[aprssig] battery portable HF APRS?

[Ron VE8RT]

The FT817 or FT818 has been recommended, and I could see it working out
OK for some situations.  If the station were a bicycle mobile on the
annual Yellowknife to Hay River event the proposed FT817, and its
batteries would take up valuable space and add significant weight. (no
place to charge batteries, there is litterly nothing but wilderness for
long stretches of 150 miles or more).  For an event like this I'd
really like to have an APRS frequency on 60M where NVIS is possible.

What I was hoping to find was a 5W or higher output transceiver, that
was lightweight, easier on batteries, and relatively inexpensive. Along
the lines of the no longer available PSK20 from Small Wonder Labs.  A
monoband transceiver would do to start with, along with a basic tracker
interface, just to experiment with.

Maybe there are no suitable current production radios or kits.

   Ron VE8RT

On Sat, 23 Nov 2019 22:27:30 -0500
"wa4zko ." <wa4zko at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ron,
> 
> More than a few options out there, but I use:
> 
> RADIO:  Yaesu FT-817ND/818ND
> 
> TNC:  SCS Tracker DSP TNC - flexible (10-20v) voltage requirements, draws
> next to no power (<100 mA), 5 packet modes in one small box well suited to
> portable/mobile setups. It can run as a stand-alone tracker (no PC/laptop
> required) or with a lot of the common APRS software programs.
> 
> GPS - Garmin GPS76CSx, a 3-wire "hockey puck" GPS or tap into NMEA out on
> some of my other gear. Many GPS options out there and the latest rev of the
> SCS Tracker TNC's GPS port can even power some of them for you.
> 
> POWER: Rig's internal power or an external power/battery pack. I've had
> great luck with the Bi0enno LiFePo battery packs.
> 
> HF ANTENNA: Pick your poison, lots of options for portable HF antennas,
> some suck slightly less than others LOL. I do okay with just a $20 hamstick
> for mobile and a dipole or end-fed halfwave wire when camping/etc.
> 
> Have taken the above on the road and into the backcountry as needed. This
> provides me with my choice of:
> Robust Packet APRS (HF)
> 300 baud APRS (HF)
> 1200 baud APRS (2m and 6m)
> 9600 baud APRS (typically on 70cm) (FT-817/818 do 9600 just FB)
> 
> Jerry VE6AB does some similar stuff and written a lot about his portable
> ops in QST and his blog. Check him out on QRZ.
> 
> GL & 73
> Jeff
> WA4ZKO


-- 
Ron VE8RT <ve8rt at yknwt.ca>