Followup on my audio box acquisition - I'm now POTA-powerful!

A little over 3 years ago I posted a teaser about an audio rack that I wanted to use for ham radio functions...all it said was "soon...".

Well, I guess I SHOULD provide an update after 3 years! And what a jouney!

I had parts and equipment to put together a "go-box" or "kit" as I'll call it, for portability and convenience, so I began the process of putting together a kit that would allow me to get on HF in a remote location or at an EOC or other location for outreach and public service.

Now this was three years ago, so a lot has changed in between then and now. For my kit I had the following equipment I intended to use:

• ICOM 706-MkII-G
• Yaesu FT-100D
• Automatic Antenna Tuner
• Power Supply (Powerwerx)
• 2m/440 dual-band mobile
• SWR meter for VHF and UHF

Now at the time I did not have all of the equipment I wanted to have in the kit. I did have my 706 and Yaesu 100D and wanted to put them side-by-side so I could switch to one if the other failed or had issues. Then have a 2m/440 FM for standalone local comms. I did not have the tuner, or the meter, or the rack mount. Luck and good fortune would change that eventually.

After I acquired the rack through a swap/shop posting, I found a killer deal at a thrift store that had an LDG tuner, a power supply, a Yaesu quad-band mobile, and an SWR/power meter from 144 to 500 MHz. I was able to put most of that to good use, but I'm still looking to implement my quad-band in my SUV at some point.

In September 2023, at a setup for the Tennessee QSO Party that my District 5 SKYWARN group was operating, my friend Jordan helped put together the go box. We put the Yaesu 100D and Icom 706 across the bottom, and then the power supply, antenna tuner, and SWR meter across the top. We added a small speaker to go in between the two radios. While I wanted the quad-band to go in, there was not enough space. So we settled on what we had and tested it during the QSO party. We had good results during the contest, and other than a few minor bugs, it went well.

We used Velcro, tie wraps, and occasionally a screw or two to put the kit together.

I was excited to get the kit put together but had to wait until December when I could put it to the test during the SKYWARN Recognition Day event at the Morristown NWS.

And it was a disaster...

I arrived at the NWS and was ready to go, but no one of our usual gang was there except for Clark, WD4CM. Apparently there had been a confluence of events that prevented others from the SKYWARN team from appearing, whether it be being out of town that weekend, sickness, or taking care of family who was sick. So we had minimal equipment available and fewer volunteers to operate it.

It was all Clark and I could muster to set up our equipment in the fast-setting darkness. I was so rushed to hit the 7PM start that I tripped over a wire supporting a hastily put-together mast and almost busted my shoulder, knee, and wrist tumbling down the embankment! 

After brushing myself off and swallowing my pride, we proceeded to attempt to get on the air with the meager equipment we had. 

The radios worked well. I had my trusty FT-100D in action through most of the time we operated. I camped out overnight (no sleep in my SUV, but that's another story) and was operating much of the morning with some folks who showed up and operated, including 10-year-old Anna, KQ4IVQ, who is fascinated with weather, and it perked me up better than a double shot of espresso to see her excitement at operating on various repeaters in the region.

The kit functioned as intended overall, but the mediocre band conditions and unreliable antenna setup made for an shortened event. It wasn't anyone's fault that caused the issues, just a bad set of circumstances that led to a disappointing event. It was still a good shakedown for my kit, and it led to a lot of research on what more could be done.

I knew I had to modify the kit to make it more adaptable to various situations. I began exploring different options for the setup and tried to figure out some of the things that were needed versus what was already set up. 

One thing to do was set up a reliable grounding. I only had the chassis for ground and little more, other than whatever ground setup the antennas were using. I put in a ground wire screwed into the back, then placed the wire on a roll that would be sent out (if operating outdoors) to a stake for grounding. 

I ended up selling my FT-100D Yaesu at a hamfest, as I felt the two different radios would conflict with operations and confuse those that wanted to operate one over the other. I didn't want someone randomly turning on one radio thinking it was set up when the other radio was actually working.

Although I preferred the Yaesu, it did not offer a lot of compatible peripherals that the Icom 706MKIIg had available. Even though both radios are no longer supported by their manufacturers, I can still get equipment for the Icom that I could not find for the Yaesu. More on that later.

I would wait a few months before breaking it out again and testing the setup to do more work on what I needed. A lot of things were happening in my life that took precedence, and at times I just didn't feel like ham radio was good therapy. I also needed to use something that did not rely on commercial power for activating the setup. I ended up building a battery box for use as an external power source for my setup, and it has been a great add-on to the kit. More on the battery box in a separate post soon.

My wife Jessie (K4RLJ), encouraged me to get back into using the kit and looking at ways of getting back on HF since I did not have a setup for HF at home now that my one remaining rig was now in a go box.

