WWV, as I really appreciate the added frequency accuracy and stability, but that’s another story…

—73 Karl KA3RCS

35

I am the other half of the inadequately prepared, failed SOTA activation attempt that prompted this discussion. I must say, the responses here have given me a real appreciation for how much kinder the weather gremlins are to SOTA activators on this side of the pond. I do not envy you.

However, there is one aspect of storms I am surprised to see missing from the discussion. Lightning. It wasn’t cold. It wasn’t windy. And unprepared as we were, we sat on that Summit, and absorbed the rain for a good half hour. And neither one of us was willing to give up on the attempt. Until the rain was joined by a quite active, much to close lightning display. That prompted both of us to immediately start pulling our wire down from the trees, and retreat ASAP.

Your examples indicate that you shelter yourselves and your equipment from the rain, and just work right through it. Surly you can’t do that during a lightning storm, can you?

And one final point about the MH-67A8J microphone (I am a believer - they really do sound good). If you do decide to carry one to a Summit, open it up first. Take out the two internal pieces of metallic dead weight that are only there to give them a hefty feel.

Glenn – AB3TQ

36

Good points Glenn. I would add the following:

  • I believe that the UK experiences far less lightning than much of the US.

  • Many Yaesu mics (and others) contain similar weights, not just the MH-67. This definitely applies to the MH-31, MH-36, and MH-59, as I have removed them from all of these models. Of course, I keep all of the weights (as well as screws and washers) together in the same place, in case I want to restore them to original condition, much as I have done with the original reference oscillators which were replaced by TCXOs, the original screws from FT-817s which now have Peg Legs, and so on.

Incidentally, there are multiple web pages describing replacement of the dynamic element in the MH-31 with a condenser element, which would be a less expensive (and smaller) option than the MH-67. I plan to do that with at least some of mine eventually. There are even speech processor and DVR boards which may be installed in that mic as well.

—73 Karl KA3RCS

37

Oh we are catching you up Karl, what with the recent changes in our climate.

Of course you don’t actually need it to be lightning to have your activation disrupted. I’ve been closed down on quite a few occasions by static rain when out on the hills and have been “bitten” several times while disconnecting the coax. Sometimes it hasn’t even been raining. I’m sure my hair has gone whiter as a result, or is that something to do with me getting older? :wink:

73, Gerald G4OIG

38

I found this escaped tent on top of Moel Famau yesterday. It had been caught on the fence and held against it by the stiff and chilly breeze.

It provided excellent shelter, and demonstrated how useful a tarp could be…

Adrian
G4AZS

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