Category Archives: Portable Stations

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A Portable Satellite Station Part 6 – 3.0 Station Initial Contacts

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Tech Class First 3.0 Portable Station Test

Tech Class First 3.0 Portable Station Test

With the construction of our Portable Satellite Station 3.0 complete, we’ve been looking forward to an opportunity to test the new setup. We chose the Nashua Area Radio Society’s recent Technician License Class as a good time to both test the new stations and to acquaint our Tech Class grads with one of the many things that they can do with their new licenses – amateur satellite operations.

Tech Class 3.0 Portable Satellite Antenna Test

Tech Class 3.0 Portable Satellite Antenna Test

The first transport of the new 3.0 station antenna system turned out to be simple. The booms and counterweights of the new antenna system are easily separated via the removal of a few bolts located at the cross-boom. This allowed the antennas feed-points, rotator loops and polarity switching connections to be removed and transported as complete assemblies. The separation of the longer-boom antennas into two sections also made transporting the antennas easier and made the antenna elements less prone to bending in transport. Setup and cabling of the new 3.0 antenna system as the class site was quick and simple.

The opportunities to make contacts during our Tech Class were limited but the new system performed well with one exception. We saw a higher than expected SWR readings on the 70cm yagi during transmit. We immediately suspected problems with one of the N connectors that were installed during the construction of the new system (component testing during assembly showed the SWR readings on the 70cm side of the system to be in spec.).

Portable Satellite Station 3.0 Antenna System

Portable Satellite Station 3.0 Antenna System

After the class, we set up the 3.0 system again at our QTH. Transport and re-assembly of the new system are somewhat easier and faster than our 2.0 portable station antenna setup is.

Satellite Antenna System 3.0 Connections

Satellite Antenna System 3.0 Connections

The 3.0 antenna system uses a similar connector bulkhead approach that we used previously. The rotator controls are handled via a single, 8-conductor cable and we have a new connection for the polarity switching controls on the 3.0 system yagis.

Rotator Loop Coax Retention System

Rotator Loop Coax Retention System

We have had some problems with the connections between the preamplifiers mounted at the antennas and the rotator loops which connect the antennas to them. This problem caused several failures in the associated N-connectors on the 2.0 portable antenna system so we fabricated a simple arrangement to prevent the rotation of the antennas from turning the coax inside the N-connectors and causing these failures.

70cm Yagi SWR in the Satellite Sub-Band

70cm Antenna and Feedline SWR in the Satellite Sub-Band

Some isolation tests were performed on each cabling element of the 70cm side of the 3.0 antenna system and this resulted in the location of an improperly installed N-connector. The faulty connector was easily replaced and this corrected the SWR readings on the 70cm side of the antenna system. The image above shows the SWR readings for the 70cm antenna after the faulty connector was replaced. We checked the SWR performance with the 70cm yagi set for both Left-Hand and Right-Hand Circular Polarization and we saw good results in both configurations.

2m Yagi SWR in the Satellite Sub-Band

2m Antenna and Feedline SWR in the Satellite Sub-Band

We also re-checked the SWR performance of the 2m side of the antenna system with the 2m yagi in both polarity settings and it looked good as well.

Portable Satellite Antenna 3.0 Az-El Rotator

Portable Satellite Antenna 3.0 Az-El Rotator

The 3.0 antenna system uses an Alfa-Spid rotator. The Alfa-Spid can handle the additional weight of the larger yagis and has a more precise pointing ability (1° accuracy) which is helpful given the tighter patterns of the larger, 3.0 yagis.

70cm Yagi Switchable Polarity Feedpoint

70cm Yagi Switchable Polarity Feedpoint

The new yagis in the 3.0 antenna system have feed point arrangements which allow the polarity of the yagis to be switched between Left-Hand Circular Polarity (LHCP) and Right-Hand Circular Polarity (RHCP). These antennas used a relay arrangement at the feed-points that flip the polarity of one plane of the yagis by 180° which in turn changes the polarity of the antennas between LHCP and RHCP.