We took a trip to my mother-in-law's home in upper East Tennessee and used it as a way to gauge the remote capabilities of the kit. My mother-in-law's home was not connected to the internet at the time (she now has Starlink), and cellular service is mrginal at best if you're standing outside in the right spot. So I would use this as an opportunity to test true remote activation. 

We went in late March, and setting up the radio was trying, and I was not making any contacts. In fact, a couple of stations were calling me a "QRMer" when I was trying to make contact. I checked out the end-fed antenna I purchased at a recent hamfest and, other than the fact it was low to the ground, did not look like it was defective. I was left scratching my head. I tore down and went back home frustrated. 

I took my setup back to my mother-in-law's on July 13, which was a fateful day.

While in the middle of setting up the rig, I tuned the 706 to a random QSO on 20m, and I had an HT that was set up on my local SKYWARN repeater monitoring for any weather in the area, as storms had been popping up as they are wont to do in the summer. While setting up, I heard comments on HF and subsequently the local 2m repeater about a shooting and the "president being shot." I immediately grabbed the HT and inquired about what was happening. I thought they were referring to then-President Biden, but they instead were talking about former President Trump. I told my wife and mother-in-law what was happening, and they turned the TV on to see what had occurred. Pretty amazing that in this circumstance, my first hearing of this major event was via ham radio. 

After watching the events unfold, I returned to the radio to continue testing the kit. Once again I was met with frustration that my signal was "garbled", or "hot", or "overpowering". I thought it had to be the microphone. I checked the connection, and a couple of times I keyed the mic and nothing happened. I chalked it up to a defective microphone and tore everything down, calling it another failed effort.

I went back home trying to figure out the issue. I would not have the equipment set up again until the 2024 TN QSO Party, where we once again encountered some issues. This time it was due to issues with the antennas and being unable to tune on some of the bands, and so we used it sparingly. 

I had spent some time "venting" to a friend of mine who was working to get back into ham radio after being out of it for a few years. I told him my antennas were not giving the desired output and it was cumbersome lugging around an end-fed or a dipole and I needed an antenna I could take portable. A few days later, I get an email that I had a package arriving soon from Amazon, which was odd because I hadn't ordered anything from Amazon in a few weeks. I then got a knock at the door later that afternoon and sitting on the porch was a mystery package. I opened it to find a JPC-12 portable antenna for me. I had to remind myself I didn't buy the antenna while drinking or sleep-browsing, which left only one suspect. I called up my friend and he confessed he had purchased one and liked it so much he bought one for me to try as a portable setup. Thanks, Jason!

I took my kit to visit another friend (Bob KC4URW) who was visiting from out-of-state and camping at an RV park, and I wanted to show him my setup and test the new toy and was met with more difficulty. It took me some time to figure out the setup and try to tune the antenna with as little need for the auto-tuner as possible.  I'll have a separate post on the JPC-12 soon. My audio once again seemed to be the issue, and I was chalking it up to the microphone. We set up Bob's Ten-Tec Omni and had better results with the JPC-12. He was so impressed with the JPC-12 he bought himself one!

But once again since I was met with "hot" mic issues and was about to throw the 706 down an embankment, I needed to get things looked at. Bob and I were stumped on the hot mic issue, and he's not used a 706 before, so I decided my next opportunity to get some help troubleshooting was POTA-Palooza, an event at Cove Lake State Park in Campbell Co, TN where many POTA (Parks on the Air) operators would gather to share their ideas, their equipment, and operate as a POTA station from the park. So I decided to make a trip up to get some help and test my setup.

I brought everything I wanted to use for POTA and arrived at POTA-Palooza knowing some great friends would be able to help me, and they did...and when it was figured out the issue, the egg on my face could have been cooked over-medium....

After a few minutes of talking back and forth with another station at the picnic area, he asked me to check my mic gain, and when I did the setting was cranked up to 11! We brought it back to 4-5 and what do you know, I sounded AMAZING! I still have no clue how the mic gain got adjusted but not even considering that was an issue for me was rather...humbling.

Fast forward to June. Now that my "hot mic" issues were resolved, I wanted to continue improving on my kit. I needed a better way to be able to talk and log at the same time. I needed a hands-free mic and foot keyer to be able to free up my hands for logging either on a notepad or laptop. The opportunity came while visiting my daughter Lauren (K4LRN) in Colorado where she is on an internship for the Fish & Wildlife service. While in town we stopped at Ham Radio Outlet. I was only there to browse...or so I thought...at least that's what my wife thinks.

I talked to Adan about my kit and he showed me the Proset headphone/mic by Heil that was very comfortable and affordable, even with the necessary adapters for the 706. I got both the headphones and foot switch and a couple of books, one for learning how to do POTA, the other a logbook. When all else fails, pencil and paper will help you log your contacts!!!

