Every few weeks I spend the weekend at my parent´s in law house, in Vitoria, one hour far from my home QTH. I don’t have a ham station there, but I sometimes grab my SOTA gear just in case.
Does it worth it?
The bedroom
I can’t make a permanent installation there, but I just try to raise a wire antenna in a bedroom, a small space in a 5th floor flat, whose window is facing West (290º), not really the better path towards Europe!
All looks normal, but… do you see something on the floor near the wardrobe?
Indoor antenna
Okay, the room is not spacy, but I can still hang a wire antenna there.
I use a 5m length of wire,but as I can’t stretch it I put it inverted U. See the antenna deployed:
The feed point in near the floor, and runs parallel to the wardrobe, a few centimeters away, hold by a short rod on top.
The wire is then bent 90 degrees and runs parallel and away from the window frame.
The last metre is bent again facing downwards, hold on top by a small wooden peg, hanging on top of the curtain.
I use another 5 meters of wire laying on the ground. The antenna is, let’s say, a zigzagging quarter wave vertical. I use a tuner at the feedpoint to compensate for any impedance mismatch.
The lunch bag (what?)
Carrying a radio shach for a short weekend, keeping my wife calm along with putting the clothes in our luggage is a challenge.
I bought a small padded lunch bag and converted it into a comfortable carry on shack.
Inside the FX4-CR rig seats near the CW key, earbuds, a small homebrew mic and 3 LiIon 18650. The wire and the ZM-2 manual tuner is separated in the luggage.
All parts are stored pre-connected, so the operation takes no time: open the bag, switch on and run straight!
Success?
I use the portable shack on my free time. Last weekend I stayed in 14 MHz as the wire length is about resonant and didn’t have much timr to jump and re-tune to other bands.
This is the log of the chases on Saturday an Sunday, mainly POTA and a couple SOTA (it’s easier to chase POTA, they’re mainly stationary mobile stations with more power and louder in my end).
The log speaks by itself:
- 2E0VZT SSB
- M1GEO/P SSB
- PA4PA CW
- MM7JNT/P SSB
- M7LDK SSB
- G0HIO CW
- HB9ESC SSB
- OE3BIY SSB
- IK2LEY/P SSB
- G0HIO CW (2nd ref)
- DF2GN CW
- PA4PA CW (2nd ref)
- HB9BIN/P CW
- 2E0HPI SSB
- M7CUW SSB
Just before dismantling and returning home, I tuned on 21 MHz and I chased a nice DX on a POTA:
- K2WPA SSB
In the past moths I used even shorter wires and chased many activators in 15 and 10 meter, thanks to a beneficial propagation.
Such sort of lunch portable station brings lots of fun and is easy to carry also to a hotel room on holidays.
If you hear me chasing and my signal is lower than normal, most probably I’m seating on the floor with the wire dangling on the ceiling in this room… Be patient!
73 de Ignacio