Portable Satellite Station 3.0 Radio and Controls

Portable Satellite Station 3.0 Radio and Controls

With the SWR problem corrected, we set up the 3.0 station radio and controls. The 3.0 station adds our homebuilt PTT Router and the control box from DXengineering which controls polarity switching. Also, the Green Heron rotator control box has been configured to control the new Alfa-Spid rotator.

POrtable Satellite Station 3.0 Computer Control via MacDoppler

Portable Satellite Station 3.0 Computer Control via MacDoppler

We are continuing to use the excellent MacDoppler software to control the 3.0 station. MacDoppler provides tracking controls for the antennas and doppler correction for the Icom-9100 transceivers uplink and downlink VFOs.

Satellite 3.0 Station Control Details

Satellite 3.0 Station Control Details

The image above shows a closer view of the 3.0 station controls. The box in the middle-left with four LEDs and the knob is used to select one of four polarity configurations for the 2m and 70cm yagis – RHCP/RHCP, LHCP/RHCP, RHCP/LHCP, or LHCP/LHCP. Just to the right in the middle stack is our homebrewed PTT Router which expands and improves the PTT sequencing performance of the station. Our station also uses a WaveNode WN-2 for SWR and power monitoring.

So how does the new 3.0 station perform? The new antennas have a tighter pattern requiring careful pointing calibration of the rotators during setup. This is easy to do with the Alfa-Spid rotator. The new antennas have noticeable more gain as compared to the LEO pack used on the 2.0 station. We are also surprised to see how much difference the polarity switching capability makes in certain situations – sometimes as much as two S units (12 dB) in certain situations. The combination of the new antennas and selection of the best polarity combination allows solid operation on many satellites passes with as little as 2 watts of uplink power. We have made a little over 50 QSOs on the new 3.0 station so far and it works great! For more information on the Portable 3.0 Station as well as the 2.0 and 1.0 stations that we’ve built – see the links below:

Fred, AB1OC

Receiving SSTV From The ISS

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Portable Satellite Station Additions - Digital and Packet

Portable Satellite Station With Additions For Digital and Packet

We’ve recently upgraded our Portable Satellite Station 2.0 to add digital and packet capabilities. The upgrade was simple – we added a SignaLink USB Soundcard and a Windows Laptop PC. Most of the software for packet and digital Amateur Radio communications is written for the Windows OS, so using a separate laptop running Windows 10 was the simplest way to go. Another benefit of the second laptop was added screen space to use when doing packet communications via satellites and the International Space Station (ISS).

SSTV Image From The ISS

Image From The ISS

We recently learned that the ISS would be again transmitting SSTV images worldwide. This provided a perfect opportunity to work with the digital additions in our satellite setup. We downloaded and installed MMSSTV on our Windows laptop and set the audio levels on the Windows PC and our SignaLink Sound card to properly receive SSTV signals. The MMSSTV application can decode several different SSTV formats, including the PD120 format used by the ISS. The ISS transmits SSTV on a 2m FM voice channel. We configured MacDoppler to track the ISS and perform doppler correction on the 2m ISS 2m downlink and began to listen.

The video above was made during the reception of an SSTV image from the ISS during a pass over the United States. The video gives a good idea of what it is like to receive SSTV from the space station.

Another SSTV Image From The ISS

Another SSTV Image From The ISS

We were able to receive several different images from the ISS during the period that it was transmitting SSTV worldwide.

A Third SSTV Image From The ISS

A Third SSTV Image

It was easy to capture the SSTV transmissions from the ISS with our Portable Satellite Station 2.0 setup. The signals were strong, and I imagine the SSTV transmission could have also been received with a simple portable satellite setup with a hand-held yagi antenna.

We hope that the ISS will send SSTV images again in the near future. It was fun receiving them.

