There are six days left till I leave on the great western adventure and I've been pretty busy getting the radio and camping equipment sorted out and ready to go.I have my FT-857D ready to go in the Go-Box, along with the FTL meter and the YT-100 tuner. Power for the radio will be provided by a 12v 110 amp deep cycle battery that will be kept topped up with a 7w solar panel.
Mounted in my truck I have an FT-8800, and all the repeaters along the routes I will be taking are already programmed in it. Finding all of those repeaters took quite a bit of research as no matter what list you find on Google, you'll find another one tomorrow with different frequencies, different off-sets, or totally different PL tones. In the end I had to search out each local club on line and use what their websites listed.
For antennas I have a 5/8 whip for my 2m rig along with a 1/4 whip for UHF. These two antennas are fed from the FT-8800 through a diplexer. There are not very many 440 repeaters along my route, but I have the capability anyway.
HF wise I'm taking three antennas. The first one is my portable 31' Chillycon Special, and the second one is my Buddipole system. I've also packed a 66' long wire and a 9:1 balun. These antennas should do me just fine in my quest for DX.
There are a few more things to pick up this week, such as my Blue Cross coverage, and a phone roaming package. Apart from those two items I think I'm just about ready to roll out of here.
If you have an Android or iPhone try this:
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73
Garrett KD6KPC and Nicolas M1HOG
Thanks for this info Bob, I'll look into it. Hoping to see you at Chillycon this year again.
DeleteBill
Good afternoon Bill, will look forward to reading about the adventure and I hope you can blog about it as you are going out......as for the prep it sounds like you have all under control. If you have never been out west it sure will be a trip that you will remember for ever!
ReplyDeleteGood luck and safe travels.
Mike
Thanks Mike, this is a trip home, first time back there in 10 years so I'm really looking forward to it. My plan is to update the blog every chance I can :-)
DeleteBill