A few years ago, I made a portable antenna system to deploy an EFHW on 20M and I documented it HERE so I decided to bight the bullet and go out and work portable.
I had an FT710AES at home but did not want to use this so decided to buy the Xeigu 106 as this was quite cheap at £200. To power it I used a 12V PD cable on a 35W power bank that I already owned. When I received the G106 I tested it on the home power supply 13.8V 30A and worked a couple of stations with good reports.
Confident that I was ready to do portable, I looked over the local area to find a quite spot to set up my antenna. I searched Google Maps and asked Google, then after some deliberation I finally decided on Two Tree Island.
I had an FT710AES at home but did not want to use this so decided to buy the Xeigu 106 as this was quite cheap at £200. To power it I used a 12V PD cable on a 35W power bank that I already owned. When I received the G106 I tested it on the home power supply 13.8V 30A and worked a couple of stations with good reports.
Confident that I was ready to do portable, I looked over the local area to find a quite spot to set up my antenna. I searched Google Maps and asked Google, then after some deliberation I finaly decided on Two Tree Island.
1st attempt at portable
Two Tree Island is a little Island about 8 miles from my house, so I made sure I had all the gear that I needed as wasn’t going to do a 16 mile round trip if I forgot something. When I first arrived at the road to the island there were lots of little car parks and it looked suitably rural. You need to drive down twisty road with a few pot holes and then you come to a small bridge onto the island. I drove to the end of the road and at the end was a very large carpark where I was able to find a suitable spot out of the way to setup. The first thing out was the base of the antenna which I guyed down, then I taped just a smidge over 10M of wire to my assembled mast pole and slotted it into the base. Using a Rigexpert analyser and a few small cuts of wire I had an SWR suitable for the SSB portion on the 20M band. The 10M of coax I had ran from the mast to my car where I had set the rig up on the dashboard, I connected the antenna and powerbank to the rig, switched on and was immediately impressed by how quite the background noise was, and how good the signals were. I tuned into a strong signal and answered their CQ, only to be given a good S reading but audio 90% distorted. I tried another station and got the same report so dispondent I packed up and went home.
I thought of what could be wrong, its only 5W so how could it be RF, so I decided it must be the power bank not being able to deliver the current, being that I got good reports from home with a 30A supply. I purchased a 65W powerbank and tested it with my portable soldering Iron . It delivered 2.6A at 18V so I was confident this was up to the job and prepared for another attempt.
2nd Attempt at portable
I drive back to the same spot on the island, guy the base down erect attenna, go to check SWR and shit I forgot the analyser. Decide what the hell as I’m here, I’ll use the rig anyway. Then it happened, a gust of wind and antenna falls over. Oh FFS, it broke the pole so session abruptly over so dispondent I packed up and went home
The guy ropes stood firm but the bottom part of the mast that hold the pole had kicked out and I had to find a way of securing this. After some searching I decided on a roll on mast holder, which I bought from Moonraker, plus I had to buy a 54mm steel tube to slot the bottom part of the mast over. Theses arrived and there were some modifications to do, but the final assembly looked promising.
3rd Attempt at portable
I drive back to the same spot on the island. This time I get the roll on mast support out and the antenna base is easly fitted. I quickly tape the wire to the mast pole and finish the erection, theres a breeze but evertything is secure. I check the VSWR before fixing the coax to the rig, attach the power bank and power up, I am instantly impressed by the signals. I hear someone calling CQ and after a few calls eventually get a reply, your adios distorted…not what I wanted to hear. Not phased by this I then call another station, yes you guesed it, distorted audio. Dispondent I packed up and went home
I decided that although its only 5W it must be RF feeding back down the coax. I had looked all over Google and the more I looked the more I was convinced. I had a T240-31 inductor so I wound a 1:1 balun choke on one end of the 10M coax, 6 turns one way and 6 turns the other way. I also watched a video on Youtube where K4OGO makes a 20M EFHW and he used a 1M counterpoise.
4th Attempt at portable
I drive back to the same spot on the island, quickly deploy the antenna onto the roll on mast stand and add the counterpoise this time, I fit the choke closest to the antenna. Sitting in the car I measure the VSWR and it measures 1 to 1.11 on the SSB part of 20M, I have not seen this so good. There were some good signals coming in but I keep getting walked over by stronger stations, but I persist. I eventually make contact with a station and get a 5/7 report but more importantly good audio….I am made up. Over the next few minutes I contact two more stations with good reports, but then my stomach goes over, I normally have a good stomach, but I must have eaten something to upset it, it wasn’t a nice feeling and I had to make a bolt for it. I quickly dismantled the station and packed away and drove as quick as I could to my works address as its nearer. So my fourth attempt was a sort of a success but ended crap in more ways than one, as a few days later I noticed that I had drove off and left the drive on mast stand on the island
