ZL3CC.BlogSpot.com Index

 

ZL3CC.BlogSpot.com Index


Batteries for Portable and Field Radio Operation


Small Lightweight Capable Manual Tuner


Playing with Tuners and Longwires


EFHW antenna from AliExpress


PRS (CB) Radio within the Community


Baofeng BF-5C PRS Handheld

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Batteries for Portable and Field Radio

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  Batteries for Portable and Field Radio When we go portable or operating in the field with radios, what batteries do we use? Well if it is a handheld radio or the radio comes with its own battery installed chances are that is the battery you will be using in the first instance. If you intend operating for any length of time or are preparing for an emergency situation chances are you will have auxiliary or backup battery or power supply. Myself, when in the field or up in the hills and mountains I currently work exclusively of battery, though I will be adding some solar panels to that mix shortly. But lets concentrate on batteries at this time. New Zealand being the antipodes of just about anywhere suffers a lack of range and choice that our fellow radio operators in USA, Europe and even Australia can often take for granted. With batteries specifically, it comes down to the regulations regarding shipping of some of the new technology lithium ion and phosphate batteries, which are l...
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Small, lightweight, capable, manual QRP tuner - Does it exist???

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Small, lightweight, capable, manual QRP tuner - Does it exist??? Resonate QRP antennas are good in the field. I have a SotaBeam Band Hopper II and love it. EFHW antennas I like as well. But I have always liked the idea of being able to tune up virtually any length of wire on any band. This, unless someone knows something I don't, can basically only be achieved with a tuner. So, I have acquired some tuners, apart from the built in ones on the Xeigu radios I own. Here is my collection up until a week ago. Now while each of these tuners are very capable, they all have their own strengths and weaknesses. For field use I have found that I prefer manual tuners. It just gives me a sense of simplicity and less to go wrong. My absolute favourite tuner, for the field and a lot of the time in the shack, is the ZM-2. My only dislike of it is the need to deal with two fly leads and the fact that it can be bumped off its tuned position, especially when sitting in a precarious spot on a summit  f...
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  EFHW from Aliexpress Always on the lookout for a good, rugged, cheap antenna that's simple to set up, for field operations and SOTA work, I happened upon this one at Aliexpress.  A bit of background first. My radio operations are currently almost exclusively outdoors, in the hills, or where I am happiest, up a mountain. I currently have three antennas that I rely on, a homemade chalkline random wire and a doublet, and my only purchased ready made antenna, a SOTABeams Band Hopper II which is a linked dipole. All of these three antennas are used mostly with my IC-705 turning out 10 watts. The IC-705 not having a an inbuilt tuner, I rely an Emtech ZM-2 tuner and more recently a QRP Z-Match, also sourced from Aliexpress, to match the longwire and the doublet antennas. The band Hopper II, being a dipole has no requirement for a tuner. Of the three antennas, the one that is by far the most reliable is is the dipole; you just connect it to the radio and no messing around with tryin...
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