Home / Tips & Tricks

Portable Equipment

Find here the gear (and the tricks) used by some experienced portable activators. Contact BOS! if you'd like to add yours.

Activations: ONFF, BCA, BLHA, SOTA, GMA
Transceivers: FT857D with Bencher paddle. SCU-17 for RTTY. Power used: 75 W
Antennas: Homebrew linked dipole (6–80 m, Sota Beams lightweight antenna wire). Fishing pole (Decathlon Lakeside-1 Travel 600). RG58 coax. SWR of the linked dipole is flat on all bands, no tuner needed. From the car: monoband hamsticks on the roof.
Power: 50 Ah LiFePO4 battery – LiFePO batteries for SOTA and bike-mobile
Logging: Ham2K PoLo on an Android tablet
Extra gear: Fishing parasol, small picnic table and chair
Transport: Car – bike – The RuXXac Cross
Tricks: Never rush and "keep it simple!"

Guerilla QRP Portable

Activations: ONFF, BCA, ONBOTA (Beaches on the Air)
Transceivers: Elecraft KX2 with internal ATU and battery, connected paddle. Power: 5 W QRP
Antennas: Ground- or bench-mounted MFJ-1979, 5.2 m telescopic vertical, 2.5 m RG-58 coax; homebrew 40/30/20 m tree-wire verticals with 3 random ground radials, straight into the KX2.
Power: KX2's internal 2.6 Ah Li-Ion battery
Logging: Small paper log
Extra gear: Small garden mat and 0.5 m² nylon sheet to sit on the ground or a bench
Transport: Usually by bike or on foot, sometimes by car (long distances or bad weather)
Tricks: Guerilla QRP Portable — ultralight portable setup for more agility and flexibility. Non-motorised access, quick setup (5 min), less comfort, more often short activations (1–1.5 h).

The early bird catches the worm

Activations: SOTA, GMA
Transceivers: KX-2, MTR-3B, IC-703, all with a homebrew paddle made from a relay
Power: 5 W QRP
Antennas: Homebrew linked dipole with fishing pole, HF-1B, Alexloop
Power source: KX-2 internal battery, MTR-3B with 9V battery or 12Ah gel battery, IC-703 with 17Ah gel battery or 12V car battery
Logging: Paper log
Extra gear: Spare paddle, umbrella, small tent, 2 small folding camping chairs
Transport: By car, since all summits are far to travel to
Tricks: The early bird catches the worm — start early, especially for distant activations, to be able to work our Belgian chasers on 80 m.

The early bird catches the worm

Activations: SOTA, ONFF
Transceivers: Icom 706 mk2 or Yaesu FT-897 + AT-89
Power: 40 W
Antennas: Homebrew linked dipoles for 20/40 m, homebrew dipole for 80 m, fishing pole 10 m high
Power source: 18Ah battery for SOTA activations. For ONFF activations 40Ah and 64Ah batteries, if the distance isn't too great
Logging: Paper log
Extra gear: Small chair (aluminium), small table (aluminium) and an umbrella in bad weather

As you can dream it, you can make it.

Activations: ONFF, BCA, BELMOTA
Transceivers: Yaesu FT-857D or Yaesu FT-817D
Power: 50 W or 4 W
Antennas: Homebrew linked dipole for 20/40 m, homebrew dipole for 80 m, Spiderpole 12 m high
Power source: 74Ah batteries
Logging: FLE, directly on notebook
Transport: By car and on foot with a hand truck
Extra gear: Small chair, small table and an umbrella, Peltor headset, parrot microphone (Funkamateur), tripod. RG58 coax.