So then I was in good shape and was ready for the next TN QSO Party. I set up the kit a couple of times at the house to prep the mic and the foot switch, and took it up to my mother-in-law's for practice setting up and tearing down. It takes about 35-45 minutes to set up, which involves mainly the antenna, and maybe 20-30 minutes to stow after I'm done (unless it's pitch dark, which takes time to navigate with only a flashlight and clumsy feet). 

When time came for the TN QSO party I was ready to go, and with my end-fed, and JPC-12, we operated with the rest of my District 5 SKYWARN team and treated the TQP as a late-summer "Field Day", setting up at the Middlesettlements Field of Dreams and then having a picnic and inviting the public to come out and participate.

I'll save that as well for another post (I've got to get more active on my blog anyway) but the radio operated great, and my headset mic and foot switch were flawless, and NO HOT AUDIO!!!

If you want to see the kit in action you can watch my friend Bill's (KK4PAL) Youtube video of our event here:

So after the QSO Party, I now needed to try doing POTA. My wife and I went to Norris Dam State Park this past weekend to have a weekend getaway and use that time to test out my setup for POTA and get me on POTA under my callsign for the first time. I'd done POTA 2 years prior with my SKYWARN team but we used N4T and WX4TYS for the callsigns. So now I wanted to really get my feet wet.

We rented a cabin and got set up Friday afternoon and everything was looking great...until I realized I did not bring coax!!!  I had a 4' jumper and a couple of 1' jumpers...but no barrel connectors (that I had just bought) to connect them with!

I put the 4' jumper on and moved the radio to compensate but felt like the restriction was not allowing me to get as good signal. I still made about 24 contacts and used a notepad to write them down with...because I also forgot my logbook as well....

We were fortunately 30 minutes from the house, so we ran back to get coax and connectors, and then went back to the cabin to operate Saturday morning. But mother nature had other ideas.

At exactly 7am we were jolted out of bed by a loud clap of thunder, and I checked my weather app and saw a thunderstorm building up right on top of us. For the next hour, showers and thunderstorms poured down and when checking the weather map, only our area was getting hammered. After about 90 minutes the system drifted south towards the mountains, where it would inundate the area with showers, and cause a landslide in Sevier Co.

About noon is when I got outside and set up for POTA. This time...with long enough coax and everything in place, I got on 20 meters, and I have to say it was INCREDIBLE the pileups I was getting for POTA. I knew POTA was a hot commodity but did not expect the amount of activity I was getting. I even worked my first Alaska station through POTA! Over the next few hours I would get 113 QSOs with this setup. I was excited to have things (FINALLY!) working in perfect harmony.

Even an approaching thunderstorm did not deter me (except for a close lightning strike!) as I moved all my equipment in the screened-in porch and operated from there over another hour. 

I was excited to have had the chance to operate a POTA station and am now looking at ways to continue operating portable. There are some things I still need to tweak with my setup, and other things that need work. I'm even looking at setting up a portable kit for VHF/UHF operations for some upcoming events in Tennessee. 

So my big takeaways from using this go kit as a portable setup:

1. At around 50 lbs of weight, the portable audio rack is cumbersome and heavy and not conducive to truly portable operations for things like SOTA (Summits on the Air) where the purpose is to climb to the top of a ridge or mountain to operate. Lugging this and my battery box would not work for SOTA. I will need more lightweight portable packaging for such activity.
   
   
2. I learned a lot about what I had versus what I needed. I also learned that it helps to know your equipment as best as possible so that when troubleshooting, you know where to look and what to look for. Some major headaches could have been avoided had I just thought to check the settings of the radio before exploring my hardware.
   
   
3. This was, and still is, a great way to have a go kit at the ready in case of an emergency or a need to set up when something happens. I can use this radio setup for Field Day, the TN QSO Party, and maybe Winter Field Day next year if I get the time to operate. I can also use it for SKYWARN Recognition Day and plan to take it with me to try my luck again.
   
   
4. It really revved up my interest back in HF. 
   
   
5. Setting up and taking down are getting easier with time and repeated processes, and I am figuring out exactly what I need for future events. Which reminds me...
6. Have a checklist of everything needed! I need to have my coax, connectors, battery box, antenna, laptop, paper, pens, flashlight, etc. in a backpack or something that I can lug around along with my audio rack. I will use RG-58 coax since it is lighter, leaner, and more portable than the RG-8 that I ended up getting from home when we rushed back.
   
   
7. I still want to add another radio into the kit. Currently I use the place once occupied by the FT-100D to stow the headset and foot switch. I have a quad-band radio I plan to use at some point but I'm torn between using it in this kit, or in its own separate kit. Perhaps a dual-band radio with cross-band capability will be what I want to use for that purpose. We shall see.

