Portable

Having come from the world of green and long-distance running, I have always had a love of being in out in the wilderness, you tend to build up a resilience to the weather and time of day. I often enjoyed running through the night, over daytime races, you become a lot more aware of the surroundings and see critters that don't wander about during daylight. The radios we used during the Cold War were old-school technology, built to last but with no encryption, so messages needed to be manually encrypted (look up BATCO) on one-time pads and sent vocally. Encrypting a message at two in the morning and extremely limited light became a trade craft; decrypting incoming messages was just as fun. I don't always use a QRP rig, so I settled on calling the page Portable.

Years later, I have a hip injury that puts pay to my running antics, and I have found my love for radio and HF again. Had the HF bands not been on offer to Foundation licensees, I would probably have looked for something else to fill my time and drain my wallet. Like many people at the moment, the easy access to cheap Chinese VHF/UHF handheld radios was my first step into the hobby; even more interesting was the ability to flash homebrew firmware that enhanced the use of the devices.

Portable Rigs

My first portable radio was the Xiegu X6100, and although I liked the look of the device, my head told me to return it, the lack of UK support, the announcement that the company were stopping firmware production and that a new model, the X6200, would be available soon. The audio was also an issue for me; the internal speaker is awful, and the distortion is very evident.

I replaced the X6100 with an Icom 705. The 705 felt more responsive and of better quality. The years of radio production came through, and for those with recent Icom equipment, the firmware is simple to update, and the front end is easy to navigate. It lacks an ATU. I used a mAT-705 tuner with the radio, and like the X6100 was limited to 10w with an external power source and 5w with the internal battery. The speakers are better, although, like most portable radios, sound better with an external speaker.

It does have 2m and 70cm bands, but I did not use these frequencies other than to check that it works on my QTH antenna. Everyone has their preferences; I don't have a true QRP or nothing approach, but I prefer to be portable.

Over the summer of 2024, I was offered an Xiegu G90 at a silly price and snapped up the offer. The radio is HF only, up to 20 watts of output and a built-in ATU that can tune just about anything. There is no internal battery; for this, I use a LiFePO4 Lithium Battery, which is very lightweight and ideal for a mobile pack. The radio is more robust and comes with a data interface, Digimode4 connector and a cooling fan stand.

I tested it on a few outings to the local park, coupled with the Slidewinder antenna and was impressed by the easy setup, fast SWR checking and slick ATU tuning. So far, I have left it on the shipped firmware, although care must be taken as there are updates for the body and detachable head.

Portable Antennas

I currently have a handful of portable antennas, the tried and tested EFHW and fishing pole, the Slidewinder coil system and the Mad Dog Coil. Each of these bring their own pros and cons; the EFHW is simple to erect but in locations open to the public is harder to find ideal siting spot without garrotting a passer by.

My favourite portable system is a hybrid of the Slidewinder antenna system, consisting of a ground spike, 8 sturdy radials, a tripod, an extension pole to lift the coil higher, a loading coil and a solid whip in sections.

I have marked the coil with a Sharpie to quickly find the band required; the SWR is low and is set up in minutes.

I added the Australian Mad Dog coil, which has the benefit of allowing multiple tuning collars and the link wire can be moved quickly between pr-tuned collars. I purchased a few extra collars and an extra link wire.

Handhelds

I rarely use handhelds; like most amateur radio enthusiasts, I have a growing number of them for different roles. Again, I seldom use DMR, but have a Baofeng 1701 with GD77 and an Ailunce HD1 and occasionally dig them out to dust off my knowledge. I also have a few other radios, including a Tidradio H3, Quansheng and Baofeng of different model numbers and replicated uses.

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