Fred, AB1OC

A Portable Satellite Station Part 5 – Plans for Our 3.0 Station

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Satellite Grids Worked

Satellite Grids Worked

We’ve made about 250 contacts with our Portable Satellite Station 2.0 and we have worked 106 grids which should be enough to earn a Satellite VUCC. The picture above shows the grids that we’ve worked via Satellites. We’ve learned a lot about satellite operation and had a great deal of fun in the process!

Portable Satellite Station 2.0 Goals

Portable Satellite Station 2.0 Goals

We’ve met all of our original goals for our 2.0 Station and we’ve used it portable at License Classes, Field Day, and other Amateur Radio Demonstrations. We’ve also shared presentations about our 2.0 Station with Amateur Radio Groups here in the New England area. The question that we get most often about the 2.0 Station is “What are your plans for the Portable Satellite Station 3.0”?

Portable Satellite Station 3.0 Goals

Portable Satellite Station 3.0 Goals

Well, here is the plan. We are working with a local group to secure and host an ISS Crew contact. The ARISS folks have published ground station requirements for these contacts. Here are the primary station requirements:

  • Transceiver with 50–100 W output, 1 kHz tuning steps, and 21 memories capable of storing split frequencies
  • Low-loss coax (such as 9913 or LMR-400)
  • Mast-mounted receive pre-amplifier
  • 14-element yagi antenna with switched circular polarity
  • Antenna rotators for azimuth (0–360°) and elevation (0–180°), with an interface for computer control
  • Computer running tracking software for antenna control (including flip mode operation)

Fortunately, our 2.0 Station meets or exceeds almost all of the primary station requirements with the exception of the antennas. The required antenna upgrades will shape the plans for our Portable Satellite Station 3.0.

M2 Antenna Systems 2MCP14

M2 Antenna Systems 2MCP14

ISS Crew Contacts are conducted using 2m Simplex radios on the ISS. We choose the 14-element circularly polarized 2MCP14 yagi from M2 Antenna Systems to meet the ARISS requirements for 2m. Here are the specifications for this antenna:

2MCP14 Antenna Specifications

2MCP14 Antenna Specifications

The 2MCP14 antenna offers a good balance between gain (12.34 dBi) and boom length (10′-6″) and is near the size limit that is practical for use in our Portable Station. This antenna provides an additional 3.14 dBi of gain compared to the M2 Antenna Systems 2MCP8A yagi which we are currently using in the 2.0 Station.

M2 Antenna Systems 436CP30

M2 Antenna Systems 436CP30

While not required for an ARISS Crew Contact, we are also going to upgrade the 70cm yagi to a 30-element circularly polarized M2 Antenna Systems 436CP30 yagi. Here are the specifications for this antenna:

436CP30 Antenna Specifications

436CP30 Antenna Specifications

This antenna is a good match for the upgraded 2m yagi. The 436CP30 has a boom length of 9′-9″ and a gain of 15.50 dBi. This antenna will provide an additional 2.2 dBi of gain compared to the M2 Antenna Systems 436CP16 yagi which we are currently using in the 2.0 Station.

Satellite Antennas Setup Portable

Satellite Antennas Setup Portable

The new antennas will require some modifications to our portable antenna system arrangement. They will need to be mounted on a cross-boom near their centers. As a result, a non-conductive fiberglass cross boom will be required to avoid problems with pattern distortion.

FGCB60 Non-Conductive Cross Boom

FGCB60 Non-Conductive Cross Boom

We will be using an M2 Antenna Systems FGCB60 Cross Boom which has removable, non-conductive end sections made from fiberglass material. The removable ends will make it easier to transport the antenna system. We will also need to make a new mast which is 24″ longer than our current one in the 2.0 Station to create the needed ground clearance for the longer antennas.

Alfa Spid Az-El Rotator

Alfa Spid Az-El Rotator

We are also planning to use a larger Alfa Spid Az-El Rotator. This unit will handle the extra weight of the longer yagi antennas and cross boom assembly and is more precise than the Yaesu unit used on the 2.0 station.

