The Sooper Shooter can shoot a 10 lb test line over 50 ft into a tree. Article on Sooper Shooter.
After the 8 or10 lb test fishing line from the Sooper Shooter is retrieved on the ground... then the mason's twine is reeled into the tree. The mason's line will actually support the antenna. Mason's line is good for approx 200 pounds before it breaks.... in fact, I've never had or seen it break.
This is Version 2 of KR7W's Back
Packing Antenna. it is designed to work on all bands, 80-10 Meters...
and maybe more. The 120 ft radiating elements are made from 22 AWG
stranded hook up wire. Easy and cheap to find at All Electronics.
The center is a piece of 1/8" thick plexiglass with a hole to attach the
mason's line to pull up in a tree for an Inverted VEE.
The TV Twin Lead and the coax cable is permanently attached to the BALUN
Box. This way, no jumpers are forgotten.
This is the Version 2 Antenna all
wound up on it's 3/32" thick plywood form. The plywood has seemingly
unnecessary holes cut in it to reduce weight. The entire antenna
system weighs 1 lb - 10 oz.
Nylon parachute cord on the feed line ties it off after wound up.
Inside of the 4:1 BALUN Box. The toroids are mix 43, about 1 inch OD. There is about 12 turns of the small coax. This coax is cell phone industry surplus. RG-174 is the equivalent that can be purchased from Mouser or All Electronics.
I got the design for this BALUN from N5ESE's website. http://www.io.com/~n5fc/balun_1-4.htm for details.
In my experimenting... I tried 1:1 and 4:1 baluns for the Version 2 antenna... and the 4:1 tuned best on any frequency on any band. It even works on 10 meters.
This is the Version 2 Antenna Tuner, the Z817 from LDG. It can tune a bad SWR of 10:1. This tuner gets its power from 4 internal AA cells. I use Energizer Lithium Cells because they weigh way less than Alkaline cells. Yah... I know: They cost 4 times as much $... but they last 10 times longer. Ask my Nikon digital camera. It is a bargain in the long run.
Here's the Version 2 Tuner, REAR View. Notice that there are no SO-239 fittings. I replaced them with a piece of Printed Circuit Board to cover up the holes. I drilled the correct sized holes for rubber grommets to feed the RG-174 cables thru. This effort saves weight and there is no way that I will forget the coax jumpers again.
When I bought this key at a local hamfest... it was marketed as a 'Russian Military Leg Mount Key" that was used in by the radioman in infantry tanks. It was new in the box and it did have the leg mount attachments. This key has a nice feel to it even though it is quite small. I removed all of the metal parts I could and attached it to a piece of 1/8 inch plexiglass. It now weighs much lighter.
I decided to not take my Paddelette paddles QRP/backpacking unless there is a special reason. I have had trouble sending legible Morse Code with the paddles when it is cold out... so I use the reliable SK that I've grown up with since age 13.
This is my new DC Power Plant. It is a 4S Lithium Polymer Radio Control car/boat battery. 4S means 4 cells... which means that the charged up output voltage is 16.7 (or so) volts. This is way too high of voltage for the FT-817 (15.0 Max per the instructions). I used to have two 3 amp silicon rectifier diodes in series with the battery leads. Now, I use a Switch Mode Voltage Regulator module I bought all ready assembled. The VR module is set at 11.5 volts out... just above the voltage the FT-817 switches to lower power.
There is a lot of good info regarding the use of LiPo batteries for your 817 here: http://www.ka7oei.com/ft817_pwr_opt.html
This battery weighs 14 oz. This battery and the regulator circuit pretty much replaces a 7 a/h Sealed Lead Acid burglar alarm battery that weighed in at 7 pounds. The lithium battery cost 1.7 times a much and requires a special charger that runs about $20... but the long life of a properly treated lithium cell and weight reduction is a simple choice to me. My lithium cell and charger came from http://www.hobbyking.com
NOTE 1: I am by no means a LiPo battery expert... just a user. However, I do know that if the battery is shorted out... it most likely will explode and catch you or something else on fire. Beware!
NOTE 2: Perhaps you are wondering
where I got the SM VR. The simple answer is: I don't know.
I do remember that I ordered it ON Line from a company in MN. It cost
$25. I quickly tried to Google it... but did not find it. It may
take more time to find it than I wanna spend.
 The Yaesu FT-817 is the radio that I now use the most for Backpacking. This one has the BHI Audio DSP Module and the Collins XTAL filters. The XTAL filters work very well for CW and SSB. The BHI DSP is a bit disappointing... however, I use it on its first stage of Noise Reduction and it is helpful. For SSB operation... I have the One Big Punch audio processor board in the 817's microphone. I've been told that this speach compressor makes a huge difference in my signal level. The add on items are from www.w4rt.com. Note the RED knob. This is the VOL control. I painted all of my radios VOL control red so I can adjust the VOL and not something else. |
 I have had my 817 since 2003... and I wore out that stupid coaxial power jack. I removed the 817's circuit board, removed the power jack, installed a grommet in the case, and soldered down some #16 automotive wire to the board for the DC power. Doing all of that was easy for me.... but the hard part was figuring out where on the radio's circuit board to solder the wires to. If you wanna do this yourself... be very careful not to blob solder some other connections together... as it is quite cramped inside. Also, note that I have removed the SO239 Jack to save weight. |
Here's a shot of the entire station in one place... of course, the antenna is up in the trees.
The 817 is sitting on top of the blue Zippy LiPo battery. The plastic case is the container for all of the radio equipment. The case is lined with some pieces of cut out camping pad glued to the interior. Some bubble wrap cushions the loose parts inside of the case. The entire set up weighs 5 lbs- 8oz. With everything enclosed in the carry case... the radio equipment fits into its own place in my large Kelty frame pack. The Antenna wound up on it's plywood board fits in nicely also.
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Here's my
Elecraft KX-1 with Paddelette Adaptor PK-1 mounting system. It's a neat set up to use another set of paddles besides the original Elecraft unit. Way better, in fact. Paddlette info here: http://www.paddlette.com/welcome.htm My KX-1 doesn't get very much use anymore due to me using my 817 on back pack trips now a days. The extra weight is tolerable and with the 817 I can check in with ham friends on 75 meter SSB who will keep track of me during my back packing adventures. My KX-1 will most likely be for sale soon. Stay tuned. |
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