Here is what I currently have in the box, and as I go through the motions with more events in the future, I will probably change out one or two more things.

• ICOM 706 MkIIg
• LDG Antenna Tuner
• Diamond SX-400 SWR/Power meter for 144-500 MHz
• Powerwerx power supply for the antenna tuner and power meter (can also be used on the ICOM radio)
• External Speaker
• MFJ End-fed antenna for 10-40m
• A quick reference guide for the Amateur Radio bands I can operate
• Stakes, rope, tape, barrel connectors, and other items for operating/repair

So now that I'm back in the blogging game, here's some more topics I will plan to discuss soon:

• Battery Box (will be published at same time or before this post to feature it prior to this one)
• TN QSO Party
  
• POTA-Palooza
• TARA (Tennessee Amateur Radio Association)
• Simplex Saturdays
• HOA legislation bills in US Congress

I hope you enjoyed this and will continue to follow along. 

My Tennessee QSO party activity (or what should've been!)

Well, I *WAS* supposed to participate mobile during the Tennessee QSO Party this past Labor Day weekend. Unfortunately, the stars bounced out of alignment and a number of things conspired to prevent my quest from being fulfilled.

Just after work on Friday, I felt an "itch" in the back of my throat, which became the late summer cold I've been contending with all weekend long and still am fighting off. I was awake most every night trying to sleep, and too tired to stay awake during the day. But couldn't rest because my throat felt like it hot coals were embedded in my larynx and lying down made it worse.

Needless to say, talking hurt and not talking made the pain only more noticeable.

Fast-forward to Sunday morning. I got a text at 9am asking when I would be heading up to Morristown to meet my friend Jim to operate mobile. I texted back that I was recovering from a cold but I was getting better and wanted to get up and get mobile.

However, Jim couldn't have me around because...well...I was sick!!! The reasons are many but they made sense and I was extremely bummed out, because we'd been planning this for months. All gone to hell in a handbasket.

I eventually got out of bed and got on the radio and tried calling "CQ TNQP" on PSK31, and was met with about as much enthusiasm as a fox in a chicken coop. I finally made one contact after putting myself on the DX Cluster, basically announcing that I'm out there if anyone cared. Another station tried to reach out to me, but it was in the middle of a sneezing fit and when I finally took care of it they were gone.

I did get on voice - albeit unenthusiastic - and called CQ and worked several here and there on 40 meters, which seemed to be the main band to work on this day. But most all the bands were dead until late in the afternoon heading into the evening. Someone even put me out on the cluster and I became a hotspot right as my throat began to feel the effects of talking over several hours. Perfect timing, again!

Overall, I made just under 100 contacts. It wasn't my greatest showing. But I probably would have had way better success had I not gotten sick to begin with...

It seems I have a history of this happening when contest time appears, no matter which I want to work. One Field Day event we did at Melton Hill Dam, the day it took place, my voice was lost due to allergies, and I pinched a nerve in my shoulder blade area and moving my neck hurt tremendously. But, I had to stay because the group was using my callsign (I was the only extra class licensee at the time) and I had to stay in order to allow us to use the full allotment of bands to operate. To make matters worse, I checked into the Tennessee Phone Net to relay some bonus points (no one else apparently wanted to help!!!) and they couldn't hear me...BECAUSE I HAD NO VOICE!!! Imagine both my frustration as well as the receiving station trying to hear me, as well as all the other stations (im)patiently waiting their turn...

There's always next year, I suppose.

Tennessee QSO Party this Sunday SUNDAY SUNDAY!!!!

It's that time of year, again, the Tennessee QSO Party is about to happen, and this year I'm going to be doing it a bit different.

Most times I've operated from home during the party, however this year, I'm tagging along with a couple of friends and we're going to go mobile, operating along county lines to work stations and hopefully make a lot of contacts and points. We'll be using my callsign (K4HSM) during the event.

Jim, N4UHZ, Chuck, K4KKH, and I are going to hit the road in Jim's truck and gallivant across upper East Tennessee to make as many contacts as possible in the course of the 9 hours that the contest is active (Sunday, September 6, 2-11PM Eastern Time, or 1800z Sunday, September 6 until 0300z Monday, September 7, 2015) enjoying the views and the camaraderie as we trek across a few of the highways and by-ways of Tennessee.

I will be trying to update our progress via Twitter (@k4hsm) and I hope we'll be talking to you on the air!

The rules and such are here.

We'll try to operate from Hamblen, Grainger, Hancock, Claiborne, and Hawkins counties, and perhaps Greene, Jefferson, and Knox if there's time. We'll be mainly on voice but if we can get digital to work (PSK31) we may get that going as well. Jim's got D-Star but we're not sure how it will work, since no repeater QSO's are allowed.

Wish us luck!