PS-2M and PS-70CM Polarity Switches

PS-2M and PS-70CM Polarity Switches

The last piece of the 3.0 Station Antenna upgrade is to add switchable left-hand and right-hand circular polarity. This will be accomplished via M2 Antenna Systems PS-2M and PS-70CM switchable polarity feed point upgrades for the 3.0 yagis.

DXEngineering EC-4 Control Box

DXEngineering EC-4 Control Box

We have a DXEngineering EC-4 Control Box from a previous project and we can use it to control the relays in the Polarity Switches which will be part of the 3.0 Station antennas. The box will allow us to select any combination of left and right-hand circular polarization on the 3.0 Station uplink and downlink antennas.

We should have all of the parts here for the 3.0 upgrade by the end of the year. We’ll post more as the project proceeds. Other articles in the Portable Satellite Station series include:

You may also be interested in the satellite station at our home QTH. You can read more about that here.

Fred, AB1OC

Raspberry Pi Satellite Rotator Interface

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MacDoppler and GHTracker

MacDoppler and GHTracker

We’ve been using our Portable Satellite Station 2.0 for some time now, and it works great. One area that can be improved is the interface between the MacDoppler Satellite Tracking program we use and the GHTracker application, which controls the Green Heron Engineering RT-21 Az/El Rotator Controller in our setup. Our initial approach was to run the GHTracker app under Windows/VMWare on the same MacBook Air laptop that runs MacDoppler. While this approach works ok, it was more complex and less reliable than we had hoped.

Fortunately, MacDoppler and GHTracker use a UDP-based interface that will run over an IP network.

GHTracker Running On A Raspberry Pi 3

A Raspberry Pi Satellite Rotator Interface – GHTracker Running On A Raspberry Pi 3

Anita, AB1QB, got great results using a Raspberry Pi 2 with a Touch Screen for her DX Alarm Clock Project, so I decided to do something similar with GHTracker. The new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B boards feature a built-in WiFi networking interface and four USB ports, making the RPi 3 a perfect platform for this project. An email exchange with Jeff at Green Heron Engineering confirmed that GHTracker could run under Linux on the Raspberry Pi (RPi).

We wanted a compact package that did not require anything but a power supply to run the final project. There are many great parts available for building a Raspberry Pi system. Here’s what we used:

The total cost for all of the parts was $120.

The assembly of the case and the hardware was straightforward. The folks at Adafruit provide a pre-built Jesse Linux image for the RPi, including the necessary driver for the Touch Screen Display.

After some configuration work and creating a few shell scripts to make it easy to boot the RPi to an HDMI display or to the Touch Display, we were ready to install the GH Tracker App. We also enabled the VNC Server on the RPi to use a VNC Client application on our MacBook Air instead of directly connecting a display, keyboard, and mouse to the RPi. Finally, we installed Samba on our RPi to allow files to be moved between our other computers and the RPi.

GHTracker Running on the Raspberry Pi

GHTracker Running on the Raspberry Pi

Jeff at Green Heron Engineering provided a copy of GHTracker V1.24 and the necessary serial interface library to enable its use on the RPi. Jeff is planning to make a tar file available with GH Tracker and the library in the near future. We did some configuration work on LXDE (the GUI interface for Linux that runs on the RPi), and it automatically runs GH Tracker whenever the RPi is booted up. We also optimized the GUI for the sole purpose of running GH Tracker on the Touch Screen Display. Finally, we configured the Ethernet and WiFi interfaces on the RPi to work with our home network and LTE Hotspot modem.

RPi GHTracker Test Setup

RPi GHTracker Test Setup

With all the software work done, it was time to test the combination with our Satellite Rotator System. The setup worked on the first try using a WiFi network connection between the MacBook Air Laptop running MacDoppler and the RPi. The USB-based serial ports, which control the Azimuth and Elevation direction of the rotators, worked as soon as they were plugged into the RPi. Also, the touchscreen interface works well with the GH Tracker App making the combination easy to use.

