Assembling a Portable Station for 23cm FM.

As indicated earlier I am beginning to make my station operational on 23cm.

As it will take some better weather (and temperatures) to get the home station up and running, I am focusing on making an operational portable station.

Looking through the house I found the following equipment and antennas, all for 23cm in general:

- The Standard C701 hand held with 300mW out on 1296MHz FM

- The X5000 antenna (1.8m long) used at the first successful experiment in the garden last week end

- A 12 element yagi, mounted on the camera tripod

- The assembled 16 element yagi from Flexa is intended for home use

- I also located a smaller triband vertical antenna, mainly for fixed use

- There was one more antenna suitable for mobile use. A 3-band 1m long antenna and a magnetic mount

- I found an older TM741 FM transceiver with a 23cm module. It needs testing, and if it is in working order I can use that with a 12V (13.8V) battery out there, providing 10W if I operate (stationary) from the vehicle. Much better than just 300mW, but less practical on a hilltop where I have to carry all the stuff up there

- I do have a 12V 50Ah battery that can be brought in the vehicle. Not practical to carry to the hilltop.

- Somewhere I should have the X7000 antenna (5m long) If I can find it I should probably mount it at home with a short mast, just to get started from home. Mounted low it will likely just be suitable for very local contacts, but it can be a start

- I should have an old transverter that could possibly be used for portable use with a 2m transceiver. I need to find it and test it

Back to the portable station which (initially) has better chances of successful contacts.

I am assembling the following to bring out to check some places around here:

A. Very lightweight:

1) The handheld C701. It will be of limited use due to the low output power, but is very portable.

2) The 12 element yagi as a horizontal antenna on the camera tripod is very light and can be carried up a steep path to a hilltop.

3) I may bring the short vertical to the hilltop with a lightweight fiberglass mast.

4) If I can find or build a small lightweight power amplifier, maybe with a preamplifier that could complete a very lightweight 23cm FM portable station with a bit better range. This will require a relatively lightweight 12V battery. The 50Ah one is too heavy to carry.

B. Using the vehicle - not lightweight:

1) The TM741 FM transceiver (when checked)

2) The mobile 3-band whip with the magnetic mount for vertical polarization

3) The 12 element yagi for horizontal polarization, and with more gain than the magmount/veertical

4) The 12V 50Ah battery

With regard to option B I have a somewhat suitable location not too far away, with a good view in the direction of Copenhagen.

Now we wait for some decent weather and some willing and able participants to the tests. Timing is of essence ;)