Just wondering how many others are using one of these for SOTA activations and what ancillaries you take on along?
My typical hike I take the 2.5m whip and gooseneck which is always kept in the burgen. I have also an OCF dipole which covers 40-20-15-10 meters. I take a slingshot to put up the dipole and a couple of string spools.
I’ve tried a lot of different antenna’s and have come down to these 2 for least weight and space.
For battery I rebuilt a 1aH with new Nicd’s and it last very well.
My typical carry is around 15kg.
Cheers
Paul
ve1pvh
Spent enough time lugging one of those about in a previous life to not consider it again. Hats off to you Paul if you want to carry all that weight about!
I have got one Paul but still have to drag it out for an activation, managed to chase some summits from home with it (usb mode only).The plan was to activate a few easy access summits over the summer but work got a bit busy and struggled to find the time.
I was thinking of purchasing the the 24v dc battery extension lead and add some power pole connectors to run it from a more compact lighter battery.
73
Graeme
I really do like the radio. The weight is a bit of a demon but its such a brute. The 30 watts is a great plus too. The 1aH battery rebuilt with Nicd’s or Nimh’s is not that heavy and gives me plenty of time for SOTA activating. Good to if you get to an activation and the weather turns bad. No amount of rain will hurt it.
Cheers
Please excuse my ignorance, but what is a burgen? I have looked it up on Google, but to no avail!
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
Maybe Google “Bergen” instead Walt.
73, Colin
Thanks,Colin! The 26th search result on Google informs me that it’s “a large rucksack”. The first 25 results told me it is a city on the West coast of Norway!
You live and learn.
73,
Walt
It’s merely a military “jargon” term in the same vein as an “egg banjo”.
ps, I think Ron GW4VPX used to use military radios on summits with the PRC320 amongst them.
Hi Steve
Who’s Ron GW4VPX?
Allan GW4VPX 
GW4EVX
1 Like
Correct 
I used to use my 320 for SOTA, but only walk on summits. I generally used the Clansman dipole on a 9m fibreglass mast. These days I have gone lightweight and use my 817 or MTRs.
I’ve done several mods to my RT320 including adding LSB and removing the annoying 2kHz offset on USB.
73, Colin G8TMV
Hi Colin, I have done the LSB mod in BAT position too. It works well. I did use the Clansman aerials starting out but they are heavy stuff so finally settled on the OCF at least for now. I also did some kite lifts but the kite is stuck in a 60 ft tree top now so that’s ended Hi.
73
I used a reed switch inside the case and an external magnet - the minimum possible change to existing internals.
I’ve also moved to a lighter antenna, it’s still made from Clansman green wire (because it’s used for other things as well as SOTA) but it’s cut for 60m and has links for 40m, 30m and 20m. Also I have a pair of loading coils that fit into the 40m link to allow 80m use.
73, Colin G8TMV
Nice idea.
Testing the OCF the last few days and found it will tune 40-20-17-15-12-10 meters with the 320 tuner so it’s a keeper.
Paul
ve1pvh