MacDoppler and GHTracker via VNC

MacDoppler and GHTracker via VNC

The VNC Client/Server combination allows us to work with the software on the RPi right from our MacBook Air laptop. It also makes for a nice display for monitoring the GHTracker App’s operation from the Mac.

You can find information about how to build your own Raspberry Pi Satellite Rotator Interface here.

Other articles in the Portable Satellite Station series include:

You may also be interested in the satellite station at our home QTH. You can read more about that here.

Thanks to the help from Jeff at Green Heron Engineering, this project was very easy to do and worked out well. The Raspberry Pi 3 platform is powerful and relatively easy to work with. It makes a great start for many Ham Radio projects. Also, there is a wealth of online documentation, how-to information, and open-source software for the RPi. I hope that some of our readers will give the RPi a try!

Fred, AB1OC

Icom IC-9700 VHF/UHF/1.2GHz Prototype Transceiver

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Source: Icom IC-9700 VHF/UHF/1.2GHz Prototype Transceiver

Another new radio from Icom is based on their SDR platform. This looks like a great radio for Satellite and EME use. We will put in a pre-order for this radio and plan to include it in our Portable Satellite Station. I’ll post more here as details become available.

Fred, AB1OC

Portable Satellite Station Design and Operation

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Building and Operating a Portable Satellite Station Presentation

Portable Satellite Station Design and Operation Presentation

Anita and I attended the New England Regional Hamvention this past weekend. We gave a presentation on Portable Satellite Station Design & Operation there. You can view a copy of our presentation here.

Satellite Station Portable - Radio and Supporting Equipment

Portable Satellite Station 2.0 at a Recent License Training Class

The Videos from our presentation are below –



We did two additional talks about the Nashua Area Radio Club’s activities, including one on our High-Altitude Balloon Project. You can view those presentations here.

Also, we are planning to have our 2.0 Portable Satellite Station setup at the Nashua Area Radio Club’s upcoming Technician License Class on Sept. 30 – Oct. 1. If you are in the area and would like to see the station in operation, please contact us at activities@n1fd.org to arrange for a visit. You can do that here if you’d like to register for one of our license classes.

Fred, AB1OC

Spark Day at the Nashua Academy for Science and Design – Spring 2017

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Explaining Amateur Radio to ASD Students

Explaining Amateur Radio to ASD Students

John Keslo, W1MBG, Jamey Finchum, KC1ENX, and I (all members of the Nashua Area Radio Club) recently had the chance to again visit the Academy for Science and Design (ASD) in Nashua, New Hampshire, to provide an Introduction to Amateur Radio for the students there. ASD’s goal is to be a world-class school specializing in science, engineering, mathematics, and design for students in grades 6-12.

ASD periodically holds SPARK (Symposium Promoting Advancement of Real-world Knowledge) conferences, which enable ASD students to learn about areas that might help them to develop careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and/or Math (STEM).

The students at ASD are extremely bright and are highly motivated to develop STEM careers. We had about 65 students elect to attend the two sessions that we presented, and the kids showed a lot of interest in our presentations.

Explaining Our High-Altitude Ballon Project

Explaining Our High-Altitude Ballon Project

We began each session with some classroom time where we explained what Amateur Radio is about and some of our club’s Amateur Radio projects. We discussed and showed components of our High Altitude Balloon Project, our Satellite Ground Station, and our Field Day activities. The interest level among the kids was high, and lots of questions were asked.

GOTA Contact during ASD Spark

GOTA Contact during ASD Spark

We also put together an HF GOTA station in the school’s lobby. This allowed the kids to get on the air and experience Amateur Radio firsthand. After the kids got over the usual “mic fright,” they had a lot of fun.

We look forward to our next opportunity to participate in ASD’s SPARK Day in the fall. This is one of the most enjoyable events of the year for me.

Fred, AB1OC

Portable 6m Station for SOTA and Contesting

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Fred, AB1OC and Curtis, N1CMD Operating

Fred, AB1OC and Curtis, N1CMD Operating

I got really excited when Jamey, KC1ENX set our Club’s first Summits On The Air (SOTA)/Parks On The Air (POTA) activation for the same day as the June VHF Contest! Jamey chose Pack Monadnock in Miller State Park here in New Hampshire as the site for our activation. With Jamey’s help, we prepared a portable 6m station for the activation.

Solar Panels

Solar Panels

The idea was to use an IC-7300 to create a 100W station and a Solar/Battery combination to power the setup. Solar/Battery made us “legal” as a SOTA activation. We combined two 90W solar panels, which I had with an MPPT solar charging system and two LiPo batteries, to create the power system for the activation.

6M Antenna Going Up

6M Antenna Going Up

The antenna system was built around an M2 Antenna Systems 6M3 Yagi and an 18 ft. push-up mast from Max-gain systems.

Portable 6M Antenna

Portable 6M Antenna

All this gear was carried to the site and set up in about an hour. A 25 ft. section of LMR-400UF coax completed the station. The mast was guyed with rings, allowing us to turn the mast/antenna combination to point the Yagi in any direction.

Anita, AB1QB and Curtis, N1CMD Operating in the June VHF Contest

Anita, AB1QB and Curtis, N1CMD Operating in the June VHF Contest

Between the SOTA/POTA activation and the June VHF contest, we made over 130 contacts on 6m. We did not have any real Es openings, so most of our contacts were regional. The elevation provided on Pack Monadnock made us quite loud for the stations that could hear us. Several of our club members got on 6M and joined the fun. We did have a brief Es opening and managed to work a station in Alabama and one in Florida.

Mike, AB1YK Portable 6M

Mike, AB1YK Portable 6M

Mike, AB1YK has a much more portable 6m setup and uses lower power to have some fun on 6M.

Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP Operating Portable

Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP Operating Portable

Al, KC1FOZ, and Tom, KC1GGP, put together a nice station and operated it using battery power. Several other club members came out with portable stations as well.

Our first SOTA/POTA activation was a lot of fun, and Anita and I are looking forward to the next one!

Fred, AB1OC

LEO Satellite Contacts via Easy Sat and Linear Transponder Satellites

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Satellite Antenna Details

LEO Satellite Station 2.0 Antennas

We recently did a Tech Night at our club on Building and Operating an LEO Satellite Ground Station. As part of my portion of our Tech Night presentation, I recorded several LEO satellite contacts. I made videos showing the operation of the computer controlling our Satellite Station 2.0 during these contacts. These videos give an idea of what it’s like to operate through LEO satellites.

The video above records several contacts through SO-50 – an FM “Easy Sat.”

In the next video, several contacts were made through FO-29, a linear transponder satellite.

The distortion you hear in my voice results from my voice coming back delayed through the satellites.

We will have our Satellite Station 2.0 setup at Field Day this year. If you are local to Nashua, NH, you are welcome to visit us during Field Day and see our Satellite Station in operation.

You can read more about the station used to make these contacts here on our Blog.

Fred, AB1OC

GoKit for Field Day and EMCOMM

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Completed VHF/UHF GoKit for EMCOMM and Field Day

Completed VHF/UHF GoKit for Field Day and EMCOMM

We’ve been thinking about building a portable GoKit for VHF/UHF EMCOMM and Field Day Applications for a while now. The following is a list of our requirements for a GoKit –

  • 2m and 70cm operation with FM simplex and repeaters
  • APRS capability and tactical display for portable coordination
  • Digital messaging capability
  • Weather band monitoring capability
  • AC Power with flexible battery backup options

A plan to build our GoKit came together during our Dayton Hamvention trip this year, and we used it during Field Day.

Kenwood TM-D710GA At Dayton

Kenwood TM-D710GA At Dayton

The heart of any GoKit is the Transceiver. We’ve been using Kenwood equipment for our APRS iGate for some time now, and we have had good results with it. Kenwood’s latest 50W transceiver with APRS is the TM-D710GA. This unit provides full support for APRS tactical applications and now includes a built-in GPS receiver making it ideal for our GoKit application.

GoKit AvMap GeoSat 6 APRS Tactical Display at Field Day

AvMap GeoSat 6 APRS Tactical Display

We have been using the Kenwood TM-D710 and an AvMap GeoSat APRS display in our APRS iGate setup, and the combination works very well. The AvMap display lets one see the location of portable and mobile APRS stations on a map display. This arrangement is perfect for coordinating activities in an EMCOMM situation. The AvMap GeoSat 6 APRS display is no longer in production, but I was able to locate a nearly new unit on eBay.

3 - iPortable Enclosure

We had a chance to look at the iPortable enclosure at Dayton and decided that their Pro 2 4U deep unit would be a good choice for our GoKit application. The iPortable enclosures are based on a portable rack mount case and include a DC power system, speaker and headphone hookups, a light, and provisions for a cooling fan.

Radio Shelf

Radio Shelf

With all the components in hand, we began the construction of our GoKit. Reliability is important in any portable system like this, so we put some time into securely mounting all the equipment and neatly arranging the cabling. First came the shelf containing the Kenwood transceiver and a SignaLink USB sound card. A combination of drilling the shelf to secure gear with large cable ties and #8 stainless hardware was used here.

Coax Connector Cables

Coax Connector Cables

Our iPortable case was equipped with SO-239 and N-connectors on the front panel to allow antennas and feed lines that use either connector type. To make the changeover between the connector types easy, we installed separate PL-259 jumper cables for each connector. One simply connects the appropriate jumper to the radio.

Display and Power Shelf

Display and Power Shelf

The power and AvMap display shelves were next. The AvMap display mount was dissembled and modified to accept a custom mounting bracket.

PWRgate Battery Interface and Charger

PWRgate Battery Interface and Charger

The iPortable enclosure was drilled to mount a West Mountain Radio PWRgate to handle backup battery charging and management. The PWRgate supports instantaneous switching between an AC power supply and a backup battery and can accommodate various battery types and sizes.

Backup Battery

Backup Battery

The PWRgate was configured to properly charge our 18AH AGM backup battery. Note using a fuse in series with the battery for safety reasons. We used a Powerwerx SPS-30DM adjustable power supply set to 14.5Vdc to operate our GoKit and to provide proper charging voltage for our AGM battery.

Diamond X-30 EMCOMM and Field Day GoKit Antenna and Mast

Diamond X-30 Antenna and Mast for Field Day and EMCOMM

The last piece of the setup was the antenna. We wanted something that was portable, easy to set up for Field Day, and would provide good performance. We choose a Diamond X-30A 2m/70cm ground plane antenna and mounted it on a 12′ fiberglass push-up mast. The feed line is made from 25′ of LMR-400UF coax. Several bungee cords are used to attach the mast to a fence post or other vertical structure.

10 - GoKit In Use at Field Day and EMCOMM

The picture above shows the completed GoKit in operation. We typically set one side of the Kenwood TM-D710GA as an APRS transceiver and Digipeater and the other to operate on a local repeater or simplex FM. The SignaLink sound card is used with a laptop computer running Fldigi and NBEMS for messaging applications. The iPortable case has a 13.8V lighter socket which connects to a power brick to power our laptop PC.

GoKit Packaged for Transport to Field Day or EMCOMM

GoKit Packaged for Transport

The GoKit is quite portable when closed. All of the equipment and cable connections are enclosed and protected by the case’s removable end caps. We’ve tested our GoKit during our club’s weekly repeater net, and it worked great. The first real use of our new GoKit will be at Field Day this year. It will be located in our public information tent and will be used as a “talk-in” system.

Fred